Giovanni Battista Piranesi cataloged his prints in this trompe l’oeil image of sheets of paper tacked to a masonry wall. The central compartment in the etching lists his major publications, while various kinds of artwork he had for sale appear in an ornamental border. During the course of his career Piranesi periodically reworked the plate to include his most recent creations, and when he ran out of space, he added a second plate. This, one of the latest states of the two-plate print, stands as an unusually comprehensive work of artistic autobibliography.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778). Catalogo delle opere date finora alla lvce da Gio-Battista Piranesi. Rome: Francesco Piranesi, 1780(?). Purchased on the Gordon N. Ray Fund, 2004.