Pompei - Istituto della enciclopedia Italiana Treccani - 2003

Pompeii - Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia Treccani - 2003.

The Pompei volume is a work of enormous value, both in content and in its highly refined editorial design: the result of a fusion of advanced technology and fine craftsmanship.

In the series 'Vesuvian Cities and Their Fortune', the volume Pompeii, published in 2003 and directed by Giovanni Pugliese Carratelli with co-director Antonio Giuliano, gathers a large number of drawings preserved in the National Museum of Naples. These drawings show the condition of the paintings (of the buildings and their floors) at the time of discovery, paintings that were later partially faded or even disappeared due to prolonged exposure to atmospheric agents.

Additionally, some views of the excavations are published. The discovery of Herculaneum, and later that of Pompeii, gave rise to a style that spread widely throughout Europe, influencing even the most varied applied arts productions. To illustrate the importance that European culture attributed to these discoveries—especially to the paintings—some figures published in the Antiquities of Herculaneum are reproduced, outside the main text.

Together, color photographs of the branches taken from drawings made in Pompeii by Giovan Battista Piranesi shortly before his death are published (branches probably engraved by his son Francesco).

The period particularly highlighted in the volume is roughly between 1770 and 1870, when photography had not yet overtaken the interpretative abilities of individual illustrators.

The volume measures 26.5 × 34 cm, with a bodoniana binding and a full-grain leather case tanned by hand in the color amaranth red.