Beschreibung:

PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista (1720-1778). Le Antichita Romane. Rome: stamperia di Angelo Rotili, sold by Bouchard, 1756. 4 volumes, 2° (522 x 384mm). Etched portrait frontispiece of Piranesi by Polanzani, 3 etched titles to vols.II-IV, double-page frontispiece to vol.I, 2 index leaves in vols.II and IV, and 212 plates 119 double-page, 10 folding, by Piranesi, but including 4 by Girolamo Rossi after Antonio Buonamici. (Small neat repairs to blank margins of plates numbered VI and VII in vol.II, some general light spotting, plates numbered XXVII-XXX in vol.IV appreciably browned.) Focillon pp.297-310; Hind pp.83-84. PIRANESI, G.B. Lapides Capitolani. Rome: 1762. 2°. Letterpress half-title. Etched title, dedication to Pope Clement XIII, one large folding plate and four head- or tail-pieces. (Neat repairs to outer margins of 13 text leaves, some light marginal spotting.) [ Bound with :] Antichita di Cora. Rome: [1764]. 2°. Letterpress half-title. Etched title, 10 plates, one folding, 6 double-page, one full-page illustration, one head-piece. (Occasional light spotting.) [ And :] Le Rovine dell Castello dell'Acqua Giulia. Rome: 1761. 2°. Letterpress half-title. Etched title, 19 plates on 18 leaves (plates XVII and XVIII on one leaf), 2 initials and 2 tail-pieces. (Occasional light spotting.) 3 works in one volume (523 x 393mm). Focillon pp.310-312; Hind p.85. The two volumes uniformly bound in contemporary French russia gilt by Derome le jeune, covers with thin roll-tooled border, spine in eight compartments with raised bands, morocco lettering-pieces in two the others with overall staggered lattice-work decoration made up from a repeated roll-tool, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, g.e., with binder's tickets mounted at front of each volume (neat repairs to joints corners and spines, one lettering-piece replaced). Fine copies of Piranesi's magnum opus and other works. Le Antichità Romane crowned Piranesi's already well-established reputation and "established [him] as the foremost artistic proponent of Roman architecture" (Robinson, Piranesi , 1986, p.11). The son of a stonemason, Piranesi trained in the architectural studio of his maternal uncle, Matteo Lucchesi and possibly with the artist and stage designer Ferdinando Bibiena at Venice before travelling to Rome as part of the Venetian delegation to honour the newly elected Pope Benedict XIV. Piranesi's early enthusiasm for antiquity was further excited at Rome, and the recent discoveries at Herculaneaum, which Piranesi visited, heightened his own and others' fascination with ancient ruins. Le antichità Romane depicts archaeological monuments and sites, sepulchral monuments, reconstructions of engineering feats, ancient bridges, baths, and other structures; his concern for scholarship is evident in the plans, maps and inscriptions. Le antichità romane was ostensibly published under the patronage of James Caulfield, Lord Charlemont, and Piranesi included numerous references to the British nation in several plates; the Scottish poet, Allan Ramsay was honoured by inserting his name on one of the sepulchral monuments. The relationship with Lord Charlemont quickly soured and Piranesi removed his arms from the title-page, appropriately leaving only the crest and supporters in ruins. The publication of Le antichità romane was an immediate international success. As a result of its publication, Piranesi was elected a member of the Society of Antiquaries in London in 1757; somewhat belatedly he was also elected to the Accademia di San Luca in 1761. The etchings, with their combination of technical skill, historical accuracy and artistic vision, show that, as Robert Adam observed, "he alone might be said to breath the Antient Air." (5)