Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778)
[Antique print, etching, Piranesi] Veduta della porzione di Nave di Travertini […] Tempio di Esculapio nell’Isola Tiberina (part of the Temple of Aesculapius on Tiber island), published 1756-1784, 1 p.
Plate XV from the fourth and last volume of Le Antichità Romane collecting plates by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, firstly published by Angelo Rotili in Rome between 1756 and 1757. The second edition appeared in 1784. Original wide margins, no traces of binding or folding. Single plate with illustration and explanatory text below.
Titled below: ‘Veduta della porzione di Nave di Travertini […] Tempio di Esculapio nell’Isola Tiberina .’
Signed on the bottom right: ‘Piranesi Archit. dis. ed inc. ‘.
“The temple of Aesculapius (Insula Tiberina) was built between 293 and 290 BC. C. following an epidemic that had struck the city of Rome: according to legend, in Epidaurus, Greece, a large snake (animal linked to the divinity) nestled in the ship of travelers sent from Rome to the sanctuary of the god, and, on his return, he came out to indicate the place where to build the temple, on the Tiber island. In memory of the miraculous event, the eastern tip of the island was remodeled in the shape of a ship: an obelisk was placed in front of the temple in imitation of the main mast and the stern was built with blocks of travertine, corresponding to the place later occupied by the complex of San Bartolomeo. With the blocks of travertine, even the relief with the staff of Aesculapius is still among the few visible remains of the temple, which was destroyed in the Middle Ages. […]”[Mariasole Garacci, ICG Rome].
Translated title: View of part of the ship of travertine constructed and inserted in front of the substructures which supported the Temple of Aesculapius on the Tiber Island…/ Gezicht op een deel van het schip van travertijn, gebouwd en geplaatst voor de onderconstructies die de tempel van Easculapius of het Tibereiland ondersteunde.
SKU: PR120838
Etching with some interventions in burin on hand laid paper, with broad margins; plate mark: 395 x 604 mm; total 555 x 798 mm; somewhat frayed end margins, a small damp stain on the margin above, otherwise in great condition. Visible watermark.
€ 254,10 (€ 210,00 ex. btw)