Engraving: Ancient Rome

Engraving: Monumental plan of Rome made up of eight sheets, first published in 1574 by Etienne Duperac, a Parisian engraver working in Rome.
Du Perac’s monumental Lafreri-type plan of Rome, oriented with north to the top left, shows both a cohesive plan of Rome and an illustration of its major buildings in profile. The plan was originally compiled from a detailed archaeological survey by Pirro Ligorio (c.1510-83), a scholar of the ancient monuments in Rome. The view employes Ligorio’s illustrations for the reconstructions of the buildings.
Inside the city each building is delineated, with the majority named; these include the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Baths of Diocletian and the Circus Maximus. Outside the city the country estates are marked, for example the Gardens of Domitian, funerary monuments such as the mausoleums of Hadrian and Augustus, and the circuses of Nero and Hadrian.
The plan was originally engraved by the Parisian engraver and publisher Étienne Dupérac (c.1525-1604), who used the more Italian name of Stephanus during his period working in Rome (1669-1582). During this time Dupérac worked for various Roman publishers, including Lafreri, Vaccari, Faleti and P.P. Palumbo.
The dedication, to Charles IX of France, explains that the map was the fruit of fifteen years of study of the ruins and monuments of ancient Rome and of related literary texts. It also gives a detailed account of the discovery of the sarcophagus of Severiana in the church of SS. Cosmas and Damian in 1562.
Gilded carving frame with fine gold.
180 X 126 cm.