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View of the Temple of Bacchus, now the church of S. Urbano, two miles distant from Rome, beyond the Porta S. Sebastiano, from Views of Rome

A work made of etching on heavy ivory laid paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of etching on heavy ivory laid paper.

Date:

1750/59

Artist:

Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Italian, 1720-1778

About this artwork

The temple depicted in this etching was built in the 2nd century A.D. by the Greek aristocrat Herodes Atticus and originally dedicated to the fertility goddess Ceres. During the 9th century, it was converted into a Christian church to honor Saint Urban, a 3rd-century pope. By the time Giovanni Battista Piranesi drew it, the temple had withstood various centuries of abandonment before being restored in 1634. In the print, part of an enclosing wall is visible on the side of the temple. This wall has since disappeared. The church is now the property of the Roman government and was reopened for worship in 2005.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Title

View of the Temple of Bacchus, now the church of S. Urbano, two miles distant from Rome, beyond the Porta S. Sebastiano, from Views of Rome

Place

Italy (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1750–1759

Medium

Etching on heavy ivory laid paper

Dimensions

Image: 38.5 × 61.6 cm (15 3/16 × 24 5/16 in.); Plate: 40.8 × 62.3 cm (16 1/8 × 24 9/16 in.); Sheet: 55.5 × 78.5 cm (21 7/8 × 30 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Clarence Buckingham Collection

Reference Number

1910.477

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/64577/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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