Vatican Obelisk

Engraving, 1550, dated and signed in plate at lower right ANT LAFRERI FORMIS ROMAE ∞ D L.

Example in the second state of four (first of three for Alberti, single state for Rubach) ahead the retouches in the clouds at right described by Alberti. A print proof, lacking the clouds at the top and unknown, appeared in the Galerie Bassenge catalog in 2018.

Magnificent proof, richly toned, printed on contemporary laid paper with watermark "anchor in circle with star" (cf. Woodward no. 160), trimmed to copperplate and with coeval margin added - bottom inside the copperplate with loss of about 2 centimeters of engraved part - old restoration in lower right corner, otherwise in good condition.

Inscribed in obelisk: DIVO. CAESARI. DIVI. IVLII. F. AVGVSTO / TI. CAESARI. DIVI. AVGVSTI. F. AVGVSTO / SACRVM.

Inscribed in the cartouche at lower right: OBELISCI VATICANI QVEM CVM ALII TVM NOS IPSI / NON ITA EXACTE ALIAS REPRAESENTAVIMVS / VERISSIMA EFFIGIES IVSTISSIMAQ [ VE] PROPORTIONIS DIMENSIO / ANT LAFRERI FORMIS ROMAE ∞ D L - [Very faithful image and precise dimension of the proportion of the Vatican obelisk which, both others and ourselves, and yet not with as much exactitude, we have reproduced other times].

“The Vatican obelisk is, in Rome, the second largest after the Lateran obelisk. Plinio the Elder reports that it was transported to Rome by Caligula in a ship of exceptional size, later sunk by Claudius to build a pier in the port of Ostia, information that has been confirmed by archaeological reconnaissance. Currently, the base on which the obelisk stands is decorated with lions and the eagle of Innocent XIII (1721-1724). One of the oldest representations of the Vatican obelisk is due to Ciriaco d'Ancona, who in c. 1450 depicted it surrounded by fantastic buildings. Sebastiano Serlio calls it "of Egyptian stone, on the top of which is said to be the ashes of Gaius Caesar”. Seven different projects were presented to the pope for the transportation of the obelisk: by Ilarione Ruspoli, Giacomo della Porta, Giovanni Fontana, Francesco Tribaldesi, Bartolomeo Ammannati, Giacomo del Duca and Domenica Fontana. The latter was chosen and succeeded in the undertaking in 133 days and at the expense "of only 38,172 scudi". According to Mercati's report, “quest’obelisco ha avuto miglior sorte di tutti gli altri di Roma: perciocché dell’erettione di Cajo imperatore fino alla nuova erettione di Sisto V, solo si è conservato intiero”. Almost certainly Lafréry's print is after a drawing by Sangallo and is in any case preceded by an engraving published by Antonio Salamanca. Lafréry's edition was followed by that of Pietro de Nobili (1584)” (translation from C. Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento).

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).

Bibliografia

C. Hülsen, Das Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae des Antonio Lafreri (1921), n. 32; cfr. Peter Parshall, Antonio Lafreri's 'Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, in “Print Quarterly”, 1 (2006); B. Rubach, Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae (2016), n. 292; A. Alberti, L’indice di Antonio Lafrery (2010), n. 58, I/III; Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento (2016), n. IV.1; cfr, D. Woodward, Catalogue of watermarks in Italian printed maps 1540 – 1600 (1996).