Colin Holden on Piranesi's 'Ruins in a Villa of Domitian'
Speaker(s): Dr Colin Holden
'Eighteenth-century visitors to Rome commented on the poverty of rural people living in surrounding hill country'
- Dr Colin Holden
About this video
Italian 18th-century master-printmaker Giovanni Battista Piranesi was famous for his images of classical and baroque Rome. This 11-part video series reveals the details and meaning behind the figures depicted in prints featured in the Library's 2014 exhibition, Rome: Piranesi's vision.
In this video, exhibition curator Dr Colin Holden discusses how the ruined villa in this print, Avanzi d’un portico coperto, o criptoportico in una Villa di Domiziano (Ruins of a Covered Portico in a Villa of Domitian), represents the folly and delusive nature of unrestrained ambition and power.
Watch the other videos in this series:
- Printmaking in Piranesi’s time
- View of the Piazza di Spagna (the Spanish Steps)
- The Outlet of Lake Albano
- Portrait of Giovanni Battista Piranesi
- Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
- Internal View of St Paul Outside-the-Walls
- View of the Cardinal Albani's Villa
- View of the Customs House
- View of two churches near Trajan's Column
- View of the Quirinal Palace Square
Speakers
Dr Colin Holden is a historian, curator and author. He was awarded the Redmond Barry Fellowship in 2010 to research the majestic works of 18th-century Italian printmaker Giovanni Battista Piranesi and the associated 2014 State Library exhibition, Rome: Piranesi's vision.