Gothic Arch

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720 – 1778)

In his Inventions of Imaginary Prisons Piranesi created complex fantastical architectural interiors. While there is an illusion of depth and space, the rules of linear perspective are purposefully ignored. The composition places the viewer at an angle that does not allow a clear understanding of the construction but asks us to navigate the rhythmic repetition of stone buttresses, beams, arches and stairways.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720 – 1778), Gothic Arch, 1749-60 © The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London