Le Antichita Romane. Volume 1

Date1756

MediumMonograph

Credit LinePurchased by the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library; the Robert W. Woodruff Library; and the Michael C. Carlos Museum with funding support from the Howett, Ryals, and Wooley Funds

DimensionsClosed: 21 5/8 × 15 3/8 in. (55 × 39 cm)

Object number2018.004.001

Label TextIn 1756, Piranesi published his first large-scale composite of text and image, Le Antichità Romane. In its four volumes, Piranesi relied on architectural etchings and extensive passages of text to both preserve a record for scholars and to argue for the necessity of modern architectural reform inspired by ancient buildings. Volume I of the Antichità focuses on aqueducts and baths, Volumes II and III treat tombs and funerary monuments, and Volume IV covers bridges, theaters, porticos, and other monuments in Rome and its surrounding countryside.

The first significant textual element that appears in Le Antichità Romane is this index of ancient marble fragments from the Severan Plan. This page is designed to work alongside the print displayed above. Each piece of marble placed around the central map in the Plan of Ancient Rome corresponds to an entry in this index. Note, for example, that the fragment at the top left corner of the plate, labeled “1,” has “HORTI CELONIAEFABIA” inscribed on its surface. The first item in the index transcribes this inscription, and then identifies the structure as “the Gardens of Celonia Fabia on the Aventine Hill.” To assign an identity to fragment 15 (further down on the left side of the plan) Piranesi adds an “A” to the surviving inscription, identifying the elaborate structure as “Porticus ADONEAE” which he describes as “marvelous porticoes of columns built by Emperor Domitian on the Palatine.” Piranesi encouraged his readers to undertake this type of active consultation by ingeniously designing the pages to be opened simultaneously. When unfolded, the index page could lie open while the reader flipped back to the Plan.

A page-by-page scan of the volume is available from the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library here.
Exhibition HistoryPiranesi's Pages: Rome in Books and Prints, 1756-1776, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 13 - April 4, 2021
Published References"Emory acquires rare 18th-century Piranesi books illustrating ancient Rome". June 4, 2018. http://news.emory.edu/stories/2018/06/er_piranesi_acquisition/campus.html

ProvenanceEx coll. Giannalisa Feltrinelli (ca. 1903-1981), Italy. Purchased by MCCM, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, and Robert W. Woodruff Library from Altea Maps, London, England.

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