Matthew Dubourg - The Coliseum

View of the Colosseum, between an archaeological document and Anglo-Saxon picturesque taste.
View of the Colosseum in Rome, etched in aquatint and finely hand-coloured at the time, Plate 12 of the first edition of the famous collection Views of the Remains of Ancient Buildings in Rome, and its Vicinity, published in London in 1820. The image renders the monument in its structural grandeur, observed through a painterly sensibility that combines antiquarian precision with a romantic taste for ruins, typical of the British visual culture tied to the Grand Tour.
Market value
The individual loose plates from the first edition of British collections of Roman views, especially if hand-colored at the time and in a large format, are steadily appreciated by the collectibles market. The value of about 300–400 euros is supported by the quality of the aquatint, the freshness of the coloring, and the iconic strength of the depicted subject, among the most emblematic of the European antiquarian imagination.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Aquatint engraving on paper, hand-colored at the time.
Sheet with gilded edges, visible along the thickness.
Folio size, approximately 403 × 322 mm.
Architectural view of the Colosseum with ample margins.
Some waviness.
In books and antique prints, with a centuries-long history, there may be some imperfections not always noted in the description.
Pp. 1.

Full title and author
Colosseum. Plate 12.
London, J. Taylor, 1820.
Matthew Dubourg.

Biography of the Author
Matthew Dubourg (1703–1767) was an engraver and draftsman active between Ireland and England, best known for producing architectural and landscape views intended for the educated public of the eighteenth century. He worked within the context of British diffusion of Roman and classical imagery, providing precise and legible images of Italian antiquities for an audience tied to the Grand Tour. His engravings are distinguished by the balance between descriptive rigor and pictorial sensibility, anticipating the antique and neoclassical taste that would dominate English production from the late eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century. His works were often published and reissued posthumously, as in the case of the London collections from the early decades of the 19th century.

Context and Significance
This plate belongs to the tradition of Roman views intended for the cultivated audience of the Grand Tour, in which ancient architecture is interpreted both as a historical document and at the same time as a suggestive image. The Colosseum, the quintessential symbol of ancient Rome, is here represented with a balance between descriptive rigor and atmospheric rendering, reflecting the British antiquarian taste of the early nineteenth century and the growing interest in the preservation and memory of classical ruins.

Printing history and circulation
Plate 12 of the first edition of the work 'Views of the Remains of Ancient Buildings in Rome, and its Vicinity,' published in London in 1820.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Matthew Dubourg, Views of the Remains of Ancient Buildings in Rome, and its Vicinity, London, J. Taylor, 1820.
Comparisons with British collections of views of Rome from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century.