Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae (Mirror of Roman Magnificence)

1544-1599

Antonio Lafreri

Publisher, Italian, 1512 - 1577

Antonio Salamanca

Publisher, Italian, 1469 - 1606

Tommaso Barlacchi

Publisher, Italian, 1540 - 1550

Giacomo Lauro

Artist, Italian, c. 1550 - 1605

Étienne Dupérac

Artist, French, c. 1525 - 1601/1604

Vincenzo Luchino

Artist, Italian, active 1552 - 1571

Jacob Bos

Artist, Netherlandish, 1549 - 1580

Bartolomeo Faleti

Artist, Italian, active 1560 - 1570

Nicolas Beatrizet

Artist, French, 1515 - 1565 or after

Pedro Perret

Artist, Flemish, 1555 - c. 1625

Enea Vico

Artist, Italian, 1523 - 1567

Ferrando Bertelli

Artist, Italian, active 1561 - 1571

Marco Dente

Artist, Italian, c. 1493 - 1527

Monogrammist HCB

Artist, Italian, active 1560 - 1570

This rectangular, light brown cover is marbled with darker brown, and the edges are worn and chipped. The spine, to our left, is bound by a light tan strip and divided vertically by five projecting ribs spaced along its height. Four small dark brown spots appear on the upper right corner, with a scattering of similar spots over the lower left section.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    bound volume of 55 etched and engraved illustrations, including 3 later 16th century plates

  • Credit Line

    The Ahmanson Foundation

  • Dimensions

    overall: 40.4 × 28.6 × 3 cm (15 7/8 × 11 1/4 × 1 3/16 in.)

  • Accession

    2012.46.1

Associated Artworks

See all 58 artworks

The Statue of Pasquino

Italian 16th Century

1544

The Statue of Mars, called 'Pyrrhus'

Jacob Bos, Antonio Salamanca

1562

Pantheum Romanum [The Roman Pantheon]

Italian 16th Century, Antonio Lafreri, Nicolas Beatrizet

1549

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Weingarten Monastery, Swabia, 1632 (title page inscription in the NGA "Speculum"). Cistercian Abbey of Notre-Dame du Val-Dieu, Belgium (bookplate: Ex libris Vallis Dei). English export license recording the sale of this volume in 1974 by E.P. Goldschmidt & Co., Ltd., London; Daniel Donahue, Santa Barbara, CA; (Liber Antiquus, Washington, D.C.); purchased 2012 by NGA.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1921

  • Huelsen, Christian. "Das Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae des Antonio Lafreri." Collectanea variae doctrinae Leoni Olschki. Munich: 1921.

2016

  • Rubach, Birte. Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae: Der Verleger Antonio Lafreri und seine Druckgraphikproduktion. Berlin, 2016.

Inscriptions

upper left inside upper cover in graphite: VII; bottom right: Compact:z.R.iz; pages numbered in brown ink by later hand

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