Vue de la Rocca Imperiale petite Ville batie sur un Rocher

View taken from the Voyage Pittoresque ou description des Royaume de Naples et de Sicilie by Richard de Saint-Non.

During his trip to Rome, Richard de Saint-Non met two already famous French painters, Jean Honoré Fragonard and Hubert Robert, with whom he travelled along Italy. Their friendship led to the cooperation for the ambitious project of depicting all the main monuments of Southern Italy and Sicily. Between 1781 and 1786, with the assistance of many contemporary artists, he realized the Voyage Pittoresque ou description des Royaume de Naples et de Sicilie, a five volumes work published annually. As a result of a great typographical effort, the work is a collection of Sain-Non’s travelling notes; the graphic part is made up of 542 engravings and etchings, realized by the most important artists of the period. The work is immediately successful, for the book became a new typographical model for the following publications. From an artistic point of view, the views, landscapes and antiquity keep the Romantic pictorial style of Fragonard, Robert, Desprez and all the other artists that took part in this monumental project. The re-issue, between 1795 and 1798, of the pictorial plates, witnesses the great success of this project. A re-issue of the whole work was edited in 1829 by Dufour.

Example taken from the second edition of the work, printed in Paris 1795/98; the plates are without the Royal priviledge.

Etching, printed on contemporary laid paper, light foxing, otherwise good condition.