The Roman antiquities, t. 2, Plate XLVII. View the remains of some existing burial chambers on the ancient Via Appia outside the Porta S. Sebastiano. 

Curator: Here we have Giovanni Battista Piranesi's etching, "The Roman antiquities, t. 2, Plate XLVII. View the remains of some existing burial chambers on the ancient Via Appia outside the Porta S. Sebastiano.” Editor: Wow, it’s… intense. Like a graveyard of giants, or maybe nature reclaiming forgotten stories. The scale is messing with my head – is that a skull in the foreground or just another broken chunk of something enormous? Curator: The crumbling structures, rendered in Piranesi's meticulously detailed linework, evoke a profound sense of the passage of time and the inevitable decay of even the grandest civilizations. Notice how the human figures are dwarfed by the ruins. Editor: Yeah, they’re like little ants, scurrying around these colossal, fractured memories. The light and shadow are so dramatic too. It's like a stage set for a tragedy. There’s a real melancholy seeping from those broken archways. Curator: That drama is quintessential Piranesi. He was deeply influenced by the archaeological discoveries of his time, but he also imbued these scenes with a subjective, almost theatrical flair. Think about how this engraving could have fueled Romantic notions of the sublime and the picturesque. Editor: Definitely. It's more than just a document of Roman ruins, right? It's a romantic vision *of* those ruins. A warning, maybe? Like, even the mighty fall, so get your kicks in now. All that meticulous detail, but you still feel this incredible looseness. Curator: Precisely. And the Via Appia itself was a hugely important road for the Romans. Representing its decay underscores the transience of power and empire, an important perspective to consider as European powers grew around Piranesi. Editor: Looking at it now, you see a forgotten super-highway, transformed into an epic ruin that swallows entire civilizations, and maybe ourselves too. Curator: Absolutely. A fitting meditation on our place in history. Editor: A seriously powerful etching and one that got under my skin. I need to go outside now!