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A View of the Ruins of the Baths of Caracalla
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Lusieri was known among his Grand Tour patrons for his meticulous technique and his originality: for example, his choice of an unusual view of the Baths of Caracalla, as here, taken from within the ancient site. With an astonishing commitment to the truthful depiction of nature and ruins, and an extreme awareness of the nuances of light at different times of day, he depicted the ruins in the late afternoon. The presence of figures emphasizes the massive scale of the ruins in the warm Italian sun in this significantly large, impressive sheet, a welcome souvenir to his patron, an English Lord, when he returned to England.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineA View of the Ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, 1779–81. Giovanni Battista Lusieri (Italian, 1750–1825). Graphite, pen and black ink, watercolor; support: 53.3 x 68.6 cm (21 x 27 in.); matted: 66 x 86 cm (26 x 33 7/8 in.); image: 50.9 x 65.7 cm (20 1/16 x 25 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund, 2022.93
