Colonna Trajan (Column of Trajan)
Artist
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720–1778)Italian, 1720–1778
CultureItalian
Titles
- Colonna Trajan (Column of Trajan)
Date1758
MediumEtching with engraving on laid paper, state I/VII, First Roman Edition
DimensionsPlate: 21 3/8 × 16 in. (54.3 × 40.6 cm)
Sheet: 23 9/16 × 17 3/8 in. (59.8 × 44.1 cm)
Mat: 26 3/4 × 19 5/16 in. (68 × 49 cm)
Sheet: 23 9/16 × 17 3/8 in. (59.8 × 44.1 cm)
Mat: 26 3/4 × 19 5/16 in. (68 × 49 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Marjorie G. and Evan C. Horning Print Endowment
Object number2025.334
Not on view
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Department
Prints and DrawingsObject Type
Exhibition History"Life and Times in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Nov. 2, 2025--Jan. 25, 2026.
Published References Martinez D, Estampes Anciennes & Modernes à Collectionner, vol. XXX, Paris: 2020, p. 10, Cat. 23, illus. Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink [cursive] in plate, bottom left: 1. Bucca fatta scavare da Sisto V. con recinto di muro, e Scala, che discende al piano della Colonna. [Hole dug by Sixtus V with a wall enclosure and a staircase leading down to the level of the Column]
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink [cursive] in plate, bottom center: Colonna Trajana [Column Trajan]
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink [cursive] in plate, bottom right: 2. Chiesa del Rome di Maria. // 3. Palazzo Bonelli. // Piranesi fecit [Church of Rome of Maria // Palace Bonelli // Piranesi made it]
Verso: Inscribed in graphite, bottom right: A90069
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink [cursive] in plate, bottom center: Colonna Trajana [Column Trajan]
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink [cursive] in plate, bottom right: 2. Chiesa del Rome di Maria. // 3. Palazzo Bonelli. // Piranesi fecit [Church of Rome of Maria // Palace Bonelli // Piranesi made it]
Verso: Inscribed in graphite, bottom right: A90069
Verso: Watermark, top center: [possible a fleur-de-lis enclosed within a single circle]
Catalogue raisonnéHind, Arthur M. Giovanni Battista Piranesi: A Critical Study, with a list of his published works and detained catalogues of the prisons and views of Rome. New York: E. Weyhe, 1922, Cat. 51 I/VII
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1774-1779
Engraving and etching on two joined sheets of laid paper
2025.328
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1774–1779, printed c. 1836
Etching with engraving on six joined sheets of wove paper
2025.333
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
c. 1748
Etching on laid paper, state I/I
85.442
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1776
Etching on laid paper, state I/IV
2012.222
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
c. 1749
Etching with engraving, scraping, and burnishing, state I/V
78.146
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1760 - 1778
Etching with engraving on laid paper, possibly state IV/VI
2013.590
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
c. 1748
Etching with engraving, drypoint, and burnishing on cream laid paper, state II/V
2013.589
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1628–1632
Etching with engraving on laid paper, state IV/VII
84.426
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione
1647–1651
Etching on laid paper, state I/I
83.325
Paulus Pontius, called Paul du Pont
1630 - 1645
Engraving on laid paper, state V/VII
84.424