Meta Sudans e Colonna Rostrata

Etching, 1575, dated and signed in plate lower right Excudebat Antonius Lafreri Roma[e] MDLXXV.

Although not signed by the engraver, stylistic evidence leaves no doubt that the plate can be ascribed to Etienne Duperac.

Example in the first state of four, before Giovanni Orlandi's address.

Magnificent proof, richly toned, printed on contemporary virgin paper with "pilgrim in a shield" watermark (Woodward no. 9), with margins on three sides, coeval margin added to right side, in excellent condition.

Inscribed at upper left: "C[aius] Duilius consul primus Romanorum Poenis claße deuictis de nauali uictoria triumphum egit. Ob eam rem ei in foro Rom[ano] posita[m] fuiße statuam ex S[enatus] C[onsultu] una cu[m] columna rostrata uarij auctores prodidere. Eius columnam stylobata[m] sup[eri]oribus annis ex Capitolinis ruderibus uersus foru[m] egestam, nunc autem in Capitolium translatam, in gratia[m] antiquitatis studiosorum ea qua restituta est forma cu[m] inscriptione ipsa typis mandauimus" [Having defeated the Carthaginians with the fleet in naval victory, Caius Duilius first celebrated the triumph. Various authors handed down that in his honor a statue would be erected in the Roman forum, by decree of the Senate, along with a rostral column. Now, for the benefit of scholars of antiquity, we send in print that stylobate column, in the appearance that restoration has given it, together with its inscription, [column] which years ago from the ruins of the Capitol had been brought into the forum and has now been in the Capitol again]

Inscribed at upper right: "Metæ sudantis pr[a]eterquam quod in numismatibus aliquot Vespasiani Titi et Domitiani Imp[eratoribus] percussa [sic per: percussis] cernitur, uestigia apud amphitheatru[m] Titi exsta[n]t. Fons fuit sic dictus q[uod] ex eo manaret aqua[m] commoditati populi, ad ludos et spectacula qu[a]e in amphitheatro edeba[n]tur, accedentis" [In addition to what [of it] is seen on some coins minted by the emperors Vespasian, Titus and Domitian, vestiges of the Meta Sudante subsist at the amphitheater of Titus. It was so called the fountain because water emanated from it for the convenience of the people who flocked to the amphitheater for ludi and performances].

“The name of meta derives from the fountain's resemblance to the goals around which chariots in the circus circled for the races that so enthralled the Romans. The construction of the Meta Sudans, at the side of the Via Sacra, most likely dates to AD 80, as documented by a coin of Titus (79-81) from that year, on which it is depicted. It was surmounted by a bronze ball with holes from which water flowed down the sides of the cone. Under Constantine (306-337) the fountain was surrounded with a large pool. In 1936 it was demolished for the arrangement of the Via dell'Impero to make space for fascist demonstrations. The Rostrata Column, here combined with the Meta Sudans, was erected in honor of Cajo Duilio to celebrate the first naval victory over the Carthaginians in 260 BC. The monument had had a first edition for Francis and Michael Tramezzino under the Pontificate of Pius V (1566-1572). The many, subsequent editions of the print by Orlandi (1602), Hendrick van Schoel and Domenico de Rubeis are evidence of the success the subject enjoyed in the sixteenth-seventeenth century” (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. 109/a; Peter Parshall, Antonio Lafreri's 'Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, in “Print Quarterly”, 1 (2006); B. Rubach, Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae (2016), n. 293, I/IV; A. Alberti, L’indice di Antonio Lafrery (2010), n. 106, I/IV; Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento (2016), n. II.8; cfr. D. Woodward, Catalogue of watermarks in Italian printed maps 1540 – 1600 (1996).