Demonstration from the Lake of Fucino, two boards together, title listed with index 

This print was made by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, though the exact date is unknown. Piranesi used etching and engraving, processes that demand rigorous planning. He covered a metal plate with a waxy ground, drew into it with a sharp needle, and then bathed the plate in acid to bite away the exposed lines. Here, the material and its making are especially pertinent. Piranesi pictures the draining of Lake Fucino, an ancient Roman engineering project. The very act of etching—cutting into a surface to control the flow of acid—mirrors the Roman’s efforts to channel water. His lines are confident, mirroring the imperial ambition to control nature. But look closely, and the regular geometries start to break down. The composition is almost baroque in its complexity, packed with details. Piranesi shows us not just the achievement of engineering but also its inherent difficulty, the sheer labor required. His printmaking, with its own demanding labor, parallels that effort. This piece reminds us that all creation, whether artistic or technological, is rooted in physical processes and human endeavor.