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piranesi
Emil Kaufmann

1955
"Giambattista Piranesi" in Architecture in the Age of Reason

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un edifice composite
a composite building

non l'ingombro delle statue, ma la loro scompostezza, e la sproporzione di esse co' nicchj, con le basi ec. son ciò che toglie al tempio la vera cagione dilodarlo
not the clutter of the statues, but their decomposition, and the disproportion of them with the niches, with the bases and c. I am what takes away the true cause of the temple dilate it

277. Focillon, Catalogue, no. 969.
278. Piranesi, Parere, p. 15.

The vignette above the title of the Parere shows a building composed in an unusual manner. The single features come from classical stock, but they are unrelated and thus deviate from conventional arrangement. The whole is an agglomeration of almost independent elements. (Focillon describes the building as un edifice composite²⁷⁷ hinting that it is composed of nonunified parts.) Another extremely interesting trait can be found in this design: the parts are disproportionate. Here the upper part of the center has definitely outweighed the lower; the balance of the parts is disturbed. Though the center is still accentuated, there is no gradation leading from one part to the other; there is no final climax, for all the elements, particularly the lateral obelisks and the columns flanking the entrance, do not conform to the upper central portion. How could Piranesi design this way while, in the very text of the Parere speaking of another building, he criticizes disproportion and discomposure? (. . . non l'ingombro delle statue, ma la loro scompostezza, e la sproporzione di esse co' nicchj, con le basi ec. son ciò che toglie al tempio la vera cagione dilodarlo.)²⁷⁸

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