Port of Claudius in Ostia

Engraving, 1554, by Giulio de Musi for the publisher Michele Tramezino.

Example of the first state of five described in Bifolco-Ronca (2018) - first of three for Alessia Alberti - with the original date of 1554, which is later changed to 1558.

Like several other works published by the typography of Francesco and Michele Tramezino, the plate was purchased by Antonio Lafreri, who included it in his "Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae" (see Alberti n. A 113, Speculum of Padua BC (I. 3282, table 32).

Inscribed signed and dated at the top left: "ANTIQVA SPECIES VRBIVM PORTVS ATQVE / OSTIÆ AB DIVERSIS RO[MANIS] IMP[ERATORIBVS] CONDITARVM ITEM DVOR[VM] AMPLISS[IMORVM] PORTVVM CLAVDII TRAIANIQ[VE] DESCRIPTIO PER PYRRHVM LIGORIVM NEAPOLITANVM FACTA ET AB MICHAELE TRAMEZINO EX TABVLIS AENEIS IN QVAS EAM INCIDIT EXCVS[S]A CVM / PRIVILEGIO SVMMI PONT[IFICIS] ET SENAT[VS] VENET[I] MDLIIII ".

It is a historical reconstruction by the archaeologist Pirro Ligorio, which depicts the port wanted by Emperor Claudius, later enlarged by Trajan. The work began between 42 and 46, and it was made an open port to the west, protected by two piers. However, the continuous silting up that it underwent, led to further works that led to the construction of a further inner basin, to the east, finished under the Emperor Trajan in the year 103. The work, although topographic, is part of the Roman antiquities, aimed at making known to the general public the majesty of Roman architecture. It is the prototype of the plans on the port of Ostia, although some scholars (cf. Marigliani p. 86) claim that the first printed work is due to Antonio Labacco in 1552. However, the Book of Antonio Labacco belonging to the architecture in which there are some notable antiquities of Rome, which contains a plan of the port of Ostia, is not printed before 1559. Ligorio was directly involved in the survey and design of the ancient port of Ostia; an ink manuscript, attributed to him (mm 700x1150), preserved at the National Institute of Archaeology and Art History of Rome (Lugli, fig. 1) is known. A second draft of the work was published in 1558.

The plate can be identified with the one in Antonio Lafreri's catalog, in which many works by Tramezzino, listed among the Cities & Fortresses as "Porto d'Hostia" (number 136). Through an editorial path that we have not been able to reconstruct, it was purchased by Giovan Battista de Rossi, author of a reprint that preserves the date 1558. A subsequent draft was published by de Rossi's printing house, dated 1691 (July 1947). The last edition of the plate was edited, two centuries later, by Carlo Losi (see Bifolco-Ronca, 2018, tav. 1164).

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). 

Beautiful proof, rich in tones, printed on contemporary laid paper, trimmed to the copperpalte, traces of horizontal folds of paper - normal in a sheet of this size - minimal restorations perfectly executed, overall in excellent condition. Rare.

Bibliography
Bifolco-Ronca, Italian Cartography and Topography of the XVI century, 2018, pp. 2268-2269, table 1164 I/V; A. Alberti, L'indice di Antonio Lafrery (2010), n. A113, I/III; Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell'Arte incisoria del Cinquecento (2016), n. III.6 C. Hülsen, 1921, p. 147, 25 Ab; R. Lanciani, 1990, ii, p. 130; C. Falcucci, 1994, t. 41; M. Silenzi, 1998, p. 187; P. Bellini, 1998, p. 168; C. Marigliani, 2006, pp. 6-7; Bianchi 2006, p. 63.