Carceri (“Prisons”) is a series of 14 (in a later state, 16) copperplate etchings by the 18th century Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi. These are wonderfully detailed architectural fantasies, full of the suggestion of dramatic scale and lavished with fascinating details.
What appears to be a complete set of the 16 plates in their later state, in which many of the etchings have been darkened and rendered with even more detail, is currently on view at the Princeton University Art Museum in new Jersey until the end of December, 2013.
The museum has provided a page from which you can access images of the prints. (I’m not sure how long this page will be in place; if it’s not functional, you can use the website’s search page.)
Though it’s not immediately clear, the museum has provided nicely high-resolution versions of the images on the site. Click on the thumbnail to go to the dedicated page for each image, then click again to view a larger image in a pop-up, then look for the small download arrow at lower left of the pop-up to view or download the high-res image.
For more, see my previous posts: Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Piranesi’s Prisons: Architecture of Mystery and Imagination.
