Claudii et Traiani Imp. Admirabilium Portuum Ostiensium...

Etching with engraving, 1575, inscribed, signed and dated in the cartouche at lower left: CLAVDII. ET. TRAIANI. IMPP. / ADMIRABILIVM. POR TVVM / OSTIENSIVM ORTHOGRAPHA. / PER STEPHANVM DV PERACH / ARCHITECTVM / IVXTA. ANTIQVA VESTIGIA / ACCVRATISSIME. DELINEATA. // Ant. Lafreri exc. Romae 1575.

Reconstruction of the Port of Claudius and Trajan at Ostia, engraved by Etienne Duperac for the publisher Antonio Lafreri. Derivation of Pirro Ligorio's reconstruction, already interpreted by Antonio Labacco (1552) and Giulio de Musi for the publisher Michele Tramezzini (1554).

Example in the third state of five, with signatures of Paolo Graziani and Pietro de Nobili (see Bifolco/Ronca pl. 1165); print issue around 1586.

Magnificent proof, printed on contemporary laid paper with "anchor in the circle with star" watermark (cf. Woodward nos. 158-171), trimmed to copperplate at sides, top and bottom margins, in excellent condition.

“The engraving is taken from a drawing by Pirro Ligorio depicting the city and port of Ostia commissioned by Emperor Claudius and enlarged by Emperor Trajan. The harbor built by Claudius between 42 and 46, opened to the west with the protection of two piers, became subject to silting, which is why Trajan in 103 restored it by having another dock built to the east. The engraving echoes the type of prints intended to show the general public the grandeur of Roman buildings. The print had considerable success; in fact, in addition to the one reproduced here by Giulio de Musi from a drawing by Pirro Ligorio for the printer Michele Tramezzino (who was granted a ten-year privilege by both the Serenissima and the Papal States) there are many other versions, due to Antonio Labacco, Étienne Du Pérac and Ambrogio Brambilla for Claude Duchet in 1581"  (translation from C. Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento).

Upon the death of Lafreri (1577) the plate was inherited by Stefano Duchetti, who gave it to Paolo Graziani (inv. of 1581, no. 20 described as "Il porto d'austriaf.o Imperiale"). It was later acquired by Pietro de Nobili (inv. May 24, 1585, no. 36, "El porto d'hostia imperaiale"). Issues by both editors are known. Another edition, datable to the mid-1700s, is due to Gian Giacomo de Rossi. The work is listed in the last catalog of the de Rossi printing house, compiled by Lorenzo Filippo in 1735 (p. 20, no. 1 as "Porto Traiano nelle asua forma antica disegnato, e intagliato a engraving da Stefano du Perac in foglio imperiale per traverso"). 

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

Bifolco-Ronca, Cartografia e topografia italiana del XVI secolo, 2018, pp. 2268-2269, tav. 1165 III/V; C. Hülsen, Das Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae des Antonio Lafreri (1921), n. 25 A/b-c;; cfr. Peter Parshall, Antonio Lafreri's 'Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, in “Print Quarterly”, 1 (2006); B. Rubach, Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae (2016), n. 282, II/IV; A. Alberti, L’indice di Antonio Lafrery (2010), n. 52, III/V; cfr. Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento (2016), n. II.2; cfr, D. Woodward, Catalogue of watermarks in Italian printed maps 1540 – 1600 (1996).