the interior of the Colosseum in Rome, viewed from one end of the arena, with several couples, either grand tourists or surveyors, strolling around the ruined structure. It depicts the ongoing excavations to reveal the substructure that had commenced in 1810, uncovered in 1813, and then partially covered over again in 1814. It also shows some of the structural conservation work to shore up the highest wall on the far side of the scene, which had been undertaken in 1807. 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 465 mm. (14 1/8 x 18 1/4 in), slight surface dirt and minor handling creases, mostly marginal,