Sadeler - Antichità di Roma Tivoli Pozzuolo et altri Luochi - 1606-1660

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LE GRANDI VEDUTE DI ROMA DEI SADELER - UNO DEI MONUMENTI DEL GRAND TOUR DEL SEICENTO
Splendid collection of engravings devoted to the antiquities of Rome, Tivoli and Pozzuoli, etched by Egidio and Marco Sadeler, who were the true leading figures of European engraving between the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
The work constitutes one of the most important figurative testimonies of pre-Baroque Rome, documenting with extraordinary archaeological precision monuments, ruins, landscapes, and urban views destined to undergo profound changes in the following centuries.
Of particular bibliographic interest is the presence of the double imprint, which preserves simultaneously the original 1606 Sadeler imprint and the later Roman edition by Giacomo de Rossi of 1660, evidence of the reuse of the original matrices.

WHY TO BUY
The Sadeler Vestiges represent one of the supreme masterpieces of European topographical graphics of the early Seicento.
The work brings together artistic quality, documentary value, and great commercial rarity, making it fundamental for collectors.
The plates offer irreplaceable documentation of the appearance of Roman monuments before modern restorations and constitute an iconographic source still used by scholars today.
The presence of the double imprint makes this example particularly interesting from a bibliographic standpoint as well.

MARKET VALUE
Complete collections of the Sadeler works devoted to Roman antiquities are among the most sought-after items in 17th-century illustrated publishing.
Complete copies in good conservation condition reach high prices at major international auctions. Even copies with minor defects, provided they have good impressions and satisfactory preservation, remain of strong interest to collectors, institutions, and scholars.
Complete specimens are normally valued in the range of €1,300–2,200.

PHYSICAL
Large plates (413x273 mm) engraved in copper.
Back binding in marbled paper in the middle.
Engraved title page.
47 full-page copper plates (out of 50).
Sheets with some natural browning and sporadic foxing.
Pages: (2), 96, (2).
As with all old volumes, slight defects not expressly mentioned may be present.

FULL TITLE
Vestigi delle antichità di Roma, Tivoli, Pozzuolo et alti luoghi.
Prague and Rome: Egidio and Marco Sadeler; Giacomo de Rossi, 1606 and 1660.

CONTEXT
From the late 16th to the early 17th century Rome became Europe’s principal artistic workshop. Antiquarians, architects, artists and travelers from all over the continent came there to study directly the vestiges of classical antiquity.

The Sadeler engravings fitted perfectly into this cultural climate, offering a systematic representation of the main monuments of the Urbs and the surrounding archaeological sites: Colosseum, Forum Romanum, Palatine, Castel Sant’Angelo, triumphal arches, temples, aqueducts, baths, Tivoli and Pozzuoli.

The work contributed decisively to the diffusion of the ideal image of Ancient Rome among European elites, anticipating the cultural phenomenon later known as the Grand Tour.

BIOGRAPHY
Egidio (Aegidius) and Marco (Marcus) Sadeler belonged to the famous Flemish lineage of engravers from Antwerp.
Active in Munich, Venice, Verona, Rome and finally Prague at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, they were among the most refined interpreters of European copperplate engraving of their time. Their engravings, characterized by exceptional technical rigor and extraordinary landscape sensibility, contributed to the international diffusion of Italian art and classical archaeology.

Giacomo de Rossi, who republished the collection in 1660, was the leading print publisher of Baroque Rome and played a fundamental role in the preservation and diffusion of the copperplates of the great engravers of the previous century.

PRINTING
The plates are engraved in copper with extraordinary fineness of line, notable prospective accuracy, and a richly detailed description of architectural and landscape details.

The bibliographically most significant aspect of the work is the maintenance of the double imprint: beside Giacomo de Rossi’s name still appears the original Sadeler imprint dated 1606, evidence of the reuse of the original matrices in the subsequent Roman edition of 1660.

This feature makes the edition particularly sought after by scholars of the history of printing and the collecting of Roman vedute.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Berlin Katalog.

Cicognara, Catalogo Ragionato dei Libri d'Arte e d'Antichità.

Brunet, Manuel du Libraire, V.

Graesse, Trésor de Livres Rares et Précieux.

Millard, Italian and Classical Architecture.

Fowler, Rome and the Classical Tradition.