Auction Highlights: Celebrating the History and Legacy of Rome

Pietro Aquila, two works containing numismatic portraits of popes and emperors (Rome, 1675-1681). Estimate €1,000-1,500.

These two engraved works , both rare, contain sheets which were designed to be pasted together to form wall charts of portraits of all the popes and Roman emperors. The coins from which the imperial portraits were taken were in the cabinet of Christina of Sweden, a noted coin collector.

Roma. La Biblioteca Sergio Rossetti
20 February | Milan

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Statuti della venerabile archiconfraternita della S.ma Nuntiata (Rome: Stampatori Camerali, 1614 [i.e. 1658]), in a binding for Christina of Sweden. Estimate €3,000-4,000.

Queen Christina of Sweden abdicated and went to Rome in 1655 where she built up substantial art collections. Her library was bought for the Vatican by Alexander VIII; this is a rare escapee , in a fine Andreoli binding.

Roma. La Biblioteca Sergio Rossetti
20 February | Milan

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Bombardieri di Castel Sant’Angelo, a collection of 3 works. Estimate €1,000-1,500.

The soldiers of Castel Sant’Angelo were formed into a guild in 1594, which was dissolved in 1798. These three curious works describe the roles and privileges of these soldiers, including a wonderful engraving of fireworks over the castle.

Roma. La Biblioteca Sergio Rossetti
20 February | Milan

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Francesco Borromini, Opera; Opus architectonicum (Rome, 1720-1725), 2 volumes. Estimate €5,000-7,000.

Borromini was the pre-eminent architect of Baroque Rome, and these posthumous works display his designs, buildings and decorations.

Roma. La Biblioteca Sergio Rossetti
20 February | Milan

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Aedium Farnesiarum tabulae ab Annibale Caraccio depictae (Roma : Venanzio Monaldini, 1753). Estimate €1,500-2,000.

Annibale Carracci’s frescos for the Palazzo Farnese, commissioned by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, were a masterpiece of early Baroque art, depicting the loves of the gods on a monumental scale. The plates were engraved by Carlo Cesi.

Roma. La Biblioteca Sergio Rossetti
20 February | Milan

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Matthew Dubourg, Views of the Remains of Ancient Buildings in Rome and its Vicinity (London : J. Taylor and James Moyes, 1820). Estimate €1500-2000.

Dubourg’s fine and coloured views of Rome were produced in London for returning or prospective Grand Tourists.

Roma. La Biblioteca Sergio Rossetti
20 February | Milan

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Carlo Fontana, Templum Vaticanum et ipsius origo (Roma : Giovanni Francesco Buagni, 1694). Estimate €10,000-15,000.

This copy of Fontana’s magnificent descriptive treatise on the Vatican is in a fine red morocco binding for Pope Clement IX (pope from 1700-1721), which was produced by the Andreoli bindery in Rome.

Roma. La Biblioteca Sergio Rossetti
20 February | Milan

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Giacomo Lauro, Antiquae Urbis splendour (Rome: Vitale Mascardi, 1637). Estimate €4,000-6,000.

This copy of Lauro’s description of ancient Rome is in a splendid binding with the arms of Urban VIII, who was responsible for the renewal of Rome through the work of artists such as Bernini and Borromini. The binding can be attributed to the Soresini workshop in Rome.

Roma. La Biblioteca Sergio Rossetti
20 February | Milan

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Cornelio Meyer, A group of five works on engineering and astronomy (Rome, 1679-1698). Estimate €3,000-4,000.

Meyer was a Dutch engineer and architect who worked for Clement X to help control the flooding of the Tiber. This group of works includes two rare broadsheets on engineering projects in Pesaro and the Romagna.

Roma. La Biblioteca Sergio Rossetti
20 February | Milan

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Giovanni Battista Nolli, Nuova pianta di Roma (Rome, 1748). Estimate €4,000-6,000.

Within this volume are 12 engraved maps which, when joined together, would form a monumental wall map of four square metres. The other plates include this fine overview of Rome, as well as plates by Piranesi and Bufalini.

Roma. La Biblioteca Sergio Rossetti
20 February | Milan

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Giovan Battista Piranesi, Il Campo Marzio dell’antica Roma (Rome, 1762). Estimate €10,000-15,000.

First edition of this magnificent publication which includes a large folding plan of the Campo Marzio as it would have been in Roman times, in a reconstruction from the available evidence with some artistic licence. Piranesi’s substantial undertaking was inspired by Robert Adam, who spent time studying in Rome in the 1750s.

Roma. La Biblioteca Sergio Rossetti
20 February | Milan

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