showing the daily comings and goings of people in the neighbourhood of the Janiculum Hill in Rome, pausing here under the enormous arches of one of the city’s large gates in the defensive walls dating back to classical times, and under the less than watchful gaze of some soldiers. This particular gate was originally named after the consul Aurelius, but around the 6th century AD it was renamed after the christian martyr St Pancras, who was buried in the nearby catacombs. Through the outer arch can be seen the back of the distinctive profile of the Fontana dell’Acqua Paolo, also called the Fontanone, near the church of San Pietro in Montorio. 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, 500 x 385 mm. (19 5/8 x 15 1/8 in), trimmed on the platemark, slight surface dirt and minor handling creases,