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Object Timeline

1950

  • We acquired this object.

2015

2025

  • You found it!

Print, Porta Maggiore

This is a Print. It was created by Giovanni Battista Piranesi. It is dated 1835–39 (printed date) and we acquired it in 1950. Its medium is etching and engraving. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.


The Porta Maggiore combines practicality with propaganda. It was built be the Emperor Claudius (41-54 A.D.) to celebrate imperial power, and it supported two new aqueducts, the Aqua Claudia and the Aqua Anio Novus over the via Labicana and the via Praenestrina.

Its dimensions are

49.1 x 71.5 cm (plate mark), 55.2 x 76.8 cm (paper)

Cite this object as

Print, Porta Maggiore; Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720–1778); Italy; etching and engraving; 49.1 x 71.5 cm (plate mark), 55.2 x 76.8 cm (paper); 1950-11-1

This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-6.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18383435/ |title=Print, Porta Maggiore |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=25 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>