Giovanni Battista Piranesi. 1720-1778.
Pianta di Roma e del Campo Marzo. (Plan of Rome and the Campus Martius). c. 1774. Etching. 39 3/4 x 27 7/8 (sheet 51 1/8 x 29 1/4). Printed in 3 sections and joined. A fine impression printed on laid paper. Minor creasing; otherwise good condition. $5,500.
A frame is available for the map.
According to John Wilton-Ely, page 1096, "By the mid-1770's, at the height of his career, Piranesi had produced a comprehensive record of ancient and modern Rome in the form of the well over a hundred plates of the Vedute di Roma. He may have felt the need for a reference map to accompany collections of these plates and devised this work, usually found in associations with the Vedute, to fill this need. Exercising his skills in presenting formidable quantities of information coherently, he sought to relate the surviving remains of antiquity to the contemporary topography of Rome and to offer way reference to published information about them. He therefore produced a large map of the modern city within Aurelian Walls, together with an extension showing the territory to the north, between Porto del Popolo and Ponte Milvio and including the Campus Martius area. This is augmented by a smaller map isolating the principal antiquities, which were marked with numbers corresponding to those in the larger map. Around these Piranesi arranged a detailed index listing the monuments according to their assigned number and referring to relevant passages in his major publications, including the Antichità Romane, Della Magnificenza and Campo Marzio.
The dating of the map is problematic, since, althought it is dedicated prominently to Clement XIV (1769-1774), Francesci Piranesi's 1792 catalogue assigns it to 1778 and most authorities, including Giesecke, Focillon and Hind, have accepted a late, if not posthumous date; however, this dating is certainly based on error, since Giambattista, in his Avvertimento at the top of the main map, refers to l'approvazione che si è degnata mostrarne la Santità di N.ro Sig.re PAPA CLEMENTE XIV feliecmente regnate. Supporting evidence for an earlier date comes from an impression of the Catalogo delle Operer (see A) referred to by Scott, which contains manuscript entries for the three Vedute di Roma datable to 1774 and indicates that the map was already available.
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