Piranesi and the Impact of the Late Baroque

The Australian Institute of Art History, in collaboration with the Baillieu Library and the State Library of Victoria will host a conference on Piranesi and the Impact of the Late Baroque on 27 and 28 February 2014 at the University of Melbourne.

The conference is conceived in relation to the exhibition, Rome: Piranesi's vision, 22 February - 22 June, 2014, State Library of Victoria, and the related exhibition The Piranesi Effect, 20 February - 25 May, 2014, Ian Potter Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne.

The exhibition publication for Rome: Piranesi's vision at the State Library is Piranesi's grandest tour: from Europe to Australia and will be published 1 February 2014 by NewSouth Publishing in association with the State Library of Victoria.

Both The University of Melbourne and the State Library of Victoria have distinguished collections of Piranesi prints. Many of the bound volumes at the State Library of Victoria were from the collection of George IV, while those from the Baillieu Library, were acquired from their first Australian owner, James Alipius Goold, Melbourne's first Roman Catholic archbishop, an extensive book collector and foundation member of the University.

Prisoners on a Projecting Platform Plate 10 from Carceri Francesco Piranesi from G.B Piranesi Opere varie, Vol. VIII. Paris: Francesco Piranesi, 1800-07 Special Collections, Baillieu Library, The University of Melbourne

Speakers include:

• His Excellency Pier Francesco Zazo, The Italian Ambassador to Australia
• Professor Luigi Ficacci Emeritus Soprintendete of Bologna
• Professor Jaynie Anderson, Director AIAH, Herald Chair of Fine Art, University of Melbourne
• Dr Colin Holden, Senior Fellow of the School of Historical Studies
• Warren Andrews, The University of Sydney, Art History and Film Studies, PhD candidate
• Philip Kent, State Librarian, University of Melbourne
• Associate Professor David Marshall, University of Melbourne
• Professor Gerard Vaughan, Gerry Higgins Professorial Fellow, AIAH, University of Melbourne
• Shane Carmody, Senior Development Manager, University Library, University of Melbourne
• Kerrianne Stone, Special Collections Curatorial Assistant (Prints), University of Melbourne
• Mary Kisler, Curator, Auckland Art Gallery
• Associate Professor Robert Gaston, University of Melbourne
• Ron McBurnie, Contemporary Artist, Lecturer James Cook University
• Professor Paolo Tombesi, Chair in Construction, Faculty of Architecture, University of Melbourne
• Jane Clark, Curator, MONA
• Dr Susanne Meurer,University of Western Australia
• John Nicholas Weretka, University of Melbourne, PhD candidate
  Bill Henson, Contemporary Artist

In collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Melbourne, there will be the opening on the 25th February of a photographic exhibition A Traveller’s dream: Piranesi’s Rome today on Giovan Battista Piranesi, with photos by Graziano Panfili, a multi-award winning Italian photographer, based near Rome, who specialises in social documentary, street and art photography.