A Fine Contemporary Roman Edition of Piranesi’s “Views of Rome” PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista, [illustrator]. Vedute di Roma.... Rome: 1748. Full Description:
Vedute di Roma.
Rome, 1748.
ziano. [Rome: 1748-1775].
Two large folio volumes (560 x 415 mm.). Engraved title, engraved frontispiece, large folding engraved map of Rome (on three sheets), and 109 double-page engraved plates (sheet size approximately 560 x 764 mm.). Without Hind plate nos. 101, 112-119, and 121-137. Seventy-two of the plates are in Hind’s first or second states. Some in the final state before numbers.
Mid-nineteenth-century half maroon morocco, decoratively ruled gilt, over green pebble-grain cloth boards. Spines decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Marbled endpapers. A few short marginal tears or repairs in the first volume. A fine set with beautiful, clean impressions of the plates on thick Italian paper.
A fine contemporary Roman edition of Piranesi’s masterpiece “Views of Rome.” Piranesi almost certainly began to issue his large-format views of Rome soon after his return to that city in 1747. The first scenes were of the most popular architectural monuments and tourist sites, such as the Piazza del Popolo, the Quirinal, the Piazza Navona, and the Trevi fountain. They were distinct from views created by other artists for the tourist market in their large size (which also made them more difficult to copy) and their accuracy. Piranesi continued to augment the series throughout his lifetime, and he occasionally retouched them to bring them up to date. The plates in the present copy largely conform to Hind’s state B3, which have Piranesi’s address and price so etched (“Under this heading should be included impressions taken during G.B. Piranesi’s lifetime of plates which never bore Piranesi’s address or price. In this state the plates are generally rebitten and darkened, with or without added work”), with some plates before, and some after, the rebiting and additional work.
Focillon, pp. 336-352. Hind, Piranesi, pp. 38-73.
HBS 69653.
$185,000.
Price: $185,000.00
Item #69653