Topographical Map of Ancient Rome

1557

Nicolas Beatrizet

Artist, French, 1515 - 1565 or after

Printed with black ink on white paper, this map shows a bird’s-eye views of a river winding through a town surrounded by empty fields and hills, all encased in city walls. The buildings and fields are spaced over several hills, many of which are labeled in Latin in all capital letters. The hills are finely crosshatched to suggest depth, and the buildings are drawn roughly in perspective, as if looking across the city from a high vantage point. Near the center of the engraving, densely packed buildings are separated by thin gaps to create irregular city blocks. The crowded blocks give way to open space and hills dotted with buildings, steeples, and ruins. Fragments of free-standing rows of arches in the fields to the south are the remains of aqueducts. The city wall is punctuated by arched openings framed by abutments that project above the top of the walls. The river winds from the top left corner of the paper to the center of the right edge, intersecting with the city walls in two places. Dozens of hills, features, landmarks, and buildings are labeled, including the round, domed “PANTEON” in the middle of the town, “CAPITOLINVS” a few blocks to our left, and “PALANTINVS” to our left of center. Near the upper right corner of the paper, several building-lined streets lead up to a hill labeled “VATICANVS.” Beyond the city walls the page is almost entirely blank. The page is folded vertically up the center. In the lower right corner, an inscription in a tablet-like cartouche reads, “RECENS RVRSVS POST OMNES OMNIVM DES CRIPTION. VRB, ROMAE TOPOGRAPHIA. CVM VALLIS. FOSSIS AGGRISVS CAETERISQ. QVAE AD HOSTI VM IMPEDIEND. IRRVPTION. PER VNIVERSVM VRB.AMBITVM INTRA EXTRAQ. MOEN. PVB LIC. IMPEN. FIERI CVRAVIT PAVL. IIII. PONT. MAX. DVM BELLO PARTHENOP. PREMERETVR. FORMIS ANTON.LAFRE RIL. SEQVAN. DILIGENTISS. EXPRESS. AN. D. LVII. CON GRA ET PREVILEGIO.” A thin, line border frames the map near the edge of the paper.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Lois and Robert Erburu

  • Dimensions

    plate: 35.4 x 47.7 cm (13 15/16 x 18 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    2000.119.1.c

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Huelsen 1921, no. 3, State Aa

Associated Artworks

See all 82 artworks

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius

Monogrammist CB

1551

Trajanic Relief from the Arch of Constantine

Nicolas Beatrizet

1540

Colosseum

Nicolas Beatrizet

1540


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Weingarten Monastery, Swabia, 1632. (Susan Schulman Printseller, New York); purchased 2000 by NGA.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1921

  • Huelsen, Christian. "Das Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae des Antonio Lafreri." Collectanea variae doctrinae Leoni Olschki. Munich: 1921.

1976

  • McGinniss, Lawrence R. and Herbert Mitchell. Catalogue of the Earl of Crawford's 'Speculum Magnificentiae Now in the Avery Achitectural Library. New York, 1976.

Wikidata ID

Q75431319


You may be interested in

Loading Results