Le Fontane Del Giardino Estense In Tivoli Con Li Loro Prospetti, E Vedute della Cascata Del Fiume Aniene Disegnate, Et Intagliate Da Gio: Francesco Venturini Parte Quarta.
RA Collection: Book
Record number
03/2582
Imprint
Data in luce da Gio: Giacomo de Rossi nella sua stamperia,, in alla Pace, all'Insegna di Parigi con Priv. del S. Pont.: [ca. 1691?]
Physical Description
28 pl. (incl. t.-pl.) (1 folding); 400×270 mm. (Oblong folio).
General Note
Plate 3 is folding. In some copies the plates are unnumbered. (This probably indicates an early issue (ca. 1685): according to the RIBA cataloguer, numbering of the plates does not seem to have taken place until the title-plate of Part I was dated 1691.)
Contents
[Pl. 1,2 = t.-pl., engr. dedic.] - [Pl. 3-28].
Responsibility Note
All plates are signed as drawn and engraved by Gio. Francesco Venturini, except. pl. 1, 2 (i.e. title-pl. and engr. dedic.).
Each carries the publisher's imprint, apart from pl. 16, 18, 19, 22, 24, 26, 28.
The book is dedicated by the publisher, G.G. de' Rossi, to Francesco II, Duke of Modena.
References
National Gallery (Washington), Mark J. Millard Architectural, IV (2000), no.36, p.131-4; Royal Institute of British Architects, British Architectural Library ... Early printed books, 2 (1995), no.1014; Johns Hopkins University, The Fowler Architectural Collection (1961), no. 117, p.100-101; Bartsch XXI, 239-245; P. Bellini, 'Per una definizione dell'opera di G. Battista Falda', in Arte Cristiano, 695 (1983), 165-212, p.81-92.
Falda's vedute are discussed in F. Consagra, 'De Rossi and Falda', in The craft of art, ed. A. Ladis (1995), p.187-203; M. Gargano, 'Villas, gardens and fountains of Rome: the etchings of Giovanni Battista Falda', in The history of garden design, ed. M. Moser (1990), p.166-8; R. D'Amico, 'La veduta nell'incisione del '600 e 700. G.B. Falda e G. Vasi', in Ricerche di storia dell'arte, 1-2 (1976), p.81-95.
The illustration of water gardens is surveyed in C.A. Luchinat, ed., La fonte delle fonti: iconologia degli artifizi d'acqua (1985); Fons sapientiae: garden fountains in illustrated books [exhibition catalogue] (1977).
Studies of the Villa d'Este include D. Dernie, The Villa D'Este at Tivoli (1996); C. Benocci, 'I sistemi simbolici dei giardini delle ville d'Este a Roma e a Tivoli', in Duca Ercole e il suo architetto Biagio Rossetti (1995), p.39-46.
Summary Note
Plates 3-26 show views of the fountains of the Villa d'Este commissioned in the 16th century from Pirro Ligorio by Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, and the newer fountains designed in the 1660s by Bernini. Plates 27, 28 show views of the falls of the Aniene.
This publication is described on its title-plate as 'Parte Quarta' because it forms a fourth part of a series of views of the fountains of Rome, published by G. G. de' Rossi ca. 1675-1691; of which the first two volumes had been illustrated by G.B. Falda, and the third completed after Falda's death by Venturini. The whole set - more elaborate than that of G. Maggi (Fontane diverse che si vedano nell'alma citta di Roma, 1618) - is one of several 17th-century publications celebrating the redevelopment of Rome.
Provenance
Acquired by 1802: recorded in Catalogue Of The Library In The Royal Academy, London (1802).
Binding Note
18th-century speckled calf; rebacked, with red morocco spine-label, lettered, 'Tivoli'.