Opere Varie Di Architettura Prospettive Grotteschi Antichità Sul Gusto Degli Antichi Romani...

PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista

Opere Varie Di Architettura Prospettive Grotteschi Antichità Sul Gusto Degli Antichi Romani Inventate, ed Incise Da Gio. Batista Piranesi Architetto Veneziano. Raccolte da Giovanni Bouchrad Mercante Librajo al Corso. In Roma, MDCCL. Con licenza de’ superiori.

Joined with Jean Barbault, Les plus beaux monuments de Rome ancienne ou recueil des plus beaux morceaux de l'antiquité romaine qui existent encore: dessinés par monsieur Barbault peintre ancien pensionnaire du Roy a Rome, et gravés en 128 planches avec leur explication. Rome, chez Bouchard & Gravier... de l'Imprimerie de Komarek, 1761.

2nd (52 cm), full red morocco binding, triple gilt border to plates, 7-nerve spine with repeated floral decoration on the spine, title and cuts in pure gold, marbled paper backstrip. Slight blooming inside.

RARE COLLECTION of the most classic fantastic views of Piranesi, based on and including some plates of the Prima parte di Architetture, that is his first and sought after graphic work, combined with the important work on ancient Rome by Jean Barbault. The two works, enclosed in the same finely bound volume with red morocco binding, are both printed by the Roman printing house of Bouchard & Gravier, a publishing house and bookshop based in Via del Corso in Rome, near the church of San Marcello. Started by Jean Bouchard, then joined by Jean Gravier - possibly from a family of booksellers in Briançon. They specialized in selling books imported from France, but also published books themselves, many with beautiful engraved illustrations, including Giovanni Battista Piranesi's Antichità Romane (1756) Giorgio Bonelli's Hortus Romanus (1772), with botanical illustrations engraved by Maddalena Bouchard from designs by Cesare Ubertini. Operating in Rome, without the necessary license from the booksellers' association but with the support of the French community, Bouchard & Gravier specialized in the sale of French books and prints, and became a cultural center of the city, as well as a supplier of books for important Roman libraries such as the Collegio Romano and the Biblioteca Casanatense. Through a network of booksellers related to Bouchard, the company was able to operate on a pan-European scale to offer French books to the Roman market: over 2,000 such books are listed in their catalog in 1780 (see L. Mancini, La libreria Bouchard e Gravier di Roma. Profilo storico-documentario, in "La Bibliofilia" CXV (2) 2013, pp. 203-310.).

Prima parte di Architetture was the first publication of the young artist Piranesi, who had just arrived in Rome. The result was a not entirely unified work, characterized by the considerable stylistic difference between the plates, but one of great charm and one that hints and predicts Piranesi's future artistic developments. The work continues a tradition of a well-established model, which included the caprice and the view, the scenography and the treatise on architecture, but later, analyzing the artist's biography, it will be understood as being above all the result of a crisis as an architect and of an interior itinerary lived with intensity. In short, the fruit of the clash between a mind tied to Venetian culture, heir to the poetry of ruins evoked by Marco Ricci and taken up by Bellotto and Canaletto, and the new architectural culture that was forming in the young Piranesi. The Prima parte di Architetture and the subsequent architectural fantasies that continue it constitute a decisive step towards the goal he set himself in the preface to the work: to ensure that architectural caprice would lead to free architecture from the chains of the material and social world, to make it a truly liberal art.

The first issue of the work dates back to 1743, and was dedicated to Nicola Giobbe, a great impresario at the service of the Camera Apostolica and protector of the young Venetian architect. Later, it was included in a wider discourse that also included the Capricci and published, with some variations in the titles in Opere Varie di Architettura Prospettive Grotteschi Antichità Inventate ed incise da Giambattista Piranesi Architetto Veneziano in Roma, published by Giovanni Bouchard from 1750 until 1761, the year in which Piranesi became publisher of his own works with headquarters and address in Palazzo Tomati.

The four large sheets now known as I Capricci, were contained for the first time in this collection, with the term grotesque, a term that derives from the pictorial tradition with bizarre figures and ornamental elements, so named from the rooms (known as grottoes) of Nero's Domus Aurea, which came to light in excavations during the Renaissance period. Although published for the first time in this collection, the four fantastic plates belong to the artist's taste of the years 1743/45, in the period immediately following his return to Rome from his trip to Venice. The influence of the meeting with Gian Battista Tiepolo, who had just given birth to his first tables of the Capricci, is evident in the general brightness of the layout; however, the comparison of the same with the works of Marco Ricci, Antonio Canal and Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, whose works were observed by Piranesi in the Venetian collection of the painter and magnate Antonio Maria Zanetti, is inevitable.

As Andrew Robison states, the Opere Varie series was printed several times and with different content; it is possible that the plates were inserted on commission. The scholar lists the different editions of the book printed by Bouchard, all with the date 1750. They differ, however, in the vignette contained on the title page, the dedication of the engraved title page, and the numbering of the plates. Below is a detailed list and description of the individual works in our collection, with the states described by Robison:

-          Title with Classical Ruins with a view of the sea (Robison p. 137), title page of Opere Varie. According Robison is the first title page of Opere Varie, found in Giovanni Bouchard’d editions published from 1750 to 1761.

-          Francesco Polanzani, Io. Ba. Piranesi Venet. Architectus. Dimensioni 290x390. The portrait of Piranesi engraved by Polanzani in 1750 (signature and date at lower left), is not pertinent to the Opere Varie. It is included in the Antichità Romane of 1756, also published by Bouchard & Gravier.

-          Title plate (Robison 1, IV/V; Wilton Ely 2; Focillon 2). Dimensioni 362x257 mm. Fourth state - of five - of the frontispiece, made specifically for Opere Varie by modifying the one already used for Prima parte di Architetture, which had the dedication to Nicola Giobbe, here replaced by that to Salcindio Tiseo.

-           Galleria grande di statue (Robison 2, III/IV; Wilton Ely 4; Focillon 3). Dimensioni 362x254 mm. Third state of five according to Robison.

-          Carcere Oscura (Robison 3, III/VI; Wilton Ely 5; Focillon 4). Dimensioni 370x242 mm Third state of six according to Robison.

-          Gruppo di Colonne (Robison 15, III/V; Wilton Ely 16; Focillon 15). Dimensioni 406x251 mm. Third state of five according to Robison.

-          Mausoleo Antico (Robison 5, III/III; Wilton Ely 7; Focillon 14). Dimensioni 364x257 mm. Third state of three according to Robison.

-          Sala all’uso degli antichi romani (Robison 7, IV/VI; Wilton Ely 9; Focillon 8). Dimensioni 251x371 mm. Fourth state of six according to Robison.

-          Tempio Antico (Robison 19, II/IV; Wilton Ely 17; Focillon 17). Dimensioni 406x258 mm. Second state of four according to Robison.

-          Campidoglio Antico (Robison 8, IV/VI; Wilton Ely 10; Focillon 9). Dimensioni 244x367 mm. Fourth state of six according to Robison.

-          Gruppo di Scale (Robison 9, II/IV; Wilton Ely 11; Focillon 10). Dimensioni 250x374 mm. Second state of four according to Robison.

-          Prospetto d’un regio Cortile (Robison 10, III/V; Wilton Ely 12; Focillon 11). Dimensioni 238x539 mm. Third state of five according to Robison.

-          Vestibolo d’antico Tempio (Robison 11, IV/V; Wilton Ely 13; Focillon 12). Dimensioni 245x360 mm. Quarto stato di cinque descritto da Robison.

-          Foro antico romano (Robison 12, IV/VII; Wilton Ely 14; Focillon 13). Dimensioni 249x366 mm. Quarto stato di sette descritto da Robison.

-          Ponte Magnifico (Robison 6, III/V; Wilton Ely 8; Focillon 7). Dimensioni 245x364 mm. Third state of five according to Robison.

-          Camera Sepolcrale (Robison 20, III/V; Wilton Ely 20; Focillon 18). Dimensioni 408x284 mm. Third state of five according to Robison.

-          Ruine di Sepolcro Antico (Robison 17, II/V; Wilton Ely 6; Focillon 6). Dimensioni 374x249 mm. Second state of five according to Robison.

-          Ara Antica (Robison 18, II/IV; Wilton Ely 19; Focillon 16). Dimensioni 247x353 mm. Second state of four according to Robison.

-          Vestiggi d’Antichi Edificj (Robison 16, II/II; Wilton Ely 18; Focillon 5). Dimensioni 392x242 mm. Second state of two according to Robison.

Following are the 4 plates of the series I Capricci:

-          The Triumphal Arch (Robison 22, I/IV; Focillon 21, Wilton Ely 22). Dimensioni 393x553 mm. First state of four according to Robison.

-          The Tomb of Nero (Robison 23, I-II/VI; Focillon 22, Wilton Ely 23). Dimensioni 392x554 mm. First or second state of six according to Robison.

-          The Skeletons (Robison 21, I-II/IV; Focillon 20, Wilton Ely 21). Dimensioni 395x555 mm. First or second state of six according to Robison.

-          The Monumental Tablet (Robison 24, II/IV; Focillon 23, Wilton Ely 24). Dimensioni 396x547 mm. First or second state of six according to Robison, with the rounded lower corners.

Opens the book the Les plus beaux monuments de Rome ancienne by Jan Barbault.

This volume includes a total of 128 images, with views of Rome’s monuments and antique sculpture. Published by Bouchard et Gravier in Rome, it comprises 73 numbered plates – 29 full-page and 44 half-page. In the first section of the volume (pl. 1-54), the plates show (often idealized) views of monuments and architectural ruins in Rome. The second section (pl. 55-73) lacks the descriptive text incorporated in the first and includes views of antique statues and bas-reliefs. There are also 53 smaller, unnumbered images in the volume that accompany the plates: nine of these are in-text illustrations or tail-pieces, appearing at the end of text pages; the others are included below the 44 half-page, numbered plates. Typically, the numbered plate at top shows a view of an architectural ruin in a landscape, while the bottom (unnumbered) image depicts a sculptural or architectural fragment. In a few instances, the bottom image also relates to the subject of the plate above.

The text, written in French, describes the monuments depicted in the adjacent plate(s). In these descriptions, Barbault not only references the work of historians like Pliny the Elder and Bernard de Montfaucon, but also other artists’ renderings of the same monuments, particularly those by Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Barbault had previously worked with Piranesi, contributing to 14 plates to Piranesi’s Antichità Romane (1756), and the two artists worked with the same publisher, Bouchard et Gravier.
Barbault not only designed the vast majority of the images, but also engraved at least 86 of them, including the vignettes on the title page and dedication page (the volume was dedicated by the publishers to Jean François de Rochechouart). While Barbault seems to have executed many of the sculptural and relief fragments, many of the large architectural views were etched by Domenico Montagu, who was responsible for some 52 images. Montagu is also responsible for most of the etchings in Barbault’s “Les plus beaux edifices des Rome moderns,” published posthumously published by Bouchard et Gravier in 1763.

Examination of the plates shows that this is one of the very first print runs of Opere Varie, all of which were printed between 1750 and 1761. The works by Piranesi are all printed with a brilliant tone; in particular, the 4 plates of the Capricci appear to be of extraordinary circulation. The presence of Barbault's Les plus beaux monuments de Rome ancienne dates the volume to 1761.

References

Piranesi - National Gallery (Washington), Mark J. Millard, 4 (2000), 83; Royal Institute Of British Architects, Early printed books, 3 (1999), no. 2562; Giovanni Battista Piranesi: the complete etchings, ed. J. Wilson-Ely (1994), 1-50, 79; A. Robison, Piranesi: early architectural fantasies (1986), cat. 1-44, 212-214; J. Wilton-Ely, Piranesi [exhibition catalogue] (1978), 26-31, 299-326; A.M. Hind, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1922 repr. 1978), p.78-81; H. Focillon, Giovanni-Battista Piranesi (1918 repr. 1964), 17-18.

Barbault - Rossetti, 750; Fowler, n. 37; Cicognara, 3592.