Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae. Bifolio map of modern Rome with an index in the lower right identifying the key sites.

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Maker

(publisher)
1512-1577

Title

Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae. Bifolio map of modern Rome with an index in the lower right identifying the key sites.

Date of Production

1573

Medium

medium : material : ink & support : material : paper

Dimensions

Height: 47.6 cm
Width: 63 cm

Object Number

B.1978.PG.102.2

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: 2

Inscription: 'STEPHANVS DV PERAC / ARCHITET. / STVDIOSO LECTORI / .....impensa Antonij Lafrerij Anno MDLXXIII Hoc fruere libers.et'

Inscription: 1. Porta Coelimontana / 2. Insuta. / 3. Pons Cestius / .... / Anue vestusta nous nunc manifesta patent.'

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.1.A
Fig. p. 142

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