Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 105. (Budapest, 2006)

ANNUAL REPORT - A 2006. ÉV - ANDREA CZÉRE: Under the Spell of Rome: Etchings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Il UNDER THE SPELL OF ROME: ETCHINGS OF GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI Szolnok, Municipal Gallery, 2 March, 2006 - 2 April, 2006 Győr, Municipal Art Museum, Váczy Péter Collection, 7 April, 2006 - 30 May, 2006 Curator: Andrea Czére Assistant: Zoltán Kárpáti ANDREA CZERE. RÓMA BŰVÖLETÉBEN. GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI RÉZKARCAI. KIÁLLÍTÁSA 100 ÉVES SZÉPMŰVÉSZETI MÚZEUM GRAFIKAI GYŰITEMÉNYÉBÖL IUNDER THE SPELL OF ROME. ETCHINGS BY GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI. EXHIBITION OF THE 100-YEAR-OLD MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS COLLECTION OF PRINTS AND DRAWINGS], EXHIBITION GUIDE. HUNGARIAN TEXT. 66 PP., 26 COLOUR ILLS.. ISBN 963 7063 27 7 For the touring exhibitions celebrating the centenary of the Museum of Fine Arts the Collection of Prints and Drawings contributed with a selection of the works of Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Piranesi, the eighteenth century artist who renewed the art of etching and engraving, is still not widely known in Hungary, and this fact justified the introduction of his outstanding mastery to the public through exhibitions in the smaller Hungarian museums. Another reason for choosing this theme for the touring exhibition was the success of the Piranesi exhibition in the Museum of Fine Arts of Budapest in 1993. In addition, a contemporary art contest accompanied the display, which generated wide interest, and in 1994 a separate exhibition was staged from the works sent for the competition. The immense œuvre of Piranesi included theoretical treatises on classical art, pamphlets on Greek and Roman art, imaginary architectural desigms and actual buildings, but he was also a publisher, art dealer and restorer of ancient art objects. There is no doubt that his series of etchings were his true masterpieces. During the thirty-five years that he spent working as an artist he made more than a thousand compositions on the copper-plate, the majority of which is represented by fine prints in the Collection of Prints and Drawings of the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts. Szolnok and Győr were excellent venues for hosting the show of fifty-four works, which were selected from the most famous etching series of the artist: the Prima Parte di Architetture e Prospettive (The First Part of the Architecture and the Prospectives, 1743), the Archi trionfali ed altri Monumenti (Triumphal Arches and Other Monuments, 1748), the Grotteschi (Grotesques, 1750), the Invenzioni Capric di Carceri (Imaginary Prisons, 1750, 1761), and the Vedute di Roma (Roman Views, 1745-1778) .