Vatican Obelisk

Engraving, circa 1550/60, lacking signature and editorial indications.

Counterpart copy (or original from which the copy was taken) of the very rare, anonymous print held by the British Museum

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1925-0728-29

and the Metropolitan Museum

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/395102

described by Huelsen (no. 32/b) and illustrated in Marigliani (p. 147). Our example, on the contrary, seems to be unknown in the Speculum literature. At first glance-being mirrored but very similar-it may be mistaken for a counterproof; however, a closer reading of the print reveals differences in the plate, confirming that the two sheets are the result of copying one another.

Magnificent proof, richly toned, printed on contemporary laid paper with "pilgrim in the circle" watermark (very difficult to read but would seem to be the one described by Woodward, nos. 2-15), with margins, oblique print crease in upper left, two perfectly executed restorations along the right margin, otherwise in excellent condition.

“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 designs 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, "this obelisk had a better fate than all the others in Rome: forasmuch as from the erection of Cajo Imperatore until the new erection of Sixtus V, only it has been preserved intact" [...] The engraving shows the lane that led to the Vatican obelisk, the only one that was preserved intact having always remained erected until Sixtus V (1585-1590) had it placed in the center of St. Peter's Square in 1586. It was Caligula who had it transported from Egypt in 37 A.D. by having the monumental ship built that carried it all the way to Rome and was later sunk in the port of Ostia. In the background can be seen the building called the Rotunda of St. Andrew and later Santa Maria della Febbre. The small square on which the obelisk stood was called the Protomartyrs. The globe at the top of the monolith, believed to contain the ashes of Julius Caesar, at the time of the move was removed and placed on a column of the Capitol balustrade where it remained until 1850” (translation from C. Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento).

Some hypotheses; although anonymous, the engraving could be from a rival print shop of Lafreri and Salamanca, and belong to the group of early works of the print shop of Francesco and Michele Tramezzino, probably engraved by Sebastiano dal Re. Similarities in the depiction of the sky with the wave mode of this map from Crete signed by him seem obvious to us

https://www.antiquarius.it/it/creta/4766-candido-lectori-haec-est-illa-insignis-insula-creta-in-medio-ponto-sita-centum-urbibus-clara-ab-incolis-iam-curete-dict.html

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/b; Peter Parshall, Antonio Lafreri's 'Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, in “Print Quarterly”, 1 (2006); cfr. B. Rubach, Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae (2016); cfr. A. Alberti, L’indice di Antonio Lafrery (2010); Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento (2016), n. IV.2; cfr. D. Woodward, Catalogue of watermarks in Italian printed maps 1540 – 1600 (1996).