Baptistery of San Giovanni in Laterano

Engraving, signed at the bottom center: "Romæ. ANT. LAFRERI EXC[VDEBAT]". Work part of Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae.

Example of the second state of four, with the address of Lafreri at the bottom. The engraving is attributed to Nicolas Beatrizet (see Bianchi n. 113). There are known successive issues of Pietro de Nobili and Giovan Battista de Rossi.

Inscribed at the bottom center: "Balnei Laterani et in eo, ad curandam Constant[ini] Caes[aris] Elephantiasim, in noxio infantium sanguini suscipiendo primum parati Labri, ac mox conuersa in pietatem crudeliate, eiusdem [sic per: eorumdem] baptismo destinati, simulacrum" [Image of the Lateran baths and in them of the bathtub first prepared to cure the elephantiasis of the emperor Constantine with the innocent blood of children, now, changed cruelty into pity, destined for their baptism].

Born on the thermal structures of a domus, the Lateran baptistery was reworked by Sixtus III (432-440) in an octagonal room, whose vault is supported by eight trabeated porphyry columns. "This was one of the two baptisteries of Rome, being that of the Vatican, and served as a model for all the other baptisteries in Italy, which according to the rules of the ancient liturgy had to be outside the cathedral church". Three oratories are attached to the building: that of St. John the Baptist, that of St. John the Evangelist, and that of St. Venanzio. In the restoration of 1540, eight other smaller columns were raised above the porphyry columns to support the tiburium replaced by the dome (cf. Marigliani).

The work belongs to the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, the earliest iconography of ancient Rome. 

The Speculum originated in the publishing activities of Antonio Salamanca and Antonio Lafreri (Lafrery). During their Roman publishing careers, the two editors-who worked together between 1553 and 1563-started the production of prints of architecture, statuary, and city views related to ancient and modern Rome. The prints could be purchased individually by tourists and collectors, but they were also purchased in larger groups that were often bound together in an album. In 1573, Lafreri commissioned a frontispiece for this purpose, where the title Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae appears for the first time. Upon Lafreri's death, two-thirds of the existing copperplates went to the Duchetti family (Claudio and Stefano), while another third was distributed among several publishers. Claudio Duchetti continued the publishing activity, implementing the Speculum plates with copies of those "lost" in the hereditary division, which he had engraved by the Milanese Amborgio Brambilla. Upon Claudio's death (1585) the plates were sold - after a brief period of publication by the heirs, particularly in the figure of Giacomo Gherardi - to Giovanni Orlandi, who in 1614 sold his printing house to the Flemish publisher Hendrick van Schoel. Stefano Duchetti, on the other hand, sold his own plates to the publisher Paolo Graziani, who partnered with Pietro de Nobili; the stock flowed into the De Rossi typography passing through the hands of publishers such as Marcello Clodio, Claudio Arbotti and Giovan Battista de Cavalleris. The remaining third of plates in the Lafreri division was divided and split among different publishers, some of them French: curious to see how some plates were reprinted in Paris by Francois Jollain in the mid-17th century. Different way had some plates printed by Antonio Salamanca in his early period; through his son Francesco, they goes to Nicolas van Aelst's. Other editors who contributed to the Speculum were the brothers Michele and Francesco Tramezzino (authors of numerous plates that flowed in part to the Lafreri printing house), Tommaso Barlacchi, and Mario Cartaro, who was the executor of Lafreri's will, and printed some derivative plates. All the best engravers of the time - such as Nicola Beatrizet (Beatricetto), Enea Vico, Etienne Duperac, Ambrogio Brambilla, and others  - were called to Rome and employed for the intaglio of the works.

All these publishers-engravers and merchants-the proliferation of intaglio workshops and artisans helped to create the myth of the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, the oldest and most important iconography of Rome. The first scholar to attempt to systematically analyze the print production of 16th-century Roman printers was Christian Hülsen, with his Das Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae des Antonio Lafreri of 1921. In more recent times, very important have been the studies of Peter Parshall (2006) Alessia Alberti (2010), Birte Rubach and Clemente Marigliani (2016). 

Magnificent proof, rich in tones, printed on contemporary laid paper with "anchor in the circle" watermark, with original margins added, in excellent condition.

Bibliografia

B. Rubach, Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae (2016), n. 267, II/IV; A. Alberti, L’indice di Antonio Lafrery (2010), n. 42, II/IV; Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento (2016), n. VI.14; M. Armellini, 1891, pp. 99-100; Bartsch, 15, p. 271, n. 103; C. Hülsen, 1921, p. 144, 11, A; E. Francia, 1975, pp. 402-03; L. R. Mc Ginnis, 1976, n. 216; R. Krautheimer, 1981, p. 67; C. Marigliani, 2005, p. 42; C. Witcombe, 2008, pp. 119-21; Bianchi 2003-III, p. 9, n. 113.