Lola Kantor-Kazovsky

The book is devoted to G.B. Piranesi as a scholar of Roman architecture, and analyzes his polemic against the philhellene scholars of antiquities, in the light of new documents. The author finds the precedents for Piranesi's concepts in classical and Renaissance literature and architecture, highlighting Cato Major's traditionalist stand and the rusticated architecture which expresses it as the sources of influence on the artist. Piranesi's views are analyzed in the context of other architectural theories current in 18th-century Italy.