Prospetiva della Chiesa di S.ta Maria della Pace di Roma

Etching, 1658, signed bottom left "Petrus Berrettin. Corton. Arch."; bottom right "Dominicus Barriere Marsilien delin. et sculp."

In the center is the dedication to Pope Alexander VII: "Alexander VII Pontifici Optimo Maximo Quae olim, Beatissime Pater, sub Glandibus Pax Aurea Terras incoluit,...".

A very rare engraving of the façade of Santa Maria della Pace, by Dominique Barriere.

The work was created to document and celebrate the radical Baroque renovation commissioned by Pope Alexander VII (whose name appears in the dedication at the bottom: Alexandro VII Pontifici Optimo Maximo) and carried out by the architect Pietro da Cortona. The engraving highlights the revolutionary semicircular porch with Doric columns and the dramatic façade that transforms the small square in front into a veritable Baroque "theater".

The view also shows the concave side wings, designed to regularize the irregular urban space around the church. In the foreground, a lively scene of 17th-century daily life is visible, with nobles in carriages, knights, commoners, and religious figures, which serve to give proportion to the grandeur of the building.

Although undated, it dates to 1658, when the artist himself engraved a smaller version, with some variations, for the third edition of the work " Roma ricercata nel suo sito " (the first edition of the successful guide dates back to 1644) by Fioravante Martinelli (1599-1667), published in Rome by Giovanni Battista de Rossi in 1658.

The draftsman and engraver Dominique Barrière settled in Rome around 1640; his name appears for the first time in 1643 in the parish of San Lorenzo in Lucina, near the artists' colony around Via del Babuino. Barrière belonged to the relatively large group of artists trying their luck in contemporary Rome, who, unlike the great names of their profession such as Claude and Gaspar Dughet, had to struggle to earn a living. Although the artist left behind a vast oeuvre of over two hundred engravings at his death, he must have lived in great poverty for a time, as he repeatedly had to turn to the Collège Saint Louis des Français for help supporting his large family.

A magnificent work, printed on contemporary laid paper, with wide margins, in perfect condition.

A rare and important work on the Baroque Rome of Alexander VII.

Bibliografia

Le Blanc C., Manuel de L'amateur D'estampes, p. 158, n. 139; Arrigoni-Bertarelli, n. 1215.