Viaggio Pittorico Della Villa Adriana Composto Di Vedute Disegnate Dal Vero Ed Incise Da Agostino Penna Con una breve descrizione di ciascun monumento. Tomo I. (-IV.)
Roma: MDCCCXXXI. (-MDCCCXXXVI.), Nella Tipografia di Pietro Aureli. La presente opera ha ottenuto la dichiarazione di proprietà dell'Editto dei 23 Settembre 1826.
Physical Description
4 vols.; 205×280 mm. (Oblong).
General Note
Vol. I: [8], vii, [1] p., 63 f., 63 pl. - Vol. II: [4] p., f. 64-137, p. 139-142, pl. 64-137. - Vol. III: f. 1-3, p.1-3, [1], f.[5-121], pl. 1-121. - In each volume each plate is preceded by a leaf of text, except that the text preceding pl. IV of Volume III forms page [4] of the text 'Escavazione ...'.
Contents
Vol. I: [Half-t., t.p.] - Cenni Storici - Introduzione - [63 pl. with leaves of explanatory text]. - Vol. II: [Half-t., t.p.] - [Pl. 64-137 with leaves of explanatory text] - Indice Generale [of vols. I, II]. - Vol. III: [Pl. 1-3 with leaves of explanatory text] - Escavazione Fatta Nella Villa Adriana Circa L'Anno MD - [Pl. 4-121, with leaves of explanatory text].
Responsibility Note
In Vols. I, II no plate is signed. In Volume III most are signed as drawn by A. Penna, L. Penna or Penna, or by P. Guglielmi, C. Fattori, R. Bonajuti, A. Marianini; and as engraved by A. Penna, L. Penna or Penna or by G. Consorti, Lepri, or C. Nalli; a few plates are unsigned (pl. 3, 88, 100, 104-107, 120, 121). Although the plates in Volume III are signed by other draughtsmen and engravers, manuscripts show that Penna himself made preparatory drawings for most of the engravings.
References
P. Baldassari, L'opera grafica di Agostino Penna sulla Villa Adriana = Rivista dell'istituto nazionale d'archeologia e storia dell'arte, 11 (1989).
On the Villa and its legacy see Villa Adriana, paesaggio antico e ambiente moderno: atti del convegno a Roma (2002); J. Packer, 'Mire exaedificavit: three recent books on Hadrian's Tiburtine villa', in Journal of Roman archaeology (1998); W.L. Macdonald and J.A. Pinto, Hadrian's Villa and its legacy (1995).
Summary Note
A publication-date of 1833 appears on the title page of Volume II; Volumes III and IV appeared in 1836. A title variant appears in the half-titles of volumes I and II: 'Viaggio Pittorico Della Villa Adriana Di Tivoli - Tomo I (II)'.
Penna's first two volumes contain 137 views, linked by explanatory text, accompanied by a fold-out plan. He marries text and plates in such a way as to form a guide-book - each passage of commentary breaking off in mid-sentence so as to lead on to the next view. Although his plates are not as dramatic as those of Piranesi or Rossini, and his text is not as erudite as that of Nibby, Penna's was the first comprehensive account of the Villa. He provides the only illustrations of such sites as the Park Rotunda, the Southern Hall and the East Terrace cistern (pl.7).
The third and fourth volumes are an attempt to decribe the many works of art discovered at the Villa but now dispersed - including architectural fragments, sculpture, mosaics and paintings.
Provenance
The front pastedown of Vol. I. is inscribed in pencil, 'S. A. H.', i.e. S. A. Hart RA, Librarian of the Royal Academy 1864-81. Purchased for RA Library in 1878 (see RA Annual Report for 1878, p. 47).
Copy Note
Imperfect. Lacks Vol. IV; Vols. I, II lack the 'topographic plan' mentioned in the Introduzione (Vol. I. p. ii); Vol. III lacks title-page and pl. 68, 69, 93-99, 109-119 and their accompanying texts.
Pasted on each of the front pastedowns of Vols. I-III is a binder's ticket, reading 'Established 1821 Bound by Charles Cooper, 8&9 Coach Yard, Bull Street, Birmingham'.
Binding Note
19th-century half black calf, marbled-papered boards; red morocco spine-labels lettered 'Viaggio Pittorico Della Villa Adriana', spines lettered 'Tom. I.(-III.)'.