A beautifully rendered book that is the most important study of Piranesi's drawings to appear in more than a generation. In a letter written near the end of his life, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-78) explained that he left his native Venice because no patrons were willing to support "the sublimity of [his] ideas." Residing in Rome, he became internationally famous as a printmaker and designer, among other numerous pursuits. While...