The son of a Venetian stonemason, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-78) settled in Rome in his mid-20s where he established himself as an architect, antiquarian, and artist. One of the most prolific and accomplished printmakers of his era, he became celebrated for his true and imagined renderings of his adopted Rome. The full range of Piranesi's talent was on display in "The Inventive Hand: A Selection of the Works of Giovanni Battista Piranesi," an exhibit at the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery in Schermerhorn Hall from January 27 to March 20. The exhibit, which drew upon the extensive collections of Piranesi drawings in the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, included Piranesi's earliest published series of etchings and the colored presentation drawings of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, two of which are reproduced here.