Temple a Ostia

Black pencil drawing, mm 305x225, lower right: Temple at Ostia.

Belongs to a collection of 127 works unearthed from a French antiquarian who, in turn, had acquired them from the heirs of publisher Henri-Désiré Charpentier (La Rochelle 1805 - Vertou 1882); they are all done in black pencil, some have white lead highlighting; they never bear the date and signature of the author, but only a brief caption relating to the subjects depicted. The drawings denote a skilled and expert hand - especially in the delineation of buildings, ruins and architecture - that restores the monuments of Rome from interesting and unusual perspective points. The reference of most of the drawings to some of the tinted lithographs by Felix and Philippe Benoist, published in the three-volume work Rome dans sa grandeur, immediately became clear. The fact that this is a large group of original drawings related to the famous work edited by Henri-Désiré Charpentier is clearly supported by the prestigious provenance; it is a part of Charpentier's heir fund, among which the material of the famous chalcographic workshop had been divided.

Rome dans sa grandeur. Vues, monument ancient et modernes was printed in Paris in 3 volumes, in 1870. The publication, illustrated by 100 lithographs, was preceded by a campaign of preparatory drawings, dating from 1864 until 1869, executed mainly by Félix Benoist and partly by Philippe Benoist. On the eve of the Concilio Ecumenico Vaticano I, on August 11, 1869, Pius IX decreed the creation of a Roman Exhibition of the works of every art executed for Catholic worship, which was inaugurated, on February 17, 1870, in the cloister of the Carthusian monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli. On that occasion, the three folio volumes Rome dans sa grandeur were presented. The lavishly bound volumes, with the coat of arms of Pius IX stamped in the center in gold, are divided into three sections. The first volume deals with ancient Rome, the second, with Christian Rome, and the third, with the monuments and achievements of modern Rome. A valuable view of papal Rome on the eve of Rome's profound transformation into the capital of united Italy. A document that highlights the remarkable imprint left by Pius IX on the Eternal City. The work represents the French artist's masterpiece, so much so that it places Benoist among the ranks of the greatest artists of interiors and views of his time.

The sheets used for the preliminary studies vary in size (from 170 mm x 240 to 490 x 300 mm), weight and even color gradation (from beige to green).  Many of the drawings undeniably represent different preparatory stages - more or less complete - of some of the dyed lithographs illustrating the magnificent work, others of the silographic vignettes included in the text, while other sketches do not find translation in print. Belonging to this second group are both sketches relating to monuments and views of Rome and its surroundings: ancient Ostia, Grottaferrata, Olevano Romano, Anzio, Nettuno, Velletri and Vicovaro. Far beyond from Rome are drawings relating to Naples and Loreto. The suite was to form part of the entire fund, later dispersed, of preparatory studies from which the hundred intended for lithographic printing were selected.

The drawing, not translated into a lithographic plate in Rome dans sa Grandeur, shows the remains of the Capitolium, a temple dedicated to the Capitoline triad (Jupiter, Juno, Minerva) built on the north side of the Forum during the Hadrianic period, in around AD 120, at Ostia . We believe it is to be related to the chapter devoted to Roman archaeological excavations – Fouilles Archéologiques Romaines, which closes the volume Rome Antique, edited by Henri de Maguelonne, in which an update is given precisely on the latest archaeological excavations that, in Ostia, were then being conducted by the archaeologist Pietro Ercole Visconti (1802-1880), who by order of Pius IX carried out (from 1855) systematic excavations in ancient Ostia, obtaining for this the title of baron.

“Les fouilles d'Ostie, depuis longtemps abandonnées à la spéculation privée, avaient donné des résultats tantot inattendus, tantot stériles, quand l'illustre baron Visconti les entreprit d'après une méthòde nouvelle et raisonnée. Au lieu de s'occuper à retirer les ornements des édifices sans prendre soin des édifices eux-mémes, il fit tout d'abord des édifices l'objet principal de ses recherches, ne considérant les ornements que comme des accessoires; et ainsi il put rendre à la lumière la ville ancienne, tout en ayant la certitude d'obtenir peu à peu les objets qu'elle renfermait. Il déeouvrit d'abord la Via Sepulcrale ou Voie des Tombeaux, qui conduisait d'Ostie à Rome, avec les monuments qui la bordaient à droite et à gauche. Elle avait son pavé intact. Puis il trouva la Porta-Romana, que les archéologues supposaient ailleurs; et, traversant la ville dans tonte sa longueur, il mit à nu les Terme maritime, et la grande mosaique à couleurs diverses que l'on voit dans la chambre de la Conception au Vatican; le Mitreo et le Campo di Cibelle, centre des cultes étrangers admis dans la colonie d'Ostie ainsi que le Metreoo et d'autres souvenirs de ces cultes. Chaque pas était marqué par des découvertes si nombreuses, qu'il a fallu instituer à Rome un musée spécial ( le Pio-Ostiense réuni à celui du Latran), et un musée à Ostie (Museo Ostiense). Des statues, des peintures, et un grand nombre de menus objets sont venus, en outre, prendre place dans les vastes collections du Vatican. Pie IX, en se rendant tous les ans à Ostie, montre quel intérèt il porte à ces travaux, qui rendent de si gran_ds services aux beaux-arts, à la science historiquc, et ne tarderont pas à recevoir un plus grand lustre encore par le rétablissement de l'ancien port d'Ostie et la création d'un embranchement de chemin de fer récemment décrétés” (Rome dans sa Grandeur, Rome Antique, c. II, pp. 67-68).