author
Tommaso Piroli
1752–1824
An Italian engraver and publisher active in Rome, he helped turn major works of art and archaeology into images that could travel far beyond their original settings. His prints connect the worlds of classical ruins, religious art, and the neoclassical imagination of late eighteenth-century Europe.
6 Audiobooks
Antiquités d'Herculanum, Tome I. Peintures
by Tommaso Piroli
Antiquités d'Herculanum, Tome II. Peintures
by Tommaso Piroli
Antiquités d'Herculanum, Tome VI. Lampes et candélabres
by Tommaso Piroli
Antiquités d'Herculanum, Tome IV. Bronzes
by Tommaso Piroli
Antiquités d'Herculanum, Tome III. Peintures
by Tommaso Piroli
Antiquités d'Herculanum, Tome V. Bronzes
by Tommaso Piroli
About the author
Working in Rome in the late 1700s and early 1800s, Tommaso Piroli was an Italian engraver and publisher remembered for the clarity and firmness of his line. Sources place his life in Rome from 1752 to 1824, and note that he was also active in Paris for periods in the early nineteenth century, where he worked with Francesco Piranesi.
Piroli is especially associated with engraved interpretations of other artists' works and with publications tied to antiquity. He engraved designs after John Flaxman and was involved in projects connected with Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other classical subjects, helping spread the visual language of archaeology and neoclassicism to a wider audience.
Although he is less widely known today than some of the artists whose works he translated into print, his role was an important one: he preserved, circulated, and reshaped images for readers, collectors, and students across Europe. That makes him a quietly influential figure in the history of printmaking.