Sarcophagus of Costantina

Engraving, 1553, signed and dated at lower right.

Example of the first state of four, with the Lafreri's imprint.

A fine impression, printed on contemporary laid paper, trimmed to the platemark and laid down on antique paper, a light abrasion at the upper edge, otherwise, very good condition.

The porphyry sarcophagus «of Constantine», daughter of Constantine, is represented and dates back to 340 AD. Renaissance scholars believed it was dedicated to Bacchus for the harvest scenes depicted on all four sides. However, the relief lends itself to a double reading: pagan, referable precisely to the Dionysian cult, and Christian for the symbolic value of wine as the blood of Christ. The urn underwent several transfers. Originally in the Mausoleum of Constance, throughout the Middle Ages it remained in the church of Santa Costanza. In 1467 it was moved to Piazza San Marco "A of August 14, that ark of rough porphyry that was burial of Santa Costanza" came to Piazza di San Marco ", and then finally landed in the Vatican in 1790. Today the sarcophagus is exhibited in the Pio Clementino Museum.

In 1540 Antonio Lafreri, a native of Besançon transplanted to Rome, began publishing maps and other printed images that depicted major monuments and antiquities in Rome. These images were calculated to appeal to the taste for classical antiquity that fueled the cultural event we call the Renaissance. After Lafreri published a title page in the mid-1570s, collections of these prints came to be known as the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, the "Mirror of Roman Magnificence." Tourists and other collectors who bought prints from Lafreri made their own selections and had them individually bound. Over time, Lafreri's title page served as starting point for large and eclectic compilations, expanded and rearranged by generations of collectors.