Opulence, Mountains and Prisons

First off, an unfinished Leyendecker study, per the suggestion of Phil.The text is there purely for my own peace of mind. The colour on this is fun, and I'll definitely keep dinking around with it until it's a bit more resolved. I'll tackle the fancy ironwork some other day, however.

'Couple Descending Staircase' - J. C. Leyendecker

And a photo study from a photograph by a gentleman going by the handle of 'Footleg'. Super loose first sketch...

Marginally less loose, trying to fix the shape of the peak...

And the final study. I learnt quite a bit about the structure of mountains (or at least, this particular mountain) and how snow sits on them. I left the figure out because, while it contributes to the original photograph, it's not much help in a study.

'Valley Frances Bridge' - 'Footleg' - Original


And now for that Piranesi thing. I've decided on the four plates I'll be using; I may not finish all of them, so I've ranked them here in order of priority, first being highest. I feel plates III and XIV best encapsulate the feel of the series, particularly XIV, so if I can only manage one then that will be the one I make.

 XIV. Carcere, with a Staircase Ascending to the Left

III. Carcere, with a Circular Tower.

 VII. Carcere, with Numerous Wooden Galleries and a Drawbridge

 VI. Carcere, with Arches and Pulleys and a Smoking Fire in the Centre.

I initially considered a panorama, but attempts at stitching the images together were unsuccessful; this was the best panorama I could make, and, as you can see, it doesn't work. The pieces are simply not created to sit flush next to one another, and out of respect for Piranesi's work I am hesitant to improvise connections between them. Thus they shall probably be separate rooms, with the camera travelling between them.