Arch of Titus

Engraving, 1548, signed and dated at bottom right: “ANT. LAFRERI / SEQVANVS EXCVD[EBAT] / ROMAE ∞ - D - XL – VIII”. Part of the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae.

Example of the second state of four, with Lafreri’s imprint and with the plate now reduced by about 5 mm each side (size 375x498 mm).

At the top we find the title: "SENATVS POPVLVS. QVE. ROMANVS DIVO. TITLE. DIVI. VESPASSIANS. F VESPASIAN. AVGVSTO".

With a single travertine base, the arch was built with large blocks of pentelic marble and Carrara marble. The use of composite capitals, in a triumphal arch, represented a novelty for the time. The construction took place after the divinization of Titus in 81 AD. In the Renaissance it was very revered for the meaning that was attributed to the trophies taken from the Temple of Jerusalem. According to Pierre Gros, "the other original aspect of this monument consists in the concentration of the figurative decoration inside the arch itself: the bearers carrying the spoils of the temple of the Jewish capital on the south pillar and the quadriga of Titus crowned by a Victory on the north pillar represent the justification of the apotheosis of this emperor, which the eagle of Jupiter carries in flight to the center of the inner vault, in a medallion that occupies the space of nine coffers"(cf. Marigliani, n. III.6).

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

The plate appears in the Index of Lafreri at n. 187, described as the "Arco di Tito Vespasiano".

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, printed on contemporary laid paper with watermark "shield with pilgrim", with small margins, some folds of paper, otherwise in excellent condition.

Bibliografia

B. Rubach, Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae (2016), n. 375, I/IV; A. Alberti, L’indice di Antonio Lafrery (2010), n. 100, I/IV; Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento (2016), n. VI.19; C. HÜLSEN, 1921, p. 162, 102, A; G. C. ARGAN, 1990, p. 268; J. GARMS, 1995, II, p. 350; M. BURY, 2001, p. 141; W. LOTZ, 2004, pp. 59-60; C. MARIGLIANI, 2005, p. 44; C. WITCOMBE, 2008, pp. 141, 144; C. L. FROMMEL, 2010, p. 331.