A drawbridge hangs raised on heavy chains at the center of this plate, cutting off a stairway mid-span and stranding it over an unresolved drop — one of the more explicitly disorienting compositions in Le Carceri d'Invenzione, where Piranesi's usual trick of implying vast depth through receding arches is compounded by a literal, physical break in the only visible path through the space. Small figures cross catwalks and lean over railings at various heights throughout the composition, none of them appearing to occupy the same coherent floor, reinforcing the sense of an architecture assembled from fragments of different, incompatible buildings. What to notice: the heavy diagonal chains slicing across the upper third of the plate are among the most technically demanding passages in the whole series — engraved in dense parallel hatching that had to read as taut metal under real tension, all from pure line.

Maker: Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Date: 1761
Medium of the original: Plate
Original held by: Wikimedia Commons
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Rights: Public domain, verified
Catalogue number: PA-00308

As chosen: 8 x 10 in, art print, classic frame
Picture	8 x 10 in
Outside size	9.6 x 11.6 in
Depth	0.9 in (22 mm)
Weight	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]]
Hanging	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]]
Material	Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing
Made in	Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi

Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.

How the print check works

Sizes offered
Size	dpi	Grade	How it fits
8 x 10 in	192	Good	Trimmed 3.7%

Sizes withheld
Size	Why
8 x 12 in	Wrong shape: a 13% crop
11 x 14 in	140 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
12 x 16 in	125 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
12 x 18 in	Wrong shape: a 13% crop
16 x 20 in	96 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
16 x 24 in	Wrong shape: a 13% crop
18 x 24 in	83 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
20 x 30 in	Wrong shape: a 13% crop
24 x 30 in	64 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
24 x 36 in	Wrong shape: a 13% crop
30 x 40 in	50 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
36 x 48 in	41 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
40 x 60 in	Wrong shape: a 13% crop

Scanned

2026-10-07

Master file

1,540 x 2,000 px, srgb, Adobe RGB (1998)

Tone

Darks 54, lights 237 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark

Colour

0% vivid

Sharpness

74.17

Notes

Colour profile Adobe RGB (1998), converted to sRGB for the screen and the print
Neutrals lean warm (yellow): the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned

Shipping for this piece to a US address is $24.80, the print room’s own rate, charged per piece. Checkout shows the total before you pay.

Every piece is printed after you order it, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ships from there. For now we ship to US addresses only.

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