Obelisks

Etching and engraving, 1589 circa.

Work part of the "Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae", probably engraved by Ambrogio Brambilla for the publisher Nicolas van Aelst. Example in the third state, with the imprint "Henricus van Schoel excudit" that replaces the signature of Giovanni Orlandi and the date 1602. The issue of the Flemish publisher Van Schoel can be dated around 1614, when he bought the plates from Orlandi.

Top entry: "Obeliscus excisus a Rege Aegypti Semneserteo, quo regnante Pithagoras in Aegypto fuit aduectus Romam ab Augusto, etin Circo maximo positus, altus pedes [antiquae mesurae] LXXXVIII semis Sixtus V. confractum in Circo, et profunde obrutum, ad S. Mariam Populi transtulit, et concinnatum erexit in antiqua basi. Obeliscus Vaticanus à Nuncoreo Sesostridis filio excisus, in Circo Caij et Neronis positus, altus pedes LXXII stetit illaesus loco pristino, donec à Sixto V. in aream S. Petri translatus est. Obeliscus alter è duobus qui ad Mausoleum Augusti stabant, altus pedes XLII semis Cimiaceret in uia publica ad S.. Rochum confractus, translatum Sixtus V. ad S. Mariae Maioris in basi noua erexit. Obeliscus destinatus à Constantino adornandam Constantinopolim, à Constantio Romam aduectus, et erectus in Circo maximo altus pedes CXXXII. confractum Sixtus V. et obrutum profunde, transuexit in planitiem S. Ioannis in Laterano et in basi noua restaatum erexit".

The work belongs to the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, the earliest iconography of ancient Rome. 

The Speculum originated in the publishing activities of Antonio Salamanca and Antonio Lafreri (Lafrery). During their Roman publishing careers, the two editors-who worked together between 1553 and 1563-started the production of prints of architecture, statuary, and city views related to ancient and modern Rome. The prints could be purchased individually by tourists and collectors, but they were also purchased in larger groups that were often bound together in an album. In 1573, Lafreri commissioned a frontispiece for this purpose, where the title Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae appears for the first time. Upon Lafreri's death, two-thirds of the existing copperplates went to the Duchetti family (Claudio and Stefano), while another third was distributed among several publishers. Claudio Duchetti continued the publishing activity, implementing the Speculum plates with copies of those "lost" in the hereditary division, which he had engraved by the Milanese Amborgio Brambilla. Upon Claudio's death (1585) the plates were sold - after a brief period of publication by the heirs, particularly in the figure of Giacomo Gherardi - to Giovanni Orlandi, who in 1614 sold his printing house to the Flemish publisher Hendrick van Schoel. Stefano Duchetti, on the other hand, sold his own plates to the publisher Paolo Graziani, who partnered with Pietro de Nobili; the stock flowed into the De Rossi typography passing through the hands of publishers such as Marcello Clodio, Claudio Arbotti and Giovan Battista de Cavalleris. The remaining third of plates in the Lafreri division was divided and split among different publishers, some of them French: curious to see how some plates were reprinted in Paris by Francois Jollain in the mid-17th century. Different way had some plates printed by Antonio Salamanca in his early period; through his son Francesco, they goes to Nicolas van Aelst's. Other editors who contributed to the Speculum were the brothers Michele and Francesco Tramezzino (authors of numerous plates that flowed in part to the Lafreri printing house), Tommaso Barlacchi, and Mario Cartaro, who was the executor of Lafreri's will, and printed some derivative plates. All the best engravers of the time - such as Nicola Beatrizet (Beatricetto), Enea Vico, Etienne Duperac, Ambrogio Brambilla, and others  - were called to Rome and employed for the intaglio of the works.

All these publishers-engravers and merchants-the proliferation of intaglio workshops and artisans helped to create the myth of the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, the oldest and most important iconography of Rome. The first scholar to attempt to systematically analyze the print production of 16th-century Roman printers was Christian Hülsen, with his Das Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae des Antonio Lafreri of 1921. In more recent times, very important have been the studies of Peter Parshall (2006) Alessia Alberti (2010), Birte Rubach and Clemente Marigliani (2016). 

Beautiful proof, printed on contemporary laid paper, with margins, folds of paper restored on the reverse side, overall in a good state of preservation.

Very rare work.