View through the Herculaneum Gate, Pompeii, 1778, Pen and brown ink over black chalk, 11 x 16 3/4 in. (28 x 42. 5 cm), Drawings, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, Mogliano Veneto 1720?1778 Rome), Giovanni Battista Piranesi is recognized for his vast and magnificent legacy of archaeological and topographical etchings of Rome and southern Italy. In his last years he was captivated by the antiquities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, which he often drew in a rather austere manner