Plan and Elevation of the Garden and Vineyard of Pope Sixtus V

DateFirst published 1677, MCCM edition published ca. 1688

MediumEtching

Credit LineArt History Department Fund

Dimensions10 7/8 x 17 3/8 in. (27.6 x 44.2 cm)

Object number1996.002 N

Label TextPope Sixtus V (1585-1590) was still a cardinal when he began acquiring land on the Esquiline Hill in 1576. By the time of his death he had put together the largest vigna, or vineyard, within the walls of Rome. An unusual feature of the garden is the triangular plot in front of the main entrance to the property that is pierced by a trivio of three radiating alleys; the central alley leads to the house, while the two at the sides take the visitor into the landscape beyond. The gardens were irrigated with water from the Aqua Felice, the aqueduct that Sixtus had built to bring water to the hills of Rome for the first time since antiquity. Part of its structure can be seen at the left of the plan. The pope's heirs continued to make improvements to the estate. His great-nephew Cardinal Alessandro Peretti Montalto extended the main alleys out into the uncultivated land, added antique statuary, water tricks, and, as can be seen at the lower right of the plan, an oval fishpond presided over by Gianlorenzo Bernini's Neptune and Triton sculpture group.
Exhibition HistoryGardens of Rome, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 14 - May 17, 1998
Discovering Rome: Maps and Monuments of the Eternal City, Michael C. Carlos Museum, September 16, 2006 - January 14, 2007
Antichità, Teatro, Magnificenza: Renaissance and Baroque Images of Rome, Michael C. Carlos Museum, August 24 - November 17, 2013
Published ReferencesAntichita, Teatro, Magnificenza: Renaissance & Baroque Images of Rome (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2013), 58 (checklist only).

ProvenanceEx coll. Rudolf Wittkower (1901-1971), Europe and United States. Purchased for MCCM by Emory University Art History Department from Peter Kraus [Ursus Books Limited], New York, New York.

Inscribedmargin: PIANTA ET ALZATA DEL GIARDINO E VIGNA DI PAPA SISTO V . . . ; below is twenty-three item legend; BR: G.G. De Rossi's address and privilege

Status

Not on view

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