Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778), Italian etcher, engraver, designer, architect, archaeologist and theorist. He is considered one of the supreme exponents of topographical engraving, being his lifelong preoccupation with architecture a fundamental aspect of his art. His prolific output of etched plates, which combined remarkable flights of imagination with a strongly practical understanding of ancient Roman technology, fostered a new and lasting perception of antiquity. He was also a designer of festival structures and stage sets, interior decoration and furniture, as well as a restorer of antiquities.
The Carceri d'invenzione is a series of 16 prints. The first state prints were published in 1750 and consisted of 14 etchings, untitled and unnumbered. For the second publishing in 1761, all the etchings were reworked and numbered I - XVI.
The plate above is the sixth.