Prisoners on a projecting platform

Giovanni Battista Piranesi first  published his remarkable series of etchings of imaginary prisons in 1749–50. Titled Carceri d’invenzioni, the series drew inspiration from Roman architecture and Venetian stage designs (which often featured prison settings) to investigate the representation of pictorial space. Working on large copperplates with a free line, Piranesi explored architectural interiors that were deliberately ambiguous, claustrophobic and labyrinthine.

Piranesi returned to the images over a decade later and reworked the compositions to dramatically darken the images. In this plate, from the second edition, Piranesi darkened the image and added platforms and chains to emphasise the monumentality of the architecture. Unlike the first series, the second proved immensely popular, and the works remain remarkably influential on artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers to this day.

Maria Zagala, Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs