Le antichità romane
Le antichità romane is a set of engraved plates of Roman antiquities by Giovanni Battista Piranesi and his son Francesco, published in Rome by the Salomoni press in 1784 for architects, antiquarians and collectors. The plates show ruined temple columns, vaulted aqueduct structures and measured architectural plans, with dramatic sky, crumbling masonry and tiny figures that give scale; a designer could borrow their hatched shading, deep perspective and layered ruins for atmospheric backgrounds.
