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Visit
Open today 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Admission is always free

6th and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565

Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights
Through September 5
Exhibitions & Events
America’s 250th

Celebrating American art and artists
Art & Artists
Open Call

Artists Reimagining the Collection
Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

The Smoking Fire

published 1749/1750

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Associated Names

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Artist, Venetian, 1720 - 1778

This is a drawing of an architectural fantasy scene. The drawing includes enormous stone structures, bridges, and staircases within an imaginary architectural space. The arches and vaulted ceilings, light and shadows through cross-hatching techniques, stone walkways and ramps, architectural details such as railings, columns, and openings, and a monochromatic palette with contrasts of light and dark are all featured.

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Artwork overview

Medium

etching, engraving, sulphur tint or open bite, burnishing
Credit Line

W.G. Russell Allen, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, Lessing J. Rosenwald, and Pepita Milmore Funds
Accession Number

1976.35.4
Catalogue Raisonné

Robison 1986, no. 32, State i/vii

Artwork history & notes

Bibliography

1918

Focillon 29.

1922

Hind 6.

1986

Robison, Andrew. Piranesi Early Architectural Fantasies: A Catalogue Raisonne of the Etchings. Washington: National Gallery of Art; Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1986.

Watermarks

Fleur-de-lis (Robison 5)

Wikidata ID

Q65568924

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