A first state printing of Piranesi's view of the Pyramid of Gaius Cestius, from the Vedute di Roma. This is the second, and more dramatic, of two views of the pyramid by Piranesi, looking across the northeastern face of the pyramid towards the Via Ostiense and Via Marmorata beyond. The pyramid's funerary inscription, commemorating the Augustan era magistrate Gaius Cestius, can be seen at centre, above an area of scrubby land holding Rome's first Protestant cemetery, famous as the burial place of the English poets Percy Shelley and John Keats. On either side of the monument, sections of the 3rd century AD Aurelian walls can be seen, testament to the creative reuse of the monument as part of later city defences. Beyond the crenells and arcades of the walls, the tower of the Porta di San Paolo can be seen. In the foreground, antiquarians share the shadow of the pyramid with beggars and the goats of a nearby herdsman, while a ragged figure in the bottom right corner gestures to the title and inscription of the plate. The inscription below the title reads: "1. Terreno sgombrato d'intorno alla Piramide sotto il Pontificato d'Alessandro VII. 2. Porta aperta di quel tempo nella Piramide. 3. Colonne ritrovate nello sgombro e riposte nell'antica positura. 4. Mura di Roma. 5. Torri della Porta di S. Paolo." The Vedute di Roma was Piranesi's most popular and best known series, celebrating the churches, monuments, ruins, bridges, fountains, and public spaces of the city of Rome. The immense popularity of the series meant that they were in constant demand, and Piranesi continued to reissue and add to the series from the 1740s until his death in 1778. The Vedute were particularly popular with British grand tourists, and had a profound effect on the British neoclassical movement. Demand was such that the series was reprinted numerous times after Piranesi's death, including two Paris editions published by his sons, Francesco and Pietro. Hind 36. i/iii, Wilton-Ely 190, F745, C796.