Veduta del Monte Mario

View of the city printed in Rome by the publisher Agapito Franzetti. Taken from Raccolta di num. 320 Vedute sì antiche, che moderne della città di Roma... …Incise a bulino in N. 80 rami, In Roma Nella Calcografia di Agapito Franzetti a Torsanguigna Col Permesso.

 The work consists of an intaglio frontispiece and 80 numbered plates, each consisting of four views. It is printed without date; many repertories date it around 1790, perhaps because it was printed on laid paper. A date around 1800 seems more plausible.

Franzetti, a chalcographer working in Rome with a workshop between Via del Corso and Torsanguigna, is known for his small engravings of views that were often used as business cards. They all contain a line at the bottom where one's name could be written in ink. The small views were often printed four to a sheet.

As indicated in the title, the views depict both monuments and ancient ruins and "modern" views, with squares, churches and villas. Each table bears, at the bottom center, the name of the engraver. There are six artists involved: Jean-Jerome Baugean; Antonio Giuseppe Barbazza; Giovanni Battista Cipriani; Francesco Morelli; Antonio Poretta and Domenico Pronti.

 The views are made after Giuseppe Vasi’s monumental work Delle magnificenze di Roma antica e moderna. Published in 10 volumes from 1747 to 1761, the work features 238 copper engravings, each engraving with a narrative text that provides historical and documentary information.

Bibliografia:

A. Bertarelli, H. Prior, Il biglietto da visita italiano. Contributo alla storia del costume e dell'incisione nel secolo XVII, Bergamo 1911, p. 162.