ORTHOGRAPHIA. PARTIS. EXTERIORIS TEMPLI. DIVI. PETRI IN. VATICANO

Etching and engraving, by Etienne Duperac for the publisher Antonio Lafreri and part of the "Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae".

Example in the third state of three, with the address of Paolo Graziani and Pietro de Nobili and date 1585(second of two for Rubach, which does not describe the issue by Paolo Graziani alone, which shows the date 1582, known to Alberti).

Top title "ORTHOGRAPHIA. PARTIS. EXTERIORIS TEMPLES. DIVI. PETERS IN. VATICAN // MI-CHAEL. ANGELVS. BONAROTA. INVENIT // STEPHANVS. DV PERAC. FECIT".

The engraving is part of a series of three works on the new Vatican basilica: the Plan of St. Peter (the first to be made), the Section of St. Peter, and the External Prospectus of St. Peter. In 1546, on the death of Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Michelangelo replaced him in the direction of the St. Peter's factory, abandoning Sangallo's project and revisiting Bramante's original idea. "In the print the drum of the dome is depicted following the model and the building as it was built, except for the fact that it has alternating tympanums above the windows - unlike the model, but as in the building - and a triangular tympanum on the axis instead of an arched circle. Like the section, it has above the buttresses of the statues that do not appear either in the model or in the building". The lantern was made, at the end of the sixteenth century, in a manner different from that represented in the engraving. Moreover, the elevation of the curve of the dome, at Michelangelo's death, and after the interventions of Pirro Ligorio and Vignola, was modified by Giacomo Della Porta, even if the original setting of Michelangelo was substantially respected. Ackerman observes that "in the final solution preserved by Dupérac the lantern rested on a high plinth in order to compensate for the lowering of the dome and to ensure that the total height of the basilica remained approximately equal to that of the first studies: moreover, with the reduction in width of the ribs towards the top, the original appearance of the raised profile would have been preserved due to the effect of perspective. It is to be considered finally that "the statues standing and then at the top of the buttress that flanks the dome do not exist in the model and do not appear in any other representation. The initial study of Michelangelo's dome preserved in Lille, includes, however, summary indications of sculptures standing in the external attic above the buttresses" (H. A. Millon - C. H. Smith). Ultimately, Du Pérac's prints are made to amaze and satisfy the curiosity of a vast public towards the St. Peter's factory and the artist, to this end, carries out an assembly operation between what has been built and existing projects. (cf. Marigliani, n. VIII.11).

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).

Magnificent proof, rich in tones, printed on contemporary laid paper with watermark "shield with letter M and star", trimmed to the paltemark in excellent condition.


Bibliografia
B. Rubach, Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae (2016), n. 366, II/II; A. Alberti, L’indice di Antonio Lafrery (2010), n. 101, III/III; cfr. Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento (2016), n. VIII.11; C. Hülsen, 1921, p. 161, 93, B; J. S. Ackerman, 1968, p. 86; R. Lanciani, 1992, iv, p. 189; H. A. Millon - C. H. Smyth, 1994, pp. 663-64; C. Marigliani, 2005, p. 109; B. Jatta, 2006, Tav. iv; C. Witcombe, 2008, pp. 328, 331; A. Brodini, 2009, p. 108; V. Zanchettin, 2009, pp. 180-85; B. Barnes, 2010, p. 135; Bianchi 2006, p. 55, tav. 83.