Antique Prints For Dummites

[krickard]

Hello, at sales I find myself being drawn to old prints. Really any kind I find interesting. My question is when do you know you've found something really good? What should I look for? The one I found today is a old looking print of Rome and I guess it's been hand tinted. Written on there is: Veduta del Pantheon d' Agrippa     Pironesi Fecil     Edigioni PV 10

Okay, so how do I know if I should keep it 'cause it's pretty, or if I can send my kids to college?

I googled what I could but turned up very little. Thanks for your help!!

[KC]

This style was very popular in the late 40's to 50's! 

[mart]

Well, I wouldn`t stake the college education on vintage or even antique prints !! They are an interesting field but few are rare or worth more than a couple of hundred and most are are in the under $100. catagory !! There were so many of these done that you can find them on ebay or any of the sale sites !! Yours probably has a printmakers name and or company info somewhere !!  Have you taken it out of the frame to look ??

[krickard]

Yes, I've taken it out and it's been glued to some sort of backer-board. Thanks for your response, I realize the college tuition is far fetched but every bit helps, right?

[mart]

The reason you didn`t find much when you googled it was because the spelling was wrong on the name !!  Piranesi is the artist !!  I think you had pironesi !!  This guy was an Italian graphic artist in the 1700`s and what you have is most likely an etching rather than a print !!  Did some checking after you said it was stuck to a hard board of some type !!  There are quite a few of his works on ebay and a california gallery has a bunch in the $1000. and above catagory but these are probably with gallery framing and or graphic drawings which are the rare types !! Etchings similar to yours that are of buildings and structures run around $100.  Most of his etchings are on handmade paper if original !!  Check ebay or google it for "Piranesi etchings" and that will give you more info !!

[Oceans64]

Nice catch Mart!

[krickard]

Thanks so much Mart! Without your help I was kind of lost. The small letters on the bottom are hard to make out! My question is now;

I've Googled Piranesi with the name written on the bottom (several different ways) and cannot find this same view of the Pantheon and no "marketplace" in any of the images I found. So If I can't find on Google or Ebay the same etching would that mean this is something special? Thanks again for your time!

[krickard]

Update, since my post we have found the full image of this print called "Piazza Della Rotunda". So this that I have has been cut down, hand tinted and renamed. But still can't find this particular print anywhere on the internet.

[mart]

Are you looking for prints or etchings ?? How did you decide tha it has been cut down and tinted ?? And it might help to know that Edigioni PV 10, has to do with the papers edge !!  I need to look that up !! Then you can tell if it has been cut down !!   With handmade paper it will usually have a deckled edge !! Not a straight edge !!
Couldn`t find a reference to what PV 10 means, just saw it on a listing of one of his works !!

[krickard]

I'm looking at the whole print I have below. Mine is about a third of that image and tinted. That's all I can tell. I don't know about the paper it was in a matted frame when I bought it, when I took it out it it had been very nicely glued to some sort of thin backer board. The paper is rough to the touch. That's all I can tell, again I need to educate myself more about prints or etchings on the internet. Thanks again for taking the time to help.