Though hundreds of drawings survive from Piranesi’s workshop, few are complete preparatory studies for his most famous prints. However, many drawings turn out to have, on their versos or back sides, fragments of larger preparatory drawings. This suggests that once Piranesi had transferred an idea to the copper plate, he would cut up the preparatory study and reuse the paper for new sketches. Here, part of a study for a title page survives on the verso of a sheet used for studies of an ornamental frame.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778), fragment of a title-page design for the Antichità d'Albano e di Castel Gandolfo, ca. 1764. Red and black chalk. Bequest of Junius S. Morgan and gift of Henry S. Morgan, inv. 1966.11:71 verso.