Les plus beaux monuments de Rome ancienne, ou, Recueïl des plus beaux morceaux de l'antiquité romaine qui existent encore / dessinés par Monsieur Barbault peintre ancien pensionnarire du Roy a Rome et gravés en 128 planches avec leur explication.

Author
Barbault, Jean, approximately 1705-1766 [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
French
Published/​Created
A Rome : Chez Bouchard & Gravier Libraries françois rüe du Cours Près de Saint Marcel ... de l'Imprimerie de Komarek, MDCCLXI [1761]
Description
viii, 90 p. illus., 73 pl. (incl. plans) 55 cm.

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Special Collections - Rare Books N5760 .B3e Oversize Browse related items Reading Room Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Artist
    Engraver
    Bookseller
    Printer
    Summary note
    Engravings of the antiquities of Rome by the French artist Jean Barbault. The collection is divided into two parts: the first is about architecture; the second deals with sculpture. The architectural section is organized according to building types, such as temples, triumphal arches, theaters, columns and obelisks, baths and aqueducts, and tombs and altars. When Barbault arrived in Rome in 1747, he quickly became involved with the circle of Piranesi, collaborating with Piranesi on the "Varie vedute di Roma antica e moderna," and contributing fourteen views for Piranesi's "Antichità romane." The relationship of the two artists, as both collaborators and rivals, raises vivid questions of influence and plagiarism. In Giovanni Bouchard they shared a publisher as well. According to Martha Pollak in "The Mark J. Millard architectural collection," Barbault's views were notable for their presentation and framing which made them "tactile and appealing." His method of inscribing sculptural remains on larger, irregularly shaped stone fragments, was also employed by Piranesi, and was "extremely effective in suggesting loss and the melancholy passage of time that inevitably destroys human work." Barbault's accompanying text in French contains many references to historians of Rome such as Pliny the Elder, Alessandro Donati, Bernard de Montfaucon, Famiano Nardini, Scipione Maffei, and Carlo Fontana.
    Notes
    • Illustrations printed from small plates.
    • Given to Princeton University library in memory of David Aiken Reed, Class of 1900.
    • Stamp of Contessa Anna Laetitia Pecci Blunt on front pastedown.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references.
    References
    Catalogo ragionato dei libri d'arte e d'antichità posseduti dal conte Cicognara 3592
    Other format(s)
    Also available in an electronic version.
    Other title(s)
    Recueïl des plus beaux morceaux de l'antiquité romaine qui existent encore
    Half title
    • Monuments de Rome ancienne
    LCCN
    10003924
    OCLC
    3164298
    Statement on language in description
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