Rossini (Luigi)

this depicts an elegant couple with their Grand Tour guide, an artist with his portfolio under his arm, and two pairs of conversing peasants, all standing under the vast vault of the ancient Diana nymphaeum, near the famous feat of classical engineering, the Emissary or conduit, running from Lake Albano to Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence in the hills outside Rome. 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, 355 x 460 mm. (14 x 18 1/8 in), slight surface dirt and minor handling creases in the wide margins, two faint vertical creases not distracting from the image,