Interno della Insigne Basilica di S. Maria ad Martyres

Etching with burin retouching, 1829, signed and dated on the plate at the bottom "Antonio Sarti Architetto dis. ed inc. Rome 1829".

A majestic and accurate depiction of the interior of the Pantheon, which was still then the church of Santa Maria dei Martiri, dedicated to Cardinal Agostino Rivaroli, whose coat of arms appears at the bottom.

The work is part of the chalcographic production of the years between the transfer of Giovanni Battista Piranesi's chalcographic collection to Paris - in 1799, arranged by the Venetian engraver's sons, who had become involved in the political affairs of the Roman Republic - and the collection's return to Rome in 1838, thanks to its purchase promoted by Pope Gregory XVI. This period is marked by the absence of high-quality images of the city. Luigi Rossini was the first to take up Piranesi's legacy in Rome, taking advantage of the absence of Piranesi's influence to occupy the copperplate market with his own interpretation of the city's image in souvenirs for travelers on the growing Grand Tour. This is the context in which architect Antonio Sarti (1797–1880) emerged, for whom Piranesi was a key influence, and in whose work Piranesi's influence was most profoundly incisive.

Sarti, originally from Budrio (Bologna), moved to Rome in 1819, where Cardinal Ercole Consalvi, who became his patron, introduced him to the most renowned architects and painters of the time. During those years, Sarti attended courses in architecture and drawing at the Accademia di San Luca, a student of Raffaele Stern. Having devoted himself to engraving, from 1825 he began producing architectural etchings, which earned the admiration of Vincenzo Camuccini. For the Calcografia Camerale, he produced the volume Parte interna delle basilicali di Roma e veduta di edifici antichi e moderni disegni e incise all'acqua forte (Rome 1825-1829; A. Cavallini, Uomini illustri romani del secolo XIX, 1879, p. 12).

Sarti himself revealed his intention to respond to a shared desire to revive Piranesi's evocative atmospheres in the renewed political and religious climate of the Restoration. In the Manifesto of the Association for the series of copperplate engravings entitled Basiliche e Chiese di Roma, published between 1825 and 1829, he openly declared, "It was the desire of many that the Sceneries of the most conspicuous churches of Rome be drawn and engraved in the manner of Piranesi". Sarti employed the technique of multiple biting with small burin retouches, of Piranesi's ancestry, to complete the image of ancient Rome with the monuments of religious tradition, fully reflecting the Church's wide-ranging attempt to "resacralize" the city, to counter and overcome, in both image and content, the French period, which was perceived as a profanation. Enrico Lovery, in 1825, reviewing the young Sarti's first printed subjects in his Memorie romane di antichità e belle arti, also recognized his work as "following the footsteps of the celebrated Piranesi”. The result is a monumental representation of Rome's Christian antiquities, from the Constantinian foundations to the contemporary era, transposing Piranesi's influences into an already modernly Romantic context.

A very good impression, printed on contemporary paper, with margins, in excellent condition. Rare.

Bibliografia

C.A. Petrucci, CATALOGO GENERALE DELLE STAMPE TRATTE DAI RAMI INCISI POSSEDUTI DALLA CALCOGRAFIA NAZIONALE, 1730, p. 111; Raffaella Catini, Antonio Sarti in “Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani” - Volume 90 (2017); I. Fiumi Sermattei, In assenza di Piranesi: l’immagine calcografica di Roma nei primi decenni dell’Ottocento.