Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae. Sea Battle after a relief sculpture on Trajan's Column. First state before the addition of a second inscription.

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Maker

(draughtsman)
1499-1543
(printmaker)
1539-1604 or later (Life dates)
(publisher)
1512-1577

Title

Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae. Sea Battle after a relief sculpture on Trajan's Column. First state before the addition of a second inscription.

Date of Production

1547-1560

Medium

medium : material : ink & support : material : paper

Dimensions

Height: 21.9 cm
Width: 44.2 cm

Object Number

B.1978.PG.102.90

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: 102

Inscription: M . L . cum privilegio

Inscription: Polidoro / inventor

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.153. A (1)
Fig. p. 168

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