The most famous engraver of the 18th century, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778) made a name with his etchings of ancient Rome. His striking, chiaroscuro images fill the archaeological ruins of the city with drama and romance and became favorite souvenirs for the guests of the Grand Tour who traveled to Italy in search of classical culture and education.

Today, Piranesi is renowned not only for how he shaped Europe's imagination of Rome but also for his detailed series of imaginary prisons, Carceri, which have influenced generations of creators from the Surrealists to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Edgar Allan Poe, Jorge Luis Borges, and Franz Kafka.

Loosely based on contemporary settings rather than the actual dungeons of Piranesi's locksmiths, these intricate images defy architectural reality, playing with perspective, lighting, and scale. Stairs exist on two levels at once, huge, vaulted ceilings seem to soar into the skies, and interior and exterior distinctions collapse. With a low viewing angle and small, fragile figures, the prison scenes become vast metropolises of incarceration, celebrated to this day as masterpieces of existential dramaturgy.