[Giuseppi VASI] Ruine dell antico Tempio de SS. Pietro (?)

This antique print shows a chapel built in 1638 by Pope Urban VIII. The chapel was built on the site where Sts. Peter and Marcellinus, two martyrs of the early IVth century, were beheaded and it was located three miles off Porta Maggiore along ancient Via Labicana (now Casilina).

Copperplate engraving/etching on Verge type hand laid paper paper.
Sheet size: 42 x 27,5 cm. Image size: 27 x 14,6 cm.

This scarce original antique print originates from: ‘Delle magnificenze di Roma antica e moderna’ by Giuseppi Vasi, published in Italy 1747 – 1761.

Made by ‘Giuseppi Vasi’ after own design. Giuseppe Vasi (27 August 1710 ? 16 April 1782) was an Italian engraver and architect, best known for his vedute. Vasi was a famous man and artist up to the 1760s, when Piranesi took definitively his place. Today Giuseppe Vasi is no longer considered Piranesi’s defeated rival, but an artist with his own personality and technique. Though far from being a revolutionary, he gave a significant contribution to the Roman school of engraving.

Condition: Very good, given age. An occasional minor spot in the margins. Small worm hole top right margin. Original middle fold as issued. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Please study scan carefully.

PCOM-A03-33