Verso has a proof of Piranesi's etching showing the plan of the remains of the Theater of Marcellus, Rome, from "Le antichità romane," 1756. f. 360, vol. IV, pl. XXV.
Many of Piranesi's figure drawings are quick impressions of daily encounters in the street or studio, such as these three pen studies of workmen with aprons, caps, and rolled-up sleeves, who must be printers at work in his studio. As with many of Piranesi's figure studies, the drawing is executed on the back of a discarded etching--in this case, a plate from volume four of the Antichità Romane, first issued in 1756. The architectural studies at right are details of the transept facade, bell tower, and baptistery of San Giovanni in Laterano, likely drawn when Piranesi was preparing a view of the Piazza San Giovanni around 1770-75.
Inscribed by the artist, at upper right, in red chalk, "Segue / a mediano (?) / B / Presbiterio; arco di tran... / primo ordine B arciprete / di(?) mezzo; at left in opposite direction, "dentell / quadre"; in black chalk, "lo stesso (?) / servizio (?) volute le finstre / pianta / portone / dalla parte d mezzo della / faciata / Campanile (?); numbered at upper center in graphite, "248".
Watermark: Fleur-de-lis inside double circle surmounted by monogram "CB" above and "F" below circle on chain line. Centered on chain line, wires of double circle are indented at lower right.
Philippi, Ludwig Herman, 1848-1908, former owner.
Calmann, Hans M., 1899-1982, former owner.
Adams, Frederick B., Jr. First Annual Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1950, p. 53-54.
Pierpont Morgan Library. Review of Acquisitions, 1949-1968. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1969, p. 160.
Stampfle, Felice. Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Dover, 1978, no. A-8, repr.