Altar dedicated to Apollo found in the Villa of Pompey the Great in Albano 

Here we see an etching by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, depicting an altar dedicated to Apollo, as it was found in the Villa of Pompey the Great in Albano. Piranesi, active in the 18th century, was fascinated by the grandeur of Roman antiquity. Piranesi's etching, made with acid on a copper plate, brings a critical lens to the act of celebrating the past. The very act of etching, a reproducible medium, implies a democratizing impulse. Yet, the intense detail and laborious process involved speak to the sheer amount of labor involved in image-making. Note the sculptural details: wreaths, columns, and friezes rendered meticulously in ink. This image reflects the complex relationship between labor, art, and commerce in the 18th century. The act of reproducing and disseminating these images allowed for the creation of a market for antiquities, but simultaneously served as a testament to the skill, labor, and time-intensive nature of etching, complicating any easy distinction between fine art and craft.