Piranesi, Francesco (1756-1810)

Francesco Piranesi was the son of the great artist, Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Instructed in both engraving and architecture by his father, he was engraving and assisting his father by 1775. Upon his death 3 years later, Francesco acquired his father’s publishing house and was responsible for printing most of the later editions of his prints. He continued producing etchings depicting monuments and ancient temples, as well as his own engravings of antique statuary. In 1798, he went to Paris and was later employed by Napoleon’s government to engrave the antique vases and statues in collections within France. These Piranesi plates are from Antiquities de la Grand Grece, published in 1804.

Prints from this publication are quite rare