When you enter the world of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, the grand master of 18th century engraving, you become lost – lost in an exquisite dream of thousands, hundreds of thousands, of lines magically working together to recreate the splendours and theatricality of historic Rome. However, the true splendour of Piranesi’s Vedute di Roma (Views of Rome) is best appreciated through looking at early editions of his prints, when the line of the copperplate etching is fresh and crisp and the level of detail is mesmerising. This is exactly what you can do at a new exhibition at Blairs Museum in Aberdeen with the display of 30 prints that are as fresh today as the day they were printed.
The prints were gathered at the Roman Catholic Church of The Incarnation in the remote, but once vibrant, parish of Tombae in Glenlivet, Tomintoul. The original owner was Father James Gordon Robson, who served in Tombae between 1956 and 1962. He died in 1975 and in his will he left the prints to the Roman Catholic diocese of Aberdeen to be used for church purposes within the diocese. They are therefore now the property of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen, which has offered the prints for exhibition.
The Grand Tour: Piranesi’s Veduta di Roma Part 1 opens this spring at Blairs Museum, Blairs Estate, South Deeside Road, Aberdeen AB12 5YQ; tel: 01224 863767; e-mail: curator@blairsmuseum.org.uk; website: www.blairsmuseum.org.uk. Open Saturday 10am- 4.30pm, Sunday 12 noon- 4.30pm. Admission £3.50 adult/ £2.50 concession.