Giovanni battista piranesi biography

Sarah Kain

Giovanni Battista Piranesi () was born at Mogliano Veneto in Italy.

His father was a stonemason and a master builder, and his mother was the elder sister of Matteo Lucchesi (), a renowned architect and engineer who had connections in aristocratic circles.¹ Piranesi’s family expected him to be an architect, and his upbringing in the architectural world of Venice was foundational in his future achievements.² The Venice in which Piranesi grew up introduced him to the architecture of the theatrical stage through the various productions he worked on, an experience that would be influential to the style he developed.

Piranesi learned to perfect the art of stage design, discovering how to render light and shade with dramatic ef