Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae. Bifolio print of the Porta Maggiore.

Image is not available

Maker

(publisher)
1512-1577

Title

Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae. Bifolio print of the Porta Maggiore.

Date of Production

1549

Medium

medium : material : ink & support : material : paper

Dimensions

Height: 37 cm
Width: 49 cm

Object Number

B.1978.PG.102.26

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: TI. CLAVDIVS DRVSI F. CAESAR AVGVSTVS GERMANICVS PONTIF. MAXIM / .... / ... / SVA IMPENSA IN VRBEM PERDUCENDAS CVRAVIT.

Inscription: 37

Inscription: IMP. CAESAR. VESPASIANVS . AVGVST. PONTIF. MAX . TRIB . POT . II . .... / ..... / .... ANNOS NOVEM SVA IMPENSA VRBI RESTITVIT.

Inscription: IMP. T. CAESAR. DIVI . F . VESPASANVS . AVGVSTVS . PONTIFEX . MAXIMVS TRIBVNIC. / ..... / .... AQVARVM A SOLO VESTUSTATE DILAPSAE ESSENT NOVA FORMA REDVCENDAS SVA IMPENSA CVRAVIT.

Inscription: Veteris aquae Claudiae ex Tiburtino forma; via portaque Naevia ac Labicana, nunc Maioris appellatione, notissima; servatis architecturae legibus, et eadem in anteriore exterioreque parte, uncialium litterarum inscriptione repetita; nobilis. / Antonij Lafrerij Romae 1549

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.24
Fig. p. 147

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