Bloomsbury Book Auctions
Lot 1
-. Vasi (Giuseppe) Prospetto dell'Alma Citta di Roma, Visto dal Monte Gianicolo, in 11 of 12 sheets, only, unjoined, lacking lower plate 5 but supplied with a high quality facsimile on closely matching paper, etching with engraving, the six upper plates, depicting the main vista, each c.680 x 440mm., the six lower plates, bearing the title tablet, with dedication and date, also the key and some foreground detail, each c.335 x 445mm., the whole image approximately 1010 x 2600mm., if joined, a very good, richly inked, impression, occasional light surface dust and a few minor handling creases, a marginal tear to one plate, not affecting the image, a minor surface loss to one lower plate, Rome, 1765. *** This breath-taking panorama, from St Peter's to the Acqua Paola, is effectively a vertically compressed plan-view, of the type devised by Tempesta in the late 16th century, allowing the artist a certain license to emphasise buildings and monuments which would not otherwise be so obvious from the identifiable viewpoint in the gardens of the Palazzo Corsini, the residence of Vasi's early patron, Cardinal Neri Corsini.