Veduta della Facciata della Basilica di S. Giovanni Laterano (Main façade of the San Giovanni in Laterano) - etching print by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1775)
AUGUST 10TH, 2026
If you love great artistry in architecture, you can't possibly go wrong with Piranesi. There's so much to marvel over that it's hard to even know where to start with his body of work. I started with Carceri d'invenzione (Imaginary Prisons) because of my affinity for subterranea, and then discovered works like this one. All of them richly reward sustained attention.
"I need to produce great ideas, and I believe that if I were commissioned to design a new universe, I would be mad enough to undertake it.”
Source:
- Wikimedia Commons - see also: B+W version
- Wikisource - from from Vedute di Roma (Views of Rome), 1839, Vol. I plate 14
The Public Domain Art Portal is a gentle open-ended daily inquiry into the placement of human attention, and an affirmation of enduring forms of value. Read more about our curation-by-slowcore-ethos in our An Intro to the Public Domain Art Portal.
What do you notice when you give sustained attention to the art?
