The artwork titled “Iconography of the Ancient State of the Pantheon,” created by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, belongs to the Neoclassicism art movement and falls under the genre of design. The artwork is a meticulously detailed architectural diagram of the Pantheon, showcasing Piranesi’s academic precision and artistic prowess. Through a cerebral layout of planimetric views, the artist illuminates the Pantheon’s structural and stylistic elements, divided neatly down the center to illustrate a clear juxtaposition of components.
The composition of the artwork is symmetrically divided into two halves, each separated by a single line. The left half of the diagram reveals a segmented and meticulously labeled section, while the right half offers a detailed grid representation of the same structure. Intricacies such as circumscribed areas, sectional grids, and geographic coordinates are precisely inscribed, reflecting the Neoclassical emphasis on clarity, order, and symmetry. The artist’s drafting expertise is evident in the uniformity of the strokes and the exactness of the geometric forms, giving viewers both a technical and aesthetic appreciation for the Pantheon’s architecture.
