Piranesi and prisons

[incandescens]

All right, my own fault, but now that I know about Piranesi's Carceri, I have to use it somewhere.

(Giovanni Battista Piranesi: Italian artist famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric "prisons" (Carceri d'Invenzione), 1720-1778.)

He started drawing them in 1745, while in Venice. 14 etchings in the first edition, 16 etchings in the second publishing.

They look like this:



I know that I was planning to use the Plombi, but it would be a sin not to use these.

(For reference: Russian site, with the full set of 16 - http://gravures.ru/photo/dzhovanni_piranezi/tjurmy/10)

Comments

[amethyst-hunter.livejournal.com]

Is it wrong that I immediately thought of the Hogwarts Castle when I saw that? Those are some neat-o stairways!

[incandescens]

I suspect Hogwarts, and a lot of other creative products, used these for inspiration.

[amethyst-hunter.livejournal.com]

Brilliant move on J.K. Rowling's part, if that's the case.

(I still maintain that Hermione should've ended up with Harry instead of Ron, though. But that's just me. ^__^)

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

You mean you *didn't* know about the dark brain of Piranesi Piranesi's prisons before this? My generation had them in calendars along with Escher, who so clearly borrowed from them.

[incandescens]

I think that I had heard of him/prisons before, and might have vaguely seen a picture or two somewhere, but had never realised the full scope of it.

(And if I had a calendar of them, the temptation to take it into work might be too great to resist.)

The problem is now that I had half-planned the Rescue Scene from the Plombi in the Ducal Palace. However, given something like this and that I'm writing dark fantastic mythical Venice... well, it seems almost obligatory that the Carceri should really exist, deep beneath the city.

Which is going to make it a lot harder to rescue Kai. (mutters)

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Err, yes, I can see it might. But how could they exist under the city? Something that big must surely be above? (And the obvious answer is to fly out. Just sayin'.)

(Anent today's flood, the other staff who was sweeping water with me remarked 'This is what it must be like to live in Venice'-- since the last time he was there, San Marco was ankle deep in welling water.)

[incandescens]

I am frequently grateful that my flat is on the first floor. A few years back we did have a bit of flooding in Leeds, and it is a relief to know that should it ever happen again, I may need to invest in wellingtons for myself, but I will not need to worry about the flat itself.

How could it exist under the city? I quite agree that it shouldn't. But I think that things become less "how they could be" and more "how they should be" out at that end of reality. It is appropriate that there are huge dungeons under the city, therefore there can be huge dungeons under the city.

Possibly Irene can use that pendant she got from Gouen to make a dragon-finding compass.

The problem with the flying out is that if I let him do it there, then I've got no excuse not to let him do it outside as well, and the escape/chase scene gets more awkward, as both Irene and Vale would be "no, Kai, get out of here and save yourself and stop a potential war, we've got our own escape route!" and Kai becomes Heroically Stupid if he insists on only escaping together with them and not going if they can't come along. Though I suppose I could do the "I barely had enough strength to fly out of the prison, and now I am exhausted and only have a human's strength" route. Hm.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

OK, under the city. Deep underwater caverns only with oxygen. (Truly, the inadvisability of taking a Chinese dragon anywhere as wet as Venice keeps hitting me between the eyes. Maybe it's the effect of Venice's bound water, chained by canals and not let free, though god knows it- in our Venice at least- keeps trying to.)

Whether Kai flies/ doesn't fly, I'd think it'd be more a case of Confucian Dragon Duty to superiors (Irene) than heroic stupidity. But he has to be able to transform and it's easy enough to make that impossible for him. I mean, they'd have had to bind that power to put him up for auction in the first place.

[incandescens]

I am noting down that I need to put some serious justification in the story for why they are trying to keep a dragon, of all creatures, under a waterlogged city. (Thank you for helping me notice this point: it is something that needs sorting out sooner rather than later.)

Good point, re the transformation. Let me think about that one.

(Comment from a colleague, when I was whining about it being harder to write an escape. "You're thinking wrong. Not 'harder'. More 'spectacular'." Clearly I must channel my Inner Shounen.)

[marith.livejournal.com]

*wow*. The formative influence for many a computer game becomes clear. And, yeah, Escher.

[incandescens]

It's always interesting to see where other people were getting their information from. (And it makes me feel a little less like a plagiarist myself.)