variously titled (in the plate)
engravings, watermark SPQR
17.9 x 15.4 cm (plate); 18.2 x 15.7 cm (sheet), and smaller
Passavant 5, 6, 16 [1] and two apparently undescribed
Good impressions of these very rare prints, each with small margins, one print with some foxing, one print with has a smudge in the subject, paper remnants on the verso of each sheet, otherwise in good condition

These five small engravings come from a very rare series of 24 prints, executed circa 1530-1550, showing (reconstructed) buildings such as bath houses, temples and palaces from Roman Antiquity in Italy, France and Spain. Some of the buildings have been artificially reconstructed based on Medieval descriptions, while others are depicted in their ruinous states. Nor Nagler or Bartsch describes this series, but Passavant describes 19 of them. The plates are known in several states, and have undergone minor changes over time. Several titles of buildings have been changed, and the plates have been cropped as a result of plate cracks and oxidation. A complete series can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York as well as in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The latter series comes from the famous collection of Michiel Hinloopen (1619-1708) who had pasted the series onto large album sheets of which they were taken off in the 1950s.[2] The series is amongst the earliest series of prints showing buildings from Roman Antiquity that were produced for Grand Tourists sojourning in Italy. It predates Antonio Lafrery’s (1512-1577) hugely popular and important Speculum Romanum magnificentiae which was published in Rome between 1546-1577.

[1] J.D. Passavant, 'Peintre-Graveur', Leipzig, 1864, vol. 5, p. 162.
[2] J. van der Waals, 'De prentschat van Michiel Hinloopen', The Hague, 1988, pp. 44 and 47, fig. 35.