Afvoerkanaal van Meer van Albano 1762

Giovanni Battista Piranesi made this print of the drainage channel of Lake Albano using etching and engraving. These are intaglio processes, meaning that the image is incised into a metal plate, which is then inked and printed. Look closely, and you can see how Piranesi has built up this view of a vast, ruined interior using a complex layering of lines. He was a master of both etching and engraving, achieving very different visual effects with each technique. Etching gives a more textured, organic feel, while engraving allows for finer detail and precision. This combination lends the image its characteristic quality of romantic decay. Piranesi's prints were highly sought after by wealthy Europeans, and were collected as souvenirs of the Grand Tour. But they are more than mere documentation. Piranesi was interested in the sublime, and in the power of ruins to evoke a sense of awe and wonder. He reminds us that all human endeavor is subject to the ravages of time. In the end, it is the materials themselves that endure.