Veduta della fontana di Trevi

A fine view engraved by Dominique Montagu for the series “Nuova Raccolta delle più belle vedute di Roma. Disegnate ed intagliate da celebri Autori”, published in Rome in 1761.

Due to the scarcity of surviving historical records, biographical information regarding Dominique Montagu (known in Italy as Domenico Montagù) is extremely limited and fragmentary. Art historians have reconstructed his life almost exclusively through the dates and signatures found on his extant works. Montagu lived and worked in Rome during the second half of the 18th century - a golden age for the print market, fueled by young European aristocrats visiting the city as part of the Grand Tour. Although his French name suggests an origin from beyond the Alps (which is why he is often referred to as Dominique), various international encyclopedias and art catalogs identify him as an Italian—or at least a thoroughly naturalized - vedutista (painter/engraver of cityscapes) and printmaker. His birth and death dates remain unknown. Historical sources place his most active period in Rome between 1750 and 1767. A significant detail of his biography is his artistic partnership with the French painter and engraver Jean Barbault (1718–1762). Montagu worked closely with Barbault, translating the latter’s drawings of ancient monuments and bas-reliefs into engravings and etchings (such as the famous plates dedicated to the temples of Paestum).

He specialized almost exclusively in architectural and archaeological subjects, distinguished by a clean, rigorous line - a hallmark of the technical engraving style applied to the study of Roman antiquities. All historical trace of him vanishes in the late 1760s; he left behind, as his artistic legacy, fifty views of Rome and various contributions to the major archaeological volumes of the era.

Etching, in very good condition.