![PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista (1720-78). Vedute di Roma. Rome: Bouchard and Gravier, [c. 1758-59].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2013/NYR/2013_NYR_02706_0059_000(piranesi_giovanni_battista_vedute_di_roma_rome_bouchard_and_gravier_c082317).jpg?w=1)
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PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista (1720-78). Vedute di Roma. Rome: Bouchard and Gravier, [c. 1758-59].
Large 2o (515 x 370mm). 53 ETCHED PLATES including title and frontispiece of classical fantasy and ruins and 51 views of modern and ancient Rome, all full broadsheets mounted on stubs. (A few light creases and very minor soil-marks, light browning at the extreme lower end of the center folds.) Mid-19th-century English binding of red half morocco over thick pasteboard, triple gilt fillet on sides, spine gold-tooled in compartment to floral patterns, marbled endpapers, gilt edges, (somewhat rubbed). Provenance: Acquired from Craddock and Barnard 1958.
RARE AND EARLY ISSUE OF PIRANESI'S POPULAR MASTERWORK, which grew over thirty years from the first etchings in the mid-1740s to 135 plates at the time of the artist's death. Bought on the Grand Tour and widely distributed through trade channels, then restruck in Paris, these famous prints came to form the European image of the eternal city until well after Napoleon's defeat and the arrival of photography. Andrew Robison, with "Dating Piranesi's early 'Vedute di Roma'" in Piranesi tra Venezia e l'Europa (ed. A. Bettagno, Florence 1983) pp. 11-33, has analyzed their evolution, order and dates, and clearly placed the Vershbow set (Robison no. XI) within the early sequence of issues in the work's complicated publication history. He calls it "a rebound but coherent volume of 53 appropriately early impressions," and compares it to another set (in Munich) of just the same vedute but here with the addition of the Palazzo Barberini view (reproduced by him as fig. 13), which completes Piranesi's early survey of modern Roman palaces.
The following list of contents follows the manuscript numbering (occasionally cut into) in the top right-hand corner of the blank reverse of the sheets, which precedes the binding but whose order was maintained by it. The states may be summarized as 32 in finished states before all addresses and 21 with the address of Bouchard or Bouchard and Gravier, including 17 states unrecorded by Hind (see Andrew Robison, "The 'Vedute di Roma' of Giovanni Battista Piranesi: Notes toward a Revision of Hind's Catalogues," Nouvelles de l'Estampe, 1970, no. 4, pp. 180-98). ALL ETCHINGS IN FINE IMPRESSIONS, the paper crisp, unwashed and unpressed.
1. H1 title - first state
2. H2 frontispiece - first state
3. H3 St. Peter's Square - third state
4. H4 Interior St. Peter's - second state
5. H5 exterior St. Peter's - first state
6. H6 St. Paul's Outside the Walls - first state
7. H7 interior St. Paul's Outside the Walls - second state
8. H8 St. John Lateran - second state
9. H9 St. Mary Major - second state
10. H10 rear St. Mary Major - pre-first state, before publishers' address
11. H11 Holy Cross in Jerusalem - pre-first state, before publishers' address
12. H14 Popolo Square - second state
13. H15 Monte Cavallo Square - second state
14. H22 Consulta Palace - first state
15. H25 Barberini Palace - first state
16. H19 Trevi Fountain - second state
17. H21 Fountainhead of Paola Aqueduct - first state
18. H38 Capitoline Hill - intermediate state between first and second 19. H23 Montecitorio Palace (Papal Law Courts) - pre-first state, before Piranesi's address
20. H26 Odescalchi Palace - pre-first state before publishers' address
21. H24 French Academy (Salviati-Mancini Palace) - pre-first state before publishers' address
22. H16 Navona Square - intermediate state between second and third
23. H17 Rotonda Square and Pantheon - second state
24. H18 Spain Square and Spanish Steps - intermediate state between second and third
25. H51 Trajan's Column - first state
26. H52 Column of Antoninus Pius [recte Marcus Aurelius] - second state
27. H53 Egyptian Obelisk - first state
28. H27 Gran Ripa (Great Embankment) - pre-first state before publishers' address
29. H28 Ripetta (Small Embankment) - second state
30. H29 Bridge and Castle of the Holy Angel - intermediate state between first and second
31. H30 Hadrian's Tomb (rear Castle of the Holy Angel) - pre-first state before publishers' address
32. H40 Cattle Field (Roman Forum) - first state
33. H44 Temple of Jupiter the Thunderer [recte Vespasian and Titus] - first state
34. H54 Arch of Septimius Severus - intermediate state between first and second
35. H41 Ancient Roman Forum - first state
36. H49 Temple of Antoninus and Faustina - first state
37. H45 Dining Room of Nero's Golden House [recte Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine - second state
38. H55 Arch of Titus - pre-first state before Piranesi's address
39. H50 Temple of the Sun and Moon or Iside and Serapi [recte Temple of Venus and Rome] - second state
40. H56 Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum - second state
41. H33 Theater of Marcellus - first state
42. H42 Forum of Nerva [recte Forum of Augustus] - pre-first state before publishers' address
43. H47 Temple of Cybele [recte Hercules] - first state
44. H46 Temple of Virile Fortune [recte Portunus] - intermediate state between first and second
45. H37 interior Tomb of St. Costanza - second state
46. H48 Temple of Bacchus [recte Ceres and Faustina] - pre-first state before publishers' address
47. H58 exterior Atrium of the Portico of Octavia - second state
48. H59 interior Atrium of the Portico of Octavia - first state
49. H43 Curia Hostilia, senate house [recte Temple of Claudius] - first state
50. H35 Pyramidal Tomb of Cestius - first state
51. H34 Fountainhead of Giulia Aqueduct - second state
52. H32 Customs House in Pietra Square - first state
53. H31 Salario Bridge - pre-first state before publishers' address
Not all sheets clearly reveal their watermarks or twins, but two that occur repeatedly confirm THE IMPRESSIONS OF THESE ETCHINGS AS EARLY and the late 1750s as the date of this collection's issue (w/m 5 and 32 reproduced in A. Robison, Piranesi. Early Architectural Fantasies 1986). At least three sheets show watermarks apparently unrecorded by Robison: variant fleur-de-lis within circle in pl. 36 (H49); variant fleur-de-lis within double circle in pl. 23 (H17) and pl. 37 (H45).
Large 2o (515 x 370mm). 53 ETCHED PLATES including title and frontispiece of classical fantasy and ruins and 51 views of modern and ancient Rome, all full broadsheets mounted on stubs. (A few light creases and very minor soil-marks, light browning at the extreme lower end of the center folds.) Mid-19th-century English binding of red half morocco over thick pasteboard, triple gilt fillet on sides, spine gold-tooled in compartment to floral patterns, marbled endpapers, gilt edges, (somewhat rubbed). Provenance: Acquired from Craddock and Barnard 1958.
RARE AND EARLY ISSUE OF PIRANESI'S POPULAR MASTERWORK, which grew over thirty years from the first etchings in the mid-1740s to 135 plates at the time of the artist's death. Bought on the Grand Tour and widely distributed through trade channels, then restruck in Paris, these famous prints came to form the European image of the eternal city until well after Napoleon's defeat and the arrival of photography. Andrew Robison, with "Dating Piranesi's early 'Vedute di Roma'" in Piranesi tra Venezia e l'Europa (ed. A. Bettagno, Florence 1983) pp. 11-33, has analyzed their evolution, order and dates, and clearly placed the Vershbow set (Robison no. XI) within the early sequence of issues in the work's complicated publication history. He calls it "a rebound but coherent volume of 53 appropriately early impressions," and compares it to another set (in Munich) of just the same vedute but here with the addition of the Palazzo Barberini view (reproduced by him as fig. 13), which completes Piranesi's early survey of modern Roman palaces.
The following list of contents follows the manuscript numbering (occasionally cut into) in the top right-hand corner of the blank reverse of the sheets, which precedes the binding but whose order was maintained by it. The states may be summarized as 32 in finished states before all addresses and 21 with the address of Bouchard or Bouchard and Gravier, including 17 states unrecorded by Hind (see Andrew Robison, "The 'Vedute di Roma' of Giovanni Battista Piranesi: Notes toward a Revision of Hind's Catalogues," Nouvelles de l'Estampe, 1970, no. 4, pp. 180-98). ALL ETCHINGS IN FINE IMPRESSIONS, the paper crisp, unwashed and unpressed.
1. H1 title - first state
2. H2 frontispiece - first state
3. H3 St. Peter's Square - third state
4. H4 Interior St. Peter's - second state
5. H5 exterior St. Peter's - first state
6. H6 St. Paul's Outside the Walls - first state
7. H7 interior St. Paul's Outside the Walls - second state
8. H8 St. John Lateran - second state
9. H9 St. Mary Major - second state
10. H10 rear St. Mary Major - pre-first state, before publishers' address
11. H11 Holy Cross in Jerusalem - pre-first state, before publishers' address
12. H14 Popolo Square - second state
13. H15 Monte Cavallo Square - second state
14. H22 Consulta Palace - first state
15. H25 Barberini Palace - first state
16. H19 Trevi Fountain - second state
17. H21 Fountainhead of Paola Aqueduct - first state
18. H38 Capitoline Hill - intermediate state between first and second 19. H23 Montecitorio Palace (Papal Law Courts) - pre-first state, before Piranesi's address
20. H26 Odescalchi Palace - pre-first state before publishers' address
21. H24 French Academy (Salviati-Mancini Palace) - pre-first state before publishers' address
22. H16 Navona Square - intermediate state between second and third
23. H17 Rotonda Square and Pantheon - second state
24. H18 Spain Square and Spanish Steps - intermediate state between second and third
25. H51 Trajan's Column - first state
26. H52 Column of Antoninus Pius [recte Marcus Aurelius] - second state
27. H53 Egyptian Obelisk - first state
28. H27 Gran Ripa (Great Embankment) - pre-first state before publishers' address
29. H28 Ripetta (Small Embankment) - second state
30. H29 Bridge and Castle of the Holy Angel - intermediate state between first and second
31. H30 Hadrian's Tomb (rear Castle of the Holy Angel) - pre-first state before publishers' address
32. H40 Cattle Field (Roman Forum) - first state
33. H44 Temple of Jupiter the Thunderer [recte Vespasian and Titus] - first state
34. H54 Arch of Septimius Severus - intermediate state between first and second
35. H41 Ancient Roman Forum - first state
36. H49 Temple of Antoninus and Faustina - first state
37. H45 Dining Room of Nero's Golden House [recte Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine - second state
38. H55 Arch of Titus - pre-first state before Piranesi's address
39. H50 Temple of the Sun and Moon or Iside and Serapi [recte Temple of Venus and Rome] - second state
40. H56 Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum - second state
41. H33 Theater of Marcellus - first state
42. H42 Forum of Nerva [recte Forum of Augustus] - pre-first state before publishers' address
43. H47 Temple of Cybele [recte Hercules] - first state
44. H46 Temple of Virile Fortune [recte Portunus] - intermediate state between first and second
45. H37 interior Tomb of St. Costanza - second state
46. H48 Temple of Bacchus [recte Ceres and Faustina] - pre-first state before publishers' address
47. H58 exterior Atrium of the Portico of Octavia - second state
48. H59 interior Atrium of the Portico of Octavia - first state
49. H43 Curia Hostilia, senate house [recte Temple of Claudius] - first state
50. H35 Pyramidal Tomb of Cestius - first state
51. H34 Fountainhead of Giulia Aqueduct - second state
52. H32 Customs House in Pietra Square - first state
53. H31 Salario Bridge - pre-first state before publishers' address
Not all sheets clearly reveal their watermarks or twins, but two that occur repeatedly confirm THE IMPRESSIONS OF THESE ETCHINGS AS EARLY and the late 1750s as the date of this collection's issue (w/m 5 and 32 reproduced in A. Robison, Piranesi. Early Architectural Fantasies 1986). At least three sheets show watermarks apparently unrecorded by Robison: variant fleur-de-lis within circle in pl. 36 (H49); variant fleur-de-lis within double circle in pl. 23 (H17) and pl. 37 (H45).