La Basilica Vaticana…
| Reference: | S44258 |
| Author | Giovanni Battista FALDA |
| Year: | 1667 ca. |
| Zone: | San Pietro |
| Printed: | Rome |
| Measures: | 480 x 630 mm |
| Reference: | S44258 |
| Author | Giovanni Battista FALDA |
| Year: | 1667 ca. |
| Zone: | San Pietro |
| Printed: | Rome |
| Measures: | 480 x 630 mm |
Description
Title: LA BASILICA VATICANA consacrata al Principe de gli Apostoli è uenerabile in terra per li tesori celesti, et ammirabile per la gran mole, con la quale s’auuicina al cielo. Mà hora prouoca molto più lo stupore nella magnificenza de suoi famosi Portici, onde Roma Sacra uince tutte l’antiche profane merauiglie. Questi sono eterni pregi della Pontificia grandezza d’Alessandro VII. d’immortal’nome; et io nel publicarne l’immagine nelle mie stampe, la dedico à V.E., che essendo suo degnissimo Nipote, raccoglie nella sacra Porpora l’heroiche Virtù di si gran Zio, mentre nell età giouanile, si bene segue i suoi santi uestigi supplico l’Em.V. nel riceuere l’immagine stessa, riguardarui impressa la mia humiliss. diuotione uerso di lei, e la sua Eccma. Casa, con la benignità medesima, con le quale quel Santmo. Pontefice nel gradir le mie stampe, soleua benedirmi Et à V.E.za profondamte. m’inchino. Humilisso. et Diuotisso. Seruo Gio. Giacomo de Rossi. Gio. Giacomo Rossi le stampa in Roma alla Pace con Priu. del S. Pont.
Example in the first state, of two, before the Filippo de Rossi imprint.
Etching, 1667 circa, producers' names lettered beneath image 'Architettura del Cavalier Gio. Lorenzo Bernino / Gio. Batta. Falda dis. et fece'. Dedication to Sigismondo Chigi (1649 –1678), the nephew of Alexander VII, by Giovanni Giocomo de' Rossi across bottom of image.
Bird’s eye view of St Peter's Basilica and portico, including the Palazzi Vaticani at the right, the Egyptian obelisk in the centre and people walking across the square; Sigismondo Chigi's coat-of-arms at the bottom of image.
Based on the long inscription, from which we deduce that Alexander VII, born Fabio Chigi (13 February 1599 – 22 May 1667), was no longer alive, it is possible to date the engraving after May 22, 1667, in the late 1667 or even 1668.
A fine impression, printed on contemporary laid paper, with margins, perfectly executed repairs of some folds, otherwise perfect condition. The very rare first state.
Literature
Bellini, "TIB", 4725.283; McDonald, The Print Collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo, series C, part II – 1, n. 2058, p. 236.
Giovanni Battista FALDA (Valduggia, Novara, 1643; Rome, 1678)
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Giovan Battista Falda, a native of Valduggia, was sent to Rome at the age of 14 and entrusted to the care of an uncle who pointed him out to Gian Lorenzo Bernini. But it was his meeting with printer Gian Giacomo De Rossi that marked a turning point in Falda's artistic career: in fact, his talent was directed by the publisher to the art of engraving. In De Rossi's workshop he could also appreciate the work of great engravers such as J. Callot, S. Della Bella and I. Silvestre; having completed his apprenticeship, he was benevolently received at the papal court, so much so that Alexander VII commissioned him to design the factories of the Castel Gandolfo residence. In 1665, Falda gave to the presses for the publisher De Rossi his masterpiece: the plates of the first book of the Nuovo Teatro delle fabbriche, et edificii, in prospettiva di Roma moderna sotto il felice pontificato di n. s. Alessandro VII, which was followed, between 1665 and '69, by the second and third. The work was intended to popularize the new image of Rome: the Pope, in fact, decided to open new streets, to embellish the city with fountains and monuments, also as a demonstration of the financial and cultural power of his family. With the Nuovo Teatro, as with the later collections devoted to fountains and palaces, Falda became the popularizer of these aspects; his engraved views, characterized by attention to both perspective rules and scenographic effects, skillfully exploit the vigor of line and the richness of the contrast between black and white, in keeping with the spatial criteria of Baroque art. The specifically popular and commercial aspect of the engraved views was skillfully exploited by the publisher De Rossi, who established an inseparable and effective partnership with Falda, to whom much of the printed production of the century in Rome was owed, with a fortune comparable only to that which would be paid to the work of Giovan Battista Piranesi. Falda's activity was tireless despite the brevity of the time span in which he worked (he died at the age of 35 on August 22, 1678 and was buried in S. Maria della Scala in Trastevere). By the end of his life he had engraved about 300 plates: many of these are preserved in Rome at the Calcografia nazionale.
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Giovanni Battista FALDA (Valduggia, Novara, 1643; Rome, 1678)
|
Giovan Battista Falda, a native of Valduggia, was sent to Rome at the age of 14 and entrusted to the care of an uncle who pointed him out to Gian Lorenzo Bernini. But it was his meeting with printer Gian Giacomo De Rossi that marked a turning point in Falda's artistic career: in fact, his talent was directed by the publisher to the art of engraving. In De Rossi's workshop he could also appreciate the work of great engravers such as J. Callot, S. Della Bella and I. Silvestre; having completed his apprenticeship, he was benevolently received at the papal court, so much so that Alexander VII commissioned him to design the factories of the Castel Gandolfo residence. In 1665, Falda gave to the presses for the publisher De Rossi his masterpiece: the plates of the first book of the Nuovo Teatro delle fabbriche, et edificii, in prospettiva di Roma moderna sotto il felice pontificato di n. s. Alessandro VII, which was followed, between 1665 and '69, by the second and third. The work was intended to popularize the new image of Rome: the Pope, in fact, decided to open new streets, to embellish the city with fountains and monuments, also as a demonstration of the financial and cultural power of his family. With the Nuovo Teatro, as with the later collections devoted to fountains and palaces, Falda became the popularizer of these aspects; his engraved views, characterized by attention to both perspective rules and scenographic effects, skillfully exploit the vigor of line and the richness of the contrast between black and white, in keeping with the spatial criteria of Baroque art. The specifically popular and commercial aspect of the engraved views was skillfully exploited by the publisher De Rossi, who established an inseparable and effective partnership with Falda, to whom much of the printed production of the century in Rome was owed, with a fortune comparable only to that which would be paid to the work of Giovan Battista Piranesi. Falda's activity was tireless despite the brevity of the time span in which he worked (he died at the age of 35 on August 22, 1678 and was buried in S. Maria della Scala in Trastevere). By the end of his life he had engraved about 300 plates: many of these are preserved in Rome at the Calcografia nazionale.
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