Split on the previous plan 

This etching was made by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, an Italian artist known for his dramatic views of Rome, and it presents a view of a street in Pompeii. It was produced at a time when the ruins of the ancient world were being rediscovered and re-evaluated. Piranesi’s images contributed to a broader cultural phenomenon. His atmospheric rendering of the site shows not just the ruins, but also the figures of contemporary visitors who are dwarfed by the scale of what remains. Pompeii had been buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, only to be rediscovered in the 18th century. For people at the time, this gave a direct view into the daily life of the ancient world. The rediscovery of Pompeii also coincided with the rise of Neoclassicism in the arts. Piranesi's image taps into this renewed interest in classical antiquity and the desire to learn from and emulate the art and architecture of the past. Historians of art and architecture, in particular, have used Piranesi's etchings to study the reception of classical antiquity in the 18th century. The social conditions that shape the production of art are crucial for its interpretation.