Rossini (Luigi)

the massive scale of these architectural fragments from the Temple of Serapis, or Jupiter (Jove), the most important temple in ancient Rome, is shown by the figures they dwarf of two gardeners and the young lady they admire as she leans on the wall of Colonna gardens on the Capitoline Hill, overlooking the city. This is one of 101 plates produced by Rossini (1790-1857) for his great work ‘Le Antichitá Romane’ (1819-1829), which followed very much in the tradition established by his 18th century predecessor, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, in recording the increasingly rediscovered remnants of ancient Rome being unearthed by archaeologists in amongst the grandeur of later baroque Rome. Rossini’s plates are distinguished by the greater presence of contemporary figures going about their daily lives at all levels of society,

engraving on wove paper, 360 x 460 mm. (14 1/8 x 18 1/8 in), minor handling creases in the wide margins,