{
"data": {
"id": 147901,
"accession_number": "1974.255",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Grotteschi: The Tomb of Nero, 1747\u201348. Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720\u20131778), published by Giovanni Bouchard (Italian, 1700-1850). Etching with engraving and drypoint; image and plate: 39.1 x 55.3 cm (15 3/8 x 21 3/4 in.); sheet: 52.9 x 76.8 cm (20 13/16 x 30 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection, 1974.255",
"current_location": null,
"title": "The Tomb of Nero",
"series": "Grotteschi",
"creation_date": "1747\u201348",
"creation_date_earliest": 1747,
"creation_date_latest": 1748,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"Italy"
],
"technique": "etching with engraving and drypoint",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Prints",
"collection": "PR - Etching",
"type": "Print",
"measurements": "Image and Plate: 39.1 x 55.3 cm (15 3/8 x 21 3/4 in.); Sheet: 52.9 x 76.8 cm (20 13/16 x 30 1/4 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"image and plate": {
"height": 0.391,
"height_inch": 15,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.375,
"width": 0.553,
"width_inch": 21,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.75
},
"sheet": {
"height": 0.529,
"height_inch": 20,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.8125,
"width": 0.768,
"width_inch": 30,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.25
}
},
"state_of_the_work": "I/II",
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Lower left, in plate: Piranesi invento; et incise",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
},
{
"inscription": "lower right, in plate: Apo. Piranesi dir impetto l'Accademia di Francia in Roma",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 302084,
"title": "Year in Review: 1974",
"description": "Year in Review: 1974. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 11-April 6, 1975).",
"opening_date": "1975-03-11T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 311461,
"title": "Generous Donors: A Tribute to The Print Club of Cleveland",
"description": "Generous Donors: A Tribute to The Print Club of Cleveland. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991).",
"opening_date": "1991-04-02T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 665048,
"title": "Imagination in the Age of Reason",
"description": "Imagination in the Age of Reason. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 28, 2024-March 2, 2025).",
"opening_date": "2024-09-28T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Leona E. Prasse [1896\u20131984], Rocky River, OH, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?\u20131975",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "February 7, 1975\u2013",
"sortorder": 2
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Popularly associated with the Emperor Nero in the 1700s, the monument the artist depicted has since been identified as the tomb of P. Vibius Maranus.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "An ancient tomb, teeming with slithering snakes and overgrown vegetation, conjures the ruins of a strange and distant past in this print. The more lightly etched background appears faint against the jumble of darker lines in the foreground, as if the whole scene is slowly fading into the mist of time. Although the composition might seem to be one of pure imagination, the tomb it depicts was based on a real monument the artist had observed near Rome. Fascinated by classical antiquity, Giovanni Battista Piranesi evoked his own experience of seeing ruins, which he felt could not be conveyed by a more realistic portrayal.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79927578"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1974.255-groteschi-ruins-with",
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1974.255-the-tomb-of-nero"
]
},
"citations": [],
"catalogue_raisonne": "Focillon 22 ; Robison 23 ; Wilton-Ely 23",
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1974.255",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1974.255/1974.255_web.jpg",
"width": "900",
"height": "652",
"filesize": "306683",
"filename": "1974.255_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1974.255/1974.255_print.jpg",
"width": "3400",
"height": "2464",
"filesize": "4062887",
"filename": "1974.255_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1974.255/1974.255_full.tif",
"width": "5605",
"height": "4062",
"filesize": "68336448",
"filename": "1974.255_full.tif"
}
},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 147901,
"creators": [
{
"id": 11946,
"description": "Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720\u20131778)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1720",
"death_year": "1778",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
},
{
"id": 674825,
"description": "Giovanni Bouchard (Italian, 1700-1850)",
"extent": "published by",
"qualifier": null,
"role": "publisher",
"biography": "Italian publisher and printer, 18th century",
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1716",
"death_year": "1795",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": true,
"weight": 2
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1975-02-07T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1747,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1747\u201348",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-09-10 12:11:46.273000"
}
}