Disegno e prospetto del Romano Campidoglio Moderno con le sue fabriche et ornamenti come al presente si trova, dato in luce

Disegno, e prospetto del romano Campidoglio moderno, con le sue fabriche et ornamenti, come al presente si trova, dato in luce sotto gl'auspicij dell'Ill.mo, et Ecc.mo Sig. Marchese Ottavio Riario senatore di Roma da Domenico de Rossi Erede di Gio. Giac.o de Rossi nella sua stamparia in Roma alla Pace

Frontal view of the Campidoglio with carriage in the foreground. Engraving published by Domenico de 'Rossi in 1692.

The cartouche in the lower right corner contains the Nota delle cose Memorabili nel disegno, e Prospetto del Moderno Campidoglio, with notes on the most important elements. In the lower center is the inscription Alessandro Spechi disegno e intaglio.

Etching and engraving, impressed on contemporary laid paper, restoration in the lower right corner and the central fold, otherwise in good condition.

Specchi's view is the first representation of a certain type: "the evolution of both the sensitivity of artists, clients and customers, and of the way of considering the Capitol no longer as an isolated monument on the hill, but as part of the urban fabric and routes. They concern at least three compositional and perspective parameters: the artists began to gradually lower the perspective horizon, bringing it towards the level of the piazza. This is evident in Alessandro Specchi's engraving of 1692, which shows the geometric horizon at the height of the stringcourse of the lateral buildings, which will be the reference for the following "portraits" by Giuseppe Vasi, Canaletto and Giovanni Paolo Pannini; the artists began to include both the entire stringcourse and part of the underlying Piazza dell'Aracoeli; the artists began to use vanishing points eccentric to the axis of symmetry and to widen the field of vision to include the neighboring buildings, in particular the church of Aracoeli" (cf. F. Colonnese, L'immagine del Campidoglio e le pratiche di manipolazione visiva tra XVI e XVIII secolo, 2018). 

Bibliografia 

Indice delle stampe de' Rossi, p. 30, n. 13.