Rossini (Luigi)

a view of the single-storey remains of the Amphiteatrum Castrense, originally part of a palatial villa complex and used for games involving wild animals. The external structure, near the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, was incorporated into the Aurelian Walls for defensive use, which also involved lowering and redeploying the upper masonry. 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, 335 x 460 mm. (13 1/4 x 18 in), some marginal surface dust and faint spotting,