Tomb of Publius Vibius Marius

Engraving, 1551, signed and dated at lower center: "Antonij Lafreri formis Romæ 1551".

Example in the second state of two (cf. Alberti no. 62, while Rubach describes only one state), where, after the word "formis" the inscription has been completed in "Romæ 1551".

Magnificent proof, richly toned, printed on contemporary laid paper with watermark "shield with letter M and star" (Woodward nos. 313-331), with margins, in excellent condition.

Inscription in the plaque: D. M. S. / P. VIBI. P. F. MARIANI. E. M. V. PROC / E. T PREASIDI. PROV. SARDINIAE. P. P. BIS / TRIB. COHH. X. PR. XI. VRB. IIII. VIG. PRAFF. LEG./ II. ITAL. P.P. LEG. III. GALL. [...] FRVMENT. / ORIVNDO. EX. ITAL. IVL. DERTONA. / PATRI DVLCISSIMO. / ET. REGINIAE. MAXIME. MATRI. / KARISSIMAE. / VIBIA. MARIA. MAXIMA. C. F. FIL. ET. HER.

Inscribed in lower center: "In uia Cassia; Roma ad tertium lapidem; monumentum marmoreum; huiusmodi forma et ornamentis exesum prope uetustate." [At the Via Cassia, at the third tombstone from Rome: monumentum marmoreum, of this form and ornaments, by age almost worn out].

“The engraving depicts the tomb of Publius Vibius Marius that was erected in the second half of the 3rd century along the Via Cassia. Beginning in the Middle Ages, it was popularly believed to be the tomb of Nero, whose popularity did not decline over the centuries, so much so that it has remained in today's toponymy for a northern area on the outskirts of Rome. Numerous artists took their cue from the legend and, over the course of two centuries, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, depicted the monument in a series of canvases and engravings. Lafréry had the epigraphist Pierre Varondel accompany him to document the monument's epigraph in March 1548” (translation from C. Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento).

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). 

Bibliografia

C. Hülsen, Das Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae des Antonio Lafreri (1921), n. 42/a; B. Rubach, Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae (2016), n. 34; A. Alberti, L’indice di Antonio Lafrery (2010), n. 92, I/II; Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento (2016), n. II.27; cfr. D. Woodward, Catalogue of watermarks in Italian printed maps 1540 – 1600 (1996).