Ruins of Porta Maggiore

Etching, circa 1563/64, unsigned.

Plate from the very rare Prospettive et Antichità di Roma dedicated All’Ill.mo et R.mo sig.or mio prone singolariss.o il sig.r Card. Sforza.

The original appearance of this booklet, which contains at least twenty-three plates signed "M.L." with views of ancient and imaginary cities, still eludes us. The period can be dated between 1551 and 1564, that is, between the publication year of the twenty etchings by Androuet de Cerceau, Vues d'optiques, which served as its main model, and the death of the cardinal to whom it is dedicated.

Compared to the model, Michele Greco abandoned the circular format for a rectangular format that would give the work a large share of its evocative force. Architectures, dilating in space, lose intensity (cf. Les Vues d’optique, in “Jacques Androuet du Cerceau,” edited by J. Guillaume, with the collaboration of P. Fuhring, pp. 183-196).

A beautiful work, printed on contemporary laid paper, irregularly trimmed at the platemark and mounted on an old support, with a small tear in the lower left corner, otherwise in good condition.

A very rare work.

Bibliografia
A. Alberti, Contributi per Michele Grechi Lucchese incisore; Jean Guillaume (ed.), 'Jacques Androuet du Cerceau', Paris, Cité de l'Architecture, 2010, VO, p.314 (by Peter Fuhring); Michael Bury in S. Buck, 'Michelangelo's Dream', The Courtauld Gallery 2010, p. 168.