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piranesi
Emil Kaufmann

1955
"Giambattista Piranesi" in Architecture in the Age of Reason

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a fare un edifizio secondo que' principj che vi siete posti in capo, cioè di far tutto con ragione e verità, ci vorreste ridurre a stare in tante capanne
to build a building according to the principles you have set for yourselves, that is, to do everything with reason and truth, you would like to reduce us to staying in many huts

255. Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Parere su l'architettura (annexed to Osservazioni, Rome, 1765). P. 9.
256. Ibid., p. 10.
257. Ibid., p. 10: "impertinenti attributi dell' Architettura. . ."
258. Ibid., p. 11.

The Master proclaims a dogma which makes all further justification of tradition superfluous: "Usage establishes law" (L'uso fa legge).²⁵⁵ The Novice retorts: "But abuse doesn't" (ma non l'abuso).²⁵⁶ Then the Master inveighs against the rigorists, using strong language quite up to the attacks of the Novice. While the latter brands ornaments as "impertinent additions to architecture," foreign to its very nature,²⁵⁷ the Master scoffs at the rigorists whose principles would lead back to the most primitive type of dwelling: a fare un edifizio secondo que' principj che vi siete posti in capo, cioè di far tutto con ragione e verità, ci vorreste ridurre a stare in tante capanne.²⁵⁸

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