Bidspirit auction | PAIR OF COLORED ARCHITECTURAL ETCHINGS

PAIR OF COLORED ARCHITECTURAL ETCHINGS ON PAPER - This pair of architectural prints consists of hand-colored etchings with engraving on paper, depicting detailed studies and drawings of Corinthian capitals and entablatures with decorative friezes. Each print features visible plate marks and is inscribed in the plate with plate numbers Tab. XXXVI and Tab. XXXVIII at the top left. The bottom margins of both prints bear the inscription Piranesi Archit. Dis. at the left, and M. Barbault sculps. or F. Barbault sc. at the right, identifying the designer as Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720–1778) and the engraver as Jean Barbault (French, 1718–1762). These plates likely originate from a mid-18th-century architectural series such as Le Antichità Romane. The impressions show good detail with fine line work, utilizing fluid etched lines for the primary forms and precise engraved details for the ornamentation. The pair is professionally housed in matching ornate giltwood frames with double matting consisting of a dark forest green outer mat and a marbled paper inner mat.