One of two new plates created by Piranesi for his second, and drastically reworked, edition of the famous Carceri d'invenzione. Like the rest of the plates in the series, this example was left enigmatically untitled, and as such, is usually referred to as 'The Man on the Rack' for the unfortunate figure in the centre foreground. The scene shows a cavernous and apparently partially subterranean torture chamber below a vaulted ceiling, colonnade, or bridge. The central figure is tied bodily to fragments of classical architecture, while a thong around his ankles is roped to a large wooden racking wheel tightened by a figure in a short toga. Another figure at centre, wearing a cloth cap, holds aloft a large pin or nail in his right hand. A large crowd has gathered on a ledge beyond, above a series of colossal classical portrait reliefs and tabulae ansatae bearing latin inscriptions. On a scaffold to the right, another group of spectators jeer at the unfortunates below. The 16 plates of the Carceri d'invenzione ('Imaginary Prisons') are amongst Piranesi's earliest major works, and represent the zenith of his architectural imagination. A series of fanciful images of prisons, the Carceri were first issued by Bouchard in 1750. Although dwarfed in popularity by Piranesi's later views of Rome, the Carceri are widely seen as Piranesi's most innovative and characteristic contributions to etching. Composed of monumental architectural features and nightmarish instruments of physical and psychological torture, the Carceri have had a profound effect on Piranesi's various admirers. Chief amongst these was Thomas de Quincey, the British author and self-confessed opium addict, who describes at length the powerful and feverish impact the Carceri had upon him and his fellow poet Coleridge. Hind 2. i/ii, Robison 43 v/vi, Wilton-Ely 27, F25, C350.