View of St Peter's Square

This etching belongs to the series Vedute di Roma (Views of Rome).

Piranesi’s definition of the peculiar urban image, which brings together the most complete synthesis of the artist’s genius as an engraver, has influenced the way in which the urban fabric of Rome has been seen, even in modern times, through a special ability to read and interpret space. For its symbolic worth, which is the latest of his views of St Peter’s Square included in the Vedute series, the artist chooses an aerial perspective, with an evocative power that would be inconceivable to our modern-day visual sensitivity.