Tag Archives: Giovanni Battista Piranesi

The Ides of March Are Come

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“The Ides of March are come” – so wrote William Shakespeare.

In tribute to the day on which Julius Caesar was felled by assassins in Rome, a look at a two pieces of art featuring views of Rome, which are in the Arkansas Arts Center collection.    
The first presents a classical take on Rome. View of the Piazza del Campidoglio (Veduta della Piazza del Campdoglio) was created in 1774 by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720 – 1778). The print is an etching, acquired by the Arts Center in 1990; it was a gift of John and Grace Marjorie Wood Keppel and Nell Wood.

According to the Arkansas Arts Center,

The Campidoglio has been the seat of the city government of Rome from ancient times to the present. At the top of the Capitoline Hill-one of the famed Seven Hills of Rome-the buildings in Piranesi’s etching are the work of Michelangelo. These elegant Renaissance palaces, perched on this ancient site, were important tourist destinations in the 18th century just as they are today.

Piranesi takes a viewpoint from the side of the site, giving us a dramatic diagonal view of one palace and a head-on view of the other. In the foreground are Grand Tourists in their three-cornered hats as well as a number of less well dressed, slightly suspicious-looking figures.

The second piece is John Heliker’s Pertaining to Rome. Heliker was a 20th Century artist from New York living from 1909 to 2000. His painting is an abstract look at the Italian capital city. It was a gift in 2005 to the Arkansas Arts Center from the Heliker-LaHotan Foundation, Inc.

Final weeks of “Piranesi and the Perspectives of Rome” at UALR Galleries

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Piranesi_First-Edit_AO1The prints of Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) have contributed much to defining what Europeans and Americans think of the as “ancient Roman glory.” An exhibit of several of his prints is currently on display at the UALR Art Galleries through October 5.

In approximately, architect Edwin Cromwell (1909-2001) was going through the papers of  his late father-in-law, architect Charles Thompson (1868-1959). Included in this was a loosely bound volume of 30 prints by Piranesi. In 1999, Cromwell approached the UALR Department of Art to suggest that research might be done on this set of prints. In fact, it provided the basis for the MA thesis project of Olga Elwood. In 2010, the three daughters of Edwin Cromwell donated the prints to the Department of Art.

Thompson and Cromwell were both leading architects of Little Rock in each of their eras.  Among Thompson’s many designs are both the 1908 Little Rock City Hall and the 1913 Central Fire Station which is now the City Hall West Wing.

The exhibit, was designed to accompany a special topics art history course taught at UALR this semester by Dr. Jane Brown and Dr. Floyd Martin.

There are two upcoming lectures this week in conjunction with the exhibit:
September 25, 10:50 a.m., room 161 in the Fine Arts Building
Dr. Carol C. Mattusch, Professor Emerita, George Mason University – Pompeiian Dreams: Myths and Realities about the Ancient Romans, a lecture to the students enrolled in the course “Piranesi and Perspectives of Rome.

September 25, 6:00 p.m., the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the Fine Arts Building

Dr. Richard S. Mason, Lecturer, University of Maryland, Baltimore County – Reliving the Ancient World: Rediscovering Herculanium and Pompey

The Ides of March

Posted on by

“The Ides of March hath come” – so wrote William Shakespeare.

In tribute to the day on which Julius Caesar was felled by assassins in Rome, a look at a two pieces of art featuring views of Rome, which are in the Arkansas Arts Center collection.

AAC Rome 1

Giovanni Battista Piranesi – from the collection of the Arkansas Arts Center

The first presents a classical take on Rome.  View of the Piazza del Campidoglio (Veduta della Piazza del Campdoglio) was painted in 1774 by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720 – 1778).  The print is an etching, acquired by the Arts Center in 1990; it was a gift of John and Grace Marjorie Wood Keppel and Nell Wood.

According to the Arkansas Arts Center,

The Campidoglio has been the seat of the city government of Rome from ancient times to the present. At the top of the Capitoline Hill-one of the famed Seven Hills of Rome-the buildings in Piranesi’s etching are the work of Michelangelo. These elegant Renaissance palaces, perched on this ancient site, were important tourist destinations in the 18th century just as they are today.

Piranesi takes a viewpoint from the side of the site, giving us a dramatic diagonal view of one palace and a head-on view of the other. In the foreground are Grand Tourists in their three-cornered hats as well as a number of less well dressed, slightly suspicious-looking figures.

John Heliker - from the collection of the Arkansas Arts Center

John Heliker – from the collection of the Arkansas Arts Center

The second piece is John Heliker’s Pertaining to Rome.  Heliker was a 20th Century artist from New York living from 1909 to 2000.  His painting is an abstract look at the Italian capital city.  It was a gift in 2005 to the Arkansas Arts Center from the Heliker-LaHotan Foundation, Inc.