Mattia Jona, Master Drawings and Prints, Japanese Prints - Piazzetta Guastalla 5, 20122 Milan, Italy, tel (+39) 02 8053315

FRANCESCO PIRANESI (Rome 1756 - Paris 1810) 'VUE DE LA CAVE SPACIEUSE OU CANTINE, QUI REGNOIT SOUS LES TROIS AILES DU CAVEDIUM / COUR DE LA MAISON DE CAMPAGNE A POMPEIA'
Etching, after a drawing by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, from the set 'Antiquités de la Grande Grèce', published in Paris, 1804/1807. A fine impression. Large margins, vertical fold at center, minor defects on margins, generally in very good condition. To the platemark 430 x 575 mm, the entire sheet measuring 680 x 1.000 mm.

Francesco was the eldest son and heir of Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Instructed in both engraving and architecture by his father, he was both engraving his own works of art and assisting his father's work by 1775. Upon the death of Giovanni Battista, Francesco acquired his father's publishing house and was responsible for printing most of the later editions of his prints. He collaborated with the French artist Louis-Jean Desprez on a series of views of Naples, Rome, and Pompeii, sold at Piranesi’s shop in Rome. Francesco sympathized with the French Revolution and was Commandant of the Republican National Guard in Rome. In this capacity he was involved in clashes with Neapolitan troops and had to flee Italy under somewhat hazardous circumstances in 1799. Piranesi settled with his brother Piero in Paris where he continued his publishing activities under difficult conditions. He died in poverty in 1810.