Etruscology
In 1765 the Scots dealer and antiquarian James Byres visited some of the subterranean Etruscan tombs of Corneto (Tarquinia) accompanied by another British visitor John Wilbraham and also by Piranesi. At this stage in his career, Piranesi was intensely involved in gathering ammunition to support his arguments in favour of the importance of Etruscan design, specifically set out in the text of this volume, the Osservazioni, addressed to Pierre-Jean Mariette, the French collector and connoisseur who had criticised Piranesi and was consistently promoting the primacy of Greece over Rome.
The caption to this plate is written in French because the rest of the book is addressed to French readers of Mariette’s articles. Captions were a crucial part of Piranesi’s manner of presenting evidence and argument, seen in so many of the antiquarian prints: he does not see a boundary between text and image.
These Etruscan inscriptions pieced together by Piranesi are based on elements recorded first by another antiquarian, Anton Francesco Gori. Piranesi could have used his first-hand knowledge based on his visit to the tombs, but instead chose to adapt, alter and invent. His aim is clear as revealed by the sarcasm in a question on another ‘Etruscan’ print: who was it that invented these designs? Greeks or Etruscans? - the answer being, actually, neither, it was Piranesi himself.
One of the meander motifs shown here - the central one next to the inscription - was employed repeatedly by Piranesi, in architecture for the frieze on the front of S. Maria in Priorato, the only executed architectural project by Piranesi.
Essais de différentes Frises … from Della Introduzione e del Progresso delle Belle Arti in Europa ne’ Tempi Antichi, part three of Osservazioni sopra la lettre de M. Mariette, plate III
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