Rossini (Luigi)

this street scene, complete with wandering minstrels, shows the last remnant of the portico built around the ancient Temple of Hercules Musarum as part of the restoration undertaken in 29 BC by Lucius Marcius Philippus, the stepfather of the emperor Augustus. It was next to the early church of Santa Maria in Cacaberis, which was closed down by Pope Alexander in the 17th century, and demolished in the later 19th century, though the older portico still survives. 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, 455 x 370 mm. (17 7/8 x 14 1/2 in), with full margins,