Giovanni Battista Piranesi

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Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1720-1778
Design for a vertical wall panel with the Maltese cross, for Santa Maria del Priorato
ca. 1764-1766
Pen and brown ink, over black chalk, on paper; framing lines in pen and brown ink.
15 15/16 x 10 1/2 inches (405 x 267 mm)
Bequest of Junius S. Morgan and gift of Henry S. Morgan.
1966.11:53
Notes: 

As part of his Santa Maria del Priorato commission, Piranesi designed the piazza in front of the church. On one side of the square, a high wall screened the garden of the Knights of Malta. On the opposite side, Piranesi created a matching wall paneled with high stucco reliefs. This drawing is a final design for one such relief. The Maltese cross at center is the symbol of the knights; the lyre and panpipes were Etruscan symbols for Piranesi, and he included them as a reference to the Aventine Hill's legendary history as a site of Etruscan cult practices. The towers in the medallions are a reference to the Rezzonico arms, in recognition of Piranesi's patron.

Inscription: 

Inscribed within design, with measurements in palmi romani, in pen and brown ink, at lower left, "p 8 1/2"; at upper left, "p 12 1/2"; numbered at upper left, in graphite, "73".
Watermark: Fleur-de-lis inside doube circle, mongram "CB" above, centered on chain line, with fleur-de-lis off center.

Provenance: 
Mrs. J.P. Morgan, New York; by descent to her sons Junius S. Morgan, Princeton and Paris (no mark, see Lugt 1536) and Henry S. Morgan, New York.
Watermark: 
Associated names: 

Piranesi, Giovanni Battista, 1720-1778, Workshop of.
Morgan, Jane Norton, 1868-1925, former owner.
Morgan, Junius Spencer, 1892-1960, former owner.
Morgan, Henry S. (Henry Sturgis), 1900-1982, former owner.

Bibliography: 

Denison, Cara, Myra Nan Rosenfeld, and Stephanie Wiles. Exploring Rome : Piranesi and His Contemporaries. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library; Montréal : Centre Canadien d'Architecture, 1993, no. 35, repr.

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