509 
P I R A 
pies at Pieftum, and which atteft the vivid feeling and 
mafterly powers of execution which Piranefi poflefled in 
that branch of the art, are now in this country, having 
been purchafed in Italy, by Charles Lambert, efq. of the 
Inner Temple. 
Towards the middle period of his life, or rather before, 
our engraver became a member of the Roman Academy 
of Arts; but, on account of fome feuds, with the merits 
of which, if any merit attached to them, we are not ac¬ 
quainted, he was expelled by the voice of the majority of 
academicians. After fome few years, however, had 
elapfed, and animofity was cool, motives were explained, 
or miltakes were difcovered, and Piranefi was honour¬ 
ably invited by his brother artifts to return. He was, 
abont the fame time, perhaps to give a greater eclat to 
his return, created a Roman knight; but was always bet¬ 
ter known by his name than his title. He was alfo a 
member of the Society of Antiquaries in London. 
Of many irrefragable proofs that might be adduced to 
render idle the fophifms of thofe who aflert that engra¬ 
ving is not an original art, Piranefi is one, having never, 
to the bell of the prefent writer’s knowledge, engraved 
after any other piftures or drawings than were the pro- 
duftion of his own hand. 
Though the human figures wdiich he introduced into 
his landfcapes, are extravagant in their attitudes, and ill 
drawn, they aft the parts which they were intended to 
aft; they ferve to fliow that the fcenes he has reprefented 
were inhabited, if not by whom; and they are a fcale 
whereby he induces the fpeftator unwittingly to meafure 
the relative magnitude of thofe edifices which were the 
real and oftenfible objefts of his art. In his charafter- 
iftic treatment of thofe edifices, and of the vafes and 
other ornamental remains of antiquity, his line, varying 
as occafion admitted or required, was peculiarly expreflive 
offlone, bronze, llucco, brick, and all the various mate¬ 
rials of which Greek and Roman fculpture and archi- 
tefture conlift, difcriminating with exquifite obfervation 
and inimitable lkill, whether thofe materials retained 
their original fiiarpnefs of workmanfhip, or were moul¬ 
dered by the hand of time; or ftained by the weather; 
or fplit and cracked by the froft, by Vandal barbarity, or 
other fudden cafualty ; and, whatever his fubjeft, he 
always feems to have worked with eafy vigour, with un¬ 
limited freedom of hand, and as if “ out of the abundance 
of his heart.” Trees do not often occur in the prints 
of Piranefi; but, when they do, they in moft inftances too 
much refemble fea-weed : yet the wild raggednefs and 
unexpefted forms which charafterize both thefe and the 
clouds which float over his landfcapes, and even his ill- 
drawn figures, have a certain air of enterprife, which 
accords with the forceful and chivalrous charafter of his 
chiarofcuro, and rather augments than diminilhes the 
general fentiment of romantic magnificence, which many 
of his compofitions, and more efpecially the large fron- 
tifpieces which fold into his large folios, infpire. In 
fome of the latter, all the grand architeftural forms of 
Egypt, Greece, and Italy, appear to be aflembled, as if 
by magic; and the mind of the fpeftator is led to wander, 
in poetic reverie, through irregular avenues of obelifks, 
farcophagi, pyramids, columns, and triumphal arches. 
In others, which are of fubterraneous charafter, the 
author appears to Lave penetrated the cemeteries of de¬ 
parted greatnefs; and here, monftrous and forbidden 
things are crawling and twining their flinty convolutions 
among mouldering bones, broken fculpture, and muti¬ 
lated infcriptions; and an air ofdanknefs and dilapidation, 
and fepulchral gloom, is diffufed through the cavern, 
as if time and envy were beckoning to oblivion, to break 
uown what remained of the trophies of the brave, and 
obliterate the wifdont of the wife. 
In his technical procefs, Piranefi was the firft engraver 
who made free and abundant ufe of the ruler, as may be 
feen in his interiors of St. Peter’s Cathedral, his antique 
vafes, and fuch other fubjefts as required it, oras ad- 
Vol. XX. No. 1386. 
N E S I. 
mitted it only in certain parts; for he fometimes artfully 
contrafted, in the fame plate, the wildeft fallies of the 
etching-point, in the broken or weather-ftained parts of 
his lights, with ruled pafl’ages in his fhadows, where the 
utmoft regularity and perfpicuity were preserved. To 
fpeak of the works of this artift in detail, would fill a vo¬ 
lume: it muft therefore here fuffice to fay, that among 
the beft of them will be found the frontifpieces or title- 
pages to his large volumes of Italian Antiquities, confid¬ 
ing, for the molt part, of very rich compofitions, formed 
of the fragments and monuments of antiquity. Several 
views of the Colifeum and Arches of Conftantine and 
Septimius Severus, at Rome; the Pyramid of Ceftius, 
with other Roman antiquities; the Tomb of Cecilia 
Metella, on the Appian Way ; the Fountain of Bernini, 
with the furrounding edifices; the fagade of the Bafili- 
cum of St. Mary, with other buildings; ditto of St. 
Lorenzo on the Tiburtinian Way, (an admirable mix¬ 
ture of regular with irregular mode of execution, in the 
treatment of the architefture;) interior and exterior 
views of the Pantheon of Agrippa ; a very large and mag¬ 
nificent view of the Sybil’s Temple at Tivoli; another 
view of the fame Temple, fomewhat fmaller; another, 
with the Cafcade at Tivoli; the Bridge and Caftle of St. 
Angelo; the Ponte Mola; the Square of the Capitol; 
the Square of Monte Cavallo; the Grand Fountain of 
Trevi, and the Temple of Jupiter Tonans; all of large 
folio dimenfions, and fome of them fo large as to fold 
into his imperial folios 
PIRANE'SI (Francifco), was the fon of Giovanni 
Battifia, and was born at Rome in the year 174-8. He 
became an engraver of landfcape and ruined buildings, 
in which he imitated the ftyle of his father, but, like other 
followers, was always behind, though his engravings of 
this kind poflefs fo much merit, that, were his father’s 
works annihilated, he would be entitled to hold rather an 
high rank in his profeflion. Francifco did not, however, 
confine the exercife of his talents to landfcape and archi¬ 
tefture, but engraved feveral plates of the celebrated 
ftatues of antiquity. He drew the human figure better 
than his father, but in his treatment of the antique he 
was ftill an imitator ; following, with much devotion, 
the ftyle of engraving of Pitteri. See that article. 
Among the beft of his prints are views of the Colifeum, 
the Pantheon, the Baths of Salluft, the Baths of Diocle- 
lian, and the Temple of Ills, at Pompeii, all in large folio ; 
and in very large folio, the Illumination of the Chapel 
of Paulina, in St. Peter’s Cathedral ; and among his 
ftatues the following are entitled to refpeftful notice, 
viz. the Sitting Jupiter of the Mufeum Clementinum, 
the Venus di Medicis, the group of Cupid and Pyfche, 
from the gallery of the Capitol, and Oreftes recognized 
by Eleftra, miftakenly called by fome the young Papirius 
and his Mother, from the original fculpture in the Villa 
Ludovifa, all of large folio dimenfions. 
Laura Piranesi, was the After of the preceding artifl, 
with whom fhe equally diftinguifhed herfelf by engraving. 
The following views are by her hand : the Capitol of 
Rome, the Bridge of Salario, the Temple of Peace, and 
the Arch of Septimius Severus; all of 4to. fize. Rees's 
Cyclopaedia. 
PIRA'NO, a frnall, populous, and rich, town of Iftria, 
fituated partly on an eminence, and partly on an ifthmus, 
fomewhat extending into the fea. This town, together 
with thofe of Muggia and Capo d’lftria, have hitherto 
monopolized the fait trade. Their inhabitants are good 
feamen. It is nine miles fouth-weft of Capo d’lftria. 
Lat. 45. 37. N. Ion. 13. 36. E. 
PI'RATE, f Osi^ab}?, Gr. pirata, Lat.] A fea-robber. 
—Pirates all nations are to profecute, not fo much in the 
right of their own fears, as upon the band pf human 
fociety. Bacon. 
Relate, if bufinefs or the thirft of gain 
Engage your journey o’er the pathlefs main, 
6 O 
Where 
