Architectural Fantasy with Portals and Monuments before 1753

Giuseppe Antonio Landi made this etching, Architectural Fantasy with Portals and Monuments, sometime in the mid-18th century. Etching is an indirect intaglio printmaking technique, one that relies on acid to bite into a metal plate. The plate would first be covered with a waxy, acid-resistant ground. Then, Landi would have used a sharp needle to draw his composition, exposing the metal underneath. The plate would then be immersed in acid, which etches--or bites--into the exposed lines. For deeper, darker lines, the process can be repeated. Finally, the plate is inked, and the surface wiped clean, leaving ink only in the etched lines. The image shows a fantasy of architecture, a capriccio, which was a popular genre in the 18th century. Landi would have known how to draw architecture, but also how to imagine it, and how to recreate these illusions with careful manual skill. This print is a testament to the combination of artistic vision and technical mastery, a blurring of the lines between art, craft, and design.