Giovanni Battista Piranesi | Vedute di Roma, before 1778, 2 volumes

Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Francesco Piranesi.

Vedute di Roma. [Before 1778]

2 volumes, oblong folio (516 x 759 mm), 133 (of 137) etched plates (including engraved title and engraved frontispiece), contemporary half-calf over marbled boards, a handful of plates with marginal dampstaining or repairs (plate 49 in volume 2 with 125 mm repaired closed tear extending into plate, one or two other plates with repairs touching captions), volume 1 rubbed at extremities, volume 2 rebacked and recornered

A FINE COLLECTION OF PLATES FROM ONE OF PIRANESI'S MOST CELEBRATED WORKS, 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 this splendid volume as a souvenir of his journey of cultural edification, alongside the other Piranesi works in the present sale (lots 81-83).

Piranesi worked on the Vedute from 1748 until his death in 1778. The prints were sold as single plates or as collections, at first through his publishers, Bouchard and Gravier. In 1761, Piranesi took a new workshop at the Palazzo Tomati and his work after that date was published by him at that address. The plates in this collection date from that period. A complete set comprises 137 (or sometimes 138) plates arranged in two volumes.

The plates in these volumes are mostly arranged by subject, and bound in the following order (number/state listed according to Hind's sequence): volume 1: 1.III; 120.I; 3.IV; 101.I; 4.III; 102.I; 5.III; 6.III; 7.III; 8.III; 117.I; 122.II; 88.II; 9.III; 87.I; 10.II; 11.III; 12.II; 13.I; 14.III; 15.II; 103.I; 16.IV; 108.I; 17.V; 18.V; 66.I; 19.IV; 21.II; 20.II; 22.III; 23.I; 24.II; 107.I; 25.II; 128.I; 26.II; 89.I; 124.I; 105.I; 28.IV; 27.III; 121.I; 125.I; 64.I; 68.I; 83.I; 31.II; 29.IV; 30.II; 32.III; 50.III; 48.II; 81.II; 34.IV; 37.III; 35.III; 36.I; 43.III; 58.IV; 59.III; 106.I; 80.II; 42.III; 95.I; volume 2: 2.III; 60 (state does not correspond with those listed by Hind); 82.I; 86.II; 38.II; 111.I; 39.IV; 40.III; 100.I; 41.IV; 49.III; 44.II; 45.III; 114.I; 33.IV; 46.IV; 110.I; 109.I; 47.III; 51.III; 52.IV; 53.II; 57.I; 126.I; 78.III; 56.I; 97.I; 55.II; 98.I; 54.III; 99.I; 135.I; 96.I; 118.I; 119.I; 72.I; 71.II; 76.I; 77.II; 116.I 129.I; 115.II; 123.I; 127.I;79.II; 67.II; 91.II; 65.I; 73.II; 84.I; 69.I; 70.II; 130.I; 93.I; 90.II; 131.I; 94.I; 112.I; 132.I; 133.I; 85.II; 134.I; 113.I; 61.II; 62.I; 63.I; 75.II; 92.I

Sold not subject to return.

PROVENANCE:

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

LITERATURE:

Hind, Giovanni Battista Piranesi: A Critical Study (London, 1922), pp. 38-73