Sheet of Sketches: Standing Man with Raised Arm, Cherubim 1768 - 1778

This is a sheet of sketches by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, made with pen and brown ink, over graphite on laid paper. Piranesi was an architect and a printmaker, and the materiality of paper and ink are central to his art. These were the raw materials for his visions. Note the artist's mastery over the pen, using line weights and hatching to create depth and volume. He deftly captures a figure in motion and hovering cherubs with just a few strokes. Drawing allowed him to explore imaginative possibilities, and to develop ideas that he would later translate into etchings or architectural designs. The layered, collaged appearance may be due to the economics of paper production at the time, when larger sheets were more expensive, so artists would often piece together smaller fragments. Piranesi's genius lay in his ability to bring these intangible visions into tangible form, using the humble materials of paper and ink as his tools. He blurs the boundary between drawing, design, and printmaking.