Santo Stefano Rotondo

Black pencil drawing, mm 239x 317, 1864-1869 circa.

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.

Not translated into lithograph or woodcut.

“Saint-Étienne-le-Rond est-il l'ancien temple de Faunus ou un temple de Bacchus, commeon l'a longtemps prétendu? Faut-il y voir, au contraire, une des salles du Macellum grande, c'est-à-dire de la grande boucherie construite par Néron,commele veulent quelques archéologues ? Les ordres différents des colonnes qui n'appartinrent pas originairement au même édifice, et la croix inscrite au-dessus des chapiteaux de quelques-unes d'elles, ne permettent guère ni l'une ni l'autre de ces suppositions. Tout indique ici un monument de la conquête et de la décadence, de la conquête chrétienne qui prenait aux temples des dieux leurs marbres, leurs colonnes, comme autant de dépouillesdes vaincus, et de la décadence artistique,qui apportait dans la disposition de ces débris une inexpérience souvent choquante. A Saint-Étienne, d'ailleurs, l'inexpérience est beaucoup moins sensible que dans la plupart des monuments de l'époque qui commence au IVe siècle, et la beauté de la forme a fait supposer, non sans vraisemblance, que, si le temple n'est pas antique, il repose du moins sur des fondements antiques. Ce temple, en outre, rappelle peu les basiliques du premier âge. Il est cylindrique comme le Panthéon, avec un portique, et autrefois même avec deux portiques, faisant intérieurementle tour de la rotonde. Qu'on se figure une salle de 15 3 pieds de diamètre, dont le faîte est soutenu par cinquante-sixcolonnes de granit ou de marbre. La plupart sont d'ordre ionique, les autres sont corinthiennes. Nous savons par Anastase le Bibliothécaire que le pape Simplicius dédia cette église à Saint-Étienne, en 468” (Rome dans sa Grandeur, Rome Chrétienne, c. I, p. 123)