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Books, Autographs & Prints

Wednesday 18 November 2020, 10:30 AM • Rome

195

Fontana, Carlo

Templum Vaticanum et ipsius origo, 1694

Estimate

€ 3.000 - 4.000

Sold

€ 3.840

The price includes buyer's premium

Information

Rome, Giovanni Francesco Bagni, 1694. In 2nd. Two title pages, one in Italian and one in Latin with vignette to the papal arms, text in Latin and Italian on two columns within a frame, each of the 7 books with its own title page, end pieces and woodcut initials, 79 tables, 1 double page, 9 folded , and the others in full page, all designed and signed by Carlo Fontana and engraved by Alessandro Specchi, errors in pagination, slight halos on the first cards, scattered marginal blooms, light browning on some cards, reinforcement at the lower external margin of 3Q4 and 3R1 , coeval parchment binding, spine with 6 nerves, author and title stamped in gold within a red gusset on the spine.



Specialist Notes

Original edition of this mighty work by Carlo Fontana (1634-1714). The work is divided into 7 books: the first deals with the ancient site of St. Peter; II the basilica built by the emperor Constantine around 320; the third book the transport of the obelisk in 1585 and its raising in the square of S. Pietro; the IV the square and the colonnade by Bernini; Book V and a detailed study of the S. Pietro factory; VI the cost of St. Peter compared with that of the Temple of Solomon; the last book is dedicated to a comparative study of St. Peter, the Pantheon and the Duomo of Florence. The Templum Vaticanum caused great uproar in the art world of the time. Berlin Kat. 2678; Fowler 122; Millard Italian Books 38.