Topografia e Fabbriche scoperte nella Città di Pompei

Topografia delle Fabbriche scoperte nella Città di Pompei : Alla Maestá di Gustavo Adolfo Ré di Svezia de Goti e de Vandali ... Erede di Danimarca e Norvegia duca di Slesuig-Holstein ... Amatore munificentissimo delle belle arti / Francesco Piranesi umilla e consacra.

Plan of the excavations of Pompeii engraved by Francesco Piranesi - probably based on the drawing and plan of his father Giovan Battista (d. 1778) - and published in 1785, as can be seen from the inscription at the bottom of the large cartouche on the left, which contains 39 keys-references: Questa pianta indica quanto fù discoperto sino all'anno 1780 e pubblicata l'anno 1785 (this map indicates what was discovered up to the year 1780 and published the year 1785). The plate was born at the same time as the excavations at Pompeii, and Piranesi foresaw that it would have to be updated with new discoveries.

The second edition of the map sees added, in the cartouche at the bottom center, the words: Nuovi Edifizi scoperti posteriormente fino a tutto giugno 1788 che se darà l'indice.

The next edition of 1792, which instead of the title at the top contains the dedication to King Adolphus Gustavus of Sweden, shows the addition of new keys-references (nos. 40-47) in the cartouche at the bottom center, where it reads: Topografia delle Fabbriche scoperte nella città di Pompei. I numeri seguenti indicano quanto si è discoperto in seguito sino al 1792.

Excavations of Pompeii began - exploratory - in 1748 under Charles of Bourbon but did not really begin until 1763 with the discovery of the Suedio Clemente inscription.

Francesco Piranesi (Rome, c. 1758 - Paris, January 1810) was an Italian draftsman, engraver and etcher. The son and pupil of Giovan Battista Piranesi, he worked extensively alongside his father, with whom he visited Pompeii in 1770. In 1799 he moved with his brother to Paris fleeing the political events related to the fall of the first Roman Republic; here the Calcografia Piranesi printed many plates made by Giovan Battista Piranesi that remained unpublished at the time of his death, including: Antiquitès de la Grande Grèce... (1804 -1807); Raccolta de' tempi antichi (1780); Il Teatro di Ercolano... (1783); Monumenti degli Scipioni (1785); and an anthology of the principal classical statues of Rome.

Example from the third edition of the work, printed in 1792, with updates on excavations and new discoveries.

Etching and engraving, impressed on eighteenth-century laid paper, with margins, in perfect condition. Rare.

Bibliografia

C.A. Petrucci, Catalogo Generale Delle Stampe Tratte Dai Rami Incisi Posseduti Dalla Calcografia Nazionale, 1021, p. 300 tav. 10, 1953; Focillon H., Giovanni Battista Piranesi, tav. 255, 1967; E. Benezit, Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessignateurs et Graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les Pays... nouvelle edition entiérement refondue sous la direction de Jacques Busse, Gründ 1999; L. Garcia y Garcia, Nova Bibliotheca Pompeiana, Roma 1998.