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Giovanni Battista Piranesi

The Skeletons

1750
Etching on heavy ivory laid paper
38.9 × 54.2 cm (15.3 × 21.3 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

This print is one of four grotesques (decorative fantasies) included in Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s popular series of architectural views of Rome and its surroundings. This kind of composition was inspired by Roman wall decorations discovered during the Renaissance and was meant to incorporate dissimilar elements in a whimsical and ornamental manner. This particular etching includes, among other things, a back view of the often-copied Farnese Hercules, a large zodiac wheel partly visible at the upper right, and various fragmentary skeletons adorned with tufts of wavy hair.

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