Piranesi, Giovanni Battista (1720-78; Italian)
Veduta del Castello dell’Acqua Felice (c.1751)
Etching, c.40.8 x 68 cm (plate)
Acquired, 1868
Present location unknown

A number of Piranesi’s prints are held in the NGV, but the present example, from the Vedute di Roma series, does not appear to be among them.

The fountain of Acqua Felice was built in 1585-88, as part of the reconstruction of Rome’s water supply by Pope Sixtus V. In the background is the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria (which houses Bernini’s famous Ecstasy of St Teresa).

[reproduced below: Metropolitan Museum impression]

Refs.

NGV 1894, p.108 (V.Buvelot Gallery, 2nd bay, no.35); NGV 1905, p.122 (V.Buvelot Gallery, 2nd bay, no.26)

For Piranesi’s prints in the NGV, see http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/3748/?from=2. For the impression of this print in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, see http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/363072 (reproduced at right). For the Acqua Felice, designed by Domenico Fontana, see e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontana_dell%27Acqua_Felice.