Basilica S Laurenti extra muros

Reference: S35247.5
Author Francesco VILLAMENA
Year: 1609
Zone: San Lorenzo fuori le mura
Measures: 142 x 215 mm
€300.00

Reference: S35247.5
Author Francesco VILLAMENA
Year: 1609
Zone: San Lorenzo fuori le mura
Measures: 142 x 215 mm
€300.00

Description

Etching and engraving, 1609, unsigned.

The work belongs to a series of 7 plates depicting Basilicas of Rome. Each plate presents in the upper center, the Latin name of the church; a perspective view, about 142x130mm; below the image, a long historical notation about the building of the church, its cults and relics preserved.

At the bottom of the first panel - San Giovanni in Laterano - we find the excudit Franciscus Vill'aęna excudit Romę. Cū Privilegio Sum. Pont et Superiorū licentia Anno 1609.

The work is extremely rare and is not listed in the main repertories.

The collection was present in the collection of the Palazzo Massimo, as we learn from Vittorio Massimo, in Notizie istoriche della Villa Massimo alle Terme Diocleziane... of 1836.

Magnificent proof, printed on contemporary laid paper, with margins, applied to contemporary paper (probably belonging to a small album), in excellent condition. 

Francesco VILLAMENA (Assisi, 1564 - Roma, 7 Luglio 1624)

Italian engraver. According to tradition, he was a pupil of Cornelis Cort, whose engravings he copied, and was associated in his youth with Agostino Carracci. He made few original engravings but reproduced designs of artists including Raphael, Paolo Veronese, Federico Barocci, Girolamo Muziano and Giulio Romano. His output also included frontispieces and book illustrations. Closely related to such northern late adherents of Mannerism as Hendrick Goltzius and Jacques Bellange, he employed an elegant and expressive calligraphic style with perfect control of the burin. In addition to religious and historical subjects, he executed portraits, notably a series of genre figures (Rome, Gab. N. Stampe). In 1594 he executed a series of engravings illustrating scenes from the Life of St Francis. His oeuvre comprised at least one hundred plates.

Francesco VILLAMENA (Assisi, 1564 - Roma, 7 Luglio 1624)

Italian engraver. According to tradition, he was a pupil of Cornelis Cort, whose engravings he copied, and was associated in his youth with Agostino Carracci. He made few original engravings but reproduced designs of artists including Raphael, Paolo Veronese, Federico Barocci, Girolamo Muziano and Giulio Romano. His output also included frontispieces and book illustrations. Closely related to such northern late adherents of Mannerism as Hendrick Goltzius and Jacques Bellange, he employed an elegant and expressive calligraphic style with perfect control of the burin. In addition to religious and historical subjects, he executed portraits, notably a series of genre figures (Rome, Gab. N. Stampe). In 1594 he executed a series of engravings illustrating scenes from the Life of St Francis. His oeuvre comprised at least one hundred plates.