Giovanni Battista Piranesi | Le antichita Romane, [before 1784]

Giovanni Battista Piranesi.

Le antichita Romane. [Before 1784]

4 volumes, folio (528 x 402 mm), unnumbered portrait of Piranesi as frontispiece to vol.1 (dated 1779), 209 further numbered plates (of which many double-page, some folding), contemporary half calf over marbled boards, first volume lacking †2 text leaf (list of hitherto published works), first volume with slight marginal worming to index leaves and a couple of small wormholes to spine

Evocative views of the ancient ruins, catacombs and epigraphy of the city of Rome, WITH EXCEPTIONAL PROVENANCE. This volume once belonged to Thomas Giffard (1764-1823), the scion of one of the oldest Catholic families in Europe, whose family seat at Chillington, Staffordshire, has been held since 1178. During the late-eighteenth-century, they enjoyed a significant increase in wealth and social status. Starting in 1783, Thomas undertook the Grand Tour in the company of his tutor, with his itinerary encompassing France, Germany, and Italy, Spa, Dusseldorf, Munich, and Rome (which he arrived in in the Spring of 1784). Thomas would have acquired the present volume as a souvenir of his journey of cultural edification, alongside the other Piranesi works in the present sale (lots 81, 83, and 84).

Piranesi's reputation was confirmed by the 1756 publication of Le antichita. While depicting archaeological monuments and sites, sepulchres, ancient bridges, and baths, it differs from previous work by its concern with the construction techniques of antiquity. His training as an architect cast light on the archaeological discoveries, and his personal sense of the grandeur and melancholy of the ruins gives dramatic impact to the images.

The first edition was published in 1756, and many of the plates went through several states. The present copy features Francesco Piranesi's portrait of Piranesi (dated 1779 and found in copies of the 1784 second edition), though the title-page is dated 1756, and the dedication plate has not been revised to incorporate a dedication to Gustavus III of Sweden as it was for the 1784 edition.

PROVENANCE:

Thomas Giffard (1764-1823), of Chillington Hall, Staffordshire; thence by descent

LITERATURE:

Hind, pp. 83-84