two of the great, dark etchings from the famous series
of imaginary prisons, a rare capricho, the master's only
architectural plan (never built, alas), Roman views and
scenes of Tivoli, and two early etchings from Piranesi's
first book, devoted to architecture and perspective (again,
entirely imaginary – and what an imagination he had).
This exercise in self-restraint continues into the bedroom,
which leads onto the bridge. The walls are also painted
in Light Buff, two more large etchings by Piranesi
grace the space above my bed, and a lovely portrait of
Sarah Harrop, the greatest English soprano of the late
eighteenth century, looks down upon me as I sleep. Two
indented bookcases, supplied with glass shelving, posed
a potentially nasty problem, for the cases are too shallow
HYLAND
