Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae. Façade of the Farnese Palace, Rome.

Image is not available

Maker

(engraver)
born 1507 or 1515, died ca. 1565 (Life dates)
(publisher)
1512-1577

Title

Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae. Façade of the Farnese Palace, Rome.

Date of Production

1549

Medium

medium : material : ink & support : material : paper

Dimensions

Height: 33.6 cm
Width: 54 cm

Object Number

B.1978.PG.102.118

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Location

Not currently on display

Label Text

The Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae (‘Mirror of Roman Magnificence’), one of the most celebrated print collections of the Renaissance, is unique in that no two known examples are alike. Antoine Lafréry, a French publisher based in Rome, kept a large stock of prints depicting Roman antiquities, sculptures and contemporary architecture, from which clients could make a selection according to their individual interests. The volume was then bound with a standard frontispiece.

Inscriptions

Inscription: 146

Inscription: Exterior orthographia frontis Farnesianae domus: quam Romae, et magnis impensis, et servatis architecturae praeceptis PAVLVS Tertius Pontifex Maximus, a fundamentis / memoriae caussa, sibi posterisque suis erexit

Inscription: Antonij Lafreij Sequani formis D XLVIIII

Provenance

Information not yet known or updated

Literature

Zorach, Rebecca, The Virtual Tourist in Renaissance Rome: printing and collecting the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, Chicago 2008
Parshall, Peter, 'Antonio Lafreri's Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae' in 'Print Quarterly', 2006 - pp. 3-28; XXIII (I)
Huelsen, Christian, 'Das Speculum Magnificentiae des Antonio Lafreri' in Collectanea Variae Doctrinae, Florence 1921 - pp.121-170
cat.102A (1)
Fig. p. 162

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