SADELER, Aegidius.

by Aegidius Sadeler

£7,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

Attractively bound copy of the first edition of this series of fine engraved Roman views a scarce Prague imprint by a major master-engraver. Its author, the Flemish Aegidius II Sadeler (1570-1629), was court engraver to the Emperor Rudolf II; many of his fine engravings were faithful copies of works by D√ºrer, Titian, Raphael and Tintoretto. Vestigi stands halfway between a guide to Rome and a series of picturesque views. Mostly engraved by Marco Sadeler, 27 plates are reduced copies of views from Étienne Duperac s successful I vestigi dell antica Roma (1575); 4 more were adapted after drawings by Jan Breughel the Elder, 3 after drawings by Pieter Stevens, and a handful inspired by as yet unidentified sources, probably including drawings by Breughel which have not survived (BAL). The plates are masterful examples of European pittoresco or schilder-achtig , in which the Rome that is functions as background to the Rome that was as views juxtapose the ruined (often overcome by vegetation) and the late medieval. The Italian captions, mostly drawn from Duperac, provide narrative glosses to the scene: on pl. 2, the Capitol looks toward the Foro Romano which is now called campo vaccino‚Äö where of many ancient buildings once there only a few ruins remain ; letters mark the specific buildings under scrutiny, a Doric portico, part of the Temple of Concordia and a temple of very beautiful architecture, the author of which remains unknown due to the very few ruins that are left . Among

• Binding: Hardcover

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