39 GIOVANNI BATTISTA The eighteenth­century English collector, connoisseur, and man of letters Horace PIRANESI Walpole wrote of one of Piranesi's compositions, close to this in type: "He piles palaces Italian, 1720­1778 on bridges and temples on palaces and scales Heaven with mountains of edifices." This An Ancient Port drawing is a study in the same direction, but to a smaller scale, for one of the prints in Red and black chalk and brown and the series Prima parte di architetture e prospettive, published in Rome in 1743. The reddish wash, squared corresponding print is the Parte di ampio magnifico porto, which, according to the 38.5 x 52.8 cm (15 x 20 13/16 in.) Cat. II, no. 34; 88.GB.18 artist's lengthy inscription beneath it, was "for the use of the ancient Romans, where can be seen the interior of a great commercial piazza superabundantly decorated with rostral columns that denote the most worthy maritime victories, etc." The miscellaneous engraved architectural compositions that make up the Prima parte gave expression to Piranesi's personal and highly fanciful vision of antiquity, comprising measureless heaps of marble set within vast spaces of baffling complexity. Piranesi first drew the main outlines in chalk, then liberally added brown and red wash for shading and for some of the details. The black chalk grid lines throughout were made to assist the process of transfer of the design to the copperplate (see no. 9); the wash gives a vibrancy to the whole. At least two drawings preceded this finished sketch. 50 ITALIAN SCHOOL