Demonstration of the port and its modinature the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli 

This print, made by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, shows the doorway to the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, Italy. He made it using etching, a printmaking process where lines are incised into a metal plate with acid, then inked and printed. Piranesi's labor is evident in the precise detail of the architectural elements, from the stone blocks to the decorative moldings. Note the meticulous rendering of the stone's texture, giving the print a tactile quality, despite being a two-dimensional image. The work reflects the 18th-century obsession with classical antiquity and the social context of the Grand Tour, where wealthy Europeans traveled to Italy to study its art and architecture. But rather than simply celebrating the beauty of the temple, Piranesi is dissecting it, revealing the labor and skill required to build such a structure. He draws attention to the amount of work involved in the production process. By focusing on the materiality and construction of the doorway, Piranesi elevates the status of craft and labor, challenging the traditional hierarchy between art and architecture.