Bevilacqua, M.- Plans, Views and Panoramas, The Visions of Vasi, Nolli, and Piranesi (article-2010)+

8/10/2019 Bevilacqua, M.- Plans, Views and Panoramas, The Visions of Vasi, Nolli, and Piranesi (article-2010)+

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PLANS

VIEWS

AND PANORAMAS:

THE VISIONS

OF VASI

NOLLI

AND

PIRANESI

M

ario

Bevilacqua

In176

9, on the

occasion of the visit of

the

Austrian

Emperor

Jo seph II

and

his brother, Grand

Duke

Pietro Leopoldo of

T uscany, Pope

Clem

ent XIII Rezzonico, 1758-69) had his

nephew, Monsignor

Rezzonico

, Majordomo of

the

papal house

hold, pr es

ent

his

gu

ests

with

the complete works of

Giuseppe

V

as

i, t

he

ten

volumes

of Giovanni

Battista Piranesi s

Opere

raccolte

da

l Cav

ali

ere Gio. Battista Piranesi,

da

lui

con

sommo studio

incise

ill

rame , ci

rc

a

e

antichita,

and Giovanni Battista Nolli s

map

, the

N uo

va

P

ian

ta

di

Roma.

Essentially,

they

were giving

them

Rome,

viewe d by three different eyes, whose visions were distinct

but

in

te r

tw

ined. Vasi, Piranesi

and

Nolli: these three names loom

large in the history

of

eighteenth-century

printmaking and

the

history of

th

e

representation of

the city

of Rome. They form

a

tria

ng

le: Piranesi

trained with

Vasi, Vasi was

the

principal

engraver

fo

r N olli s

Nuova Pianta

di

Roma, and Nolli employed

Piranesi

as

a

fi

eld assistant and, later,

as

a

collaborator

on

his

Piccola

Pianta .

In

the historical moment between 1744 and 1745, the three arguably

cons tituted the most advanced group

of

their kind. All were from

ou ts ide the city : Vasi (1710-82) was Sicilian; Piranesi (1720- 78)

ca

me

from

Venice;

and Nolli (1701- 56) was a Lombard, born

in C omo and

trained

in Milan. But

each came

to Rome and

lmmersed himself

in the

city.

And

although

each

had different

specia lties

and competencies,

they expressed a

common interest

In cartography as a means

and

instrument to

summarize

and orga

nize the historical and architectural knowledge of the city. Th ey

gai ned mome

ntum

through their

shared

experiences

and

common

contacts,

creating among

them a

body of

work that effectively

determined

the outcome of urban cartography and vedutismo in

Rome

and, in many regards , in all of Europe.

Cityscape

and

cartography are considered

two

separate genres

but often they

nestle side

by

side. Sometimes, a plan

map may be

framed by a series of views, and in

other

cases , series of urban views

were accompanied by a plan map or a perspective map. 2 t bears

remembering

that Vasi s

Magn Jicen z e

di

Roma antica e modema

(cat.

15) and Prospetto Grande dell'alma citta di Roma (cat. 9) are tightly

connected, commercially even , to his Nuovo Pianta

di

Roma (cat.

69) as well

as

to his guidebook, the Itinerario istruttivo diviso in

otto stazioni 0 giorante. .. , cat. 102) while Piranesi s

1773

Pianta

di

Roma

(cat. 68) was sold and

bound with the complete

series of his

Vedute

di

Roma

(cat. 78-81). In a climate of heated competition

that stretched over decades, Vasi, Nolli, and Piranesi were some

times collaborators, sometimes rivals,

and

always protagonists

of

their

tim

e.

By examining

their

lives, their connections, and their

approaches to Rome, we can understand not only Vasi but a defin

itive

moment

in the history of both cityscape and cartography .

Eighteenth-century cartography is marked by the affirmation

of

the ichnographic or plan

view map. The

work

of Giovanni

Battista Nolli ,

begun in

1736

and culminating

in

the publication

of

the Nuova Pianta

di

Roma

in 1748 (cat. 66), was

an example

of

this

type

.

His

work, characterized by its topographic exactness and

the

lucid essentiality of its

gr

aphic vocabulary, became a model of

concision and

clarity,

and enjoyed an extraordinary international



G IU SEPPE VASI 'S ROME

success.

4

Nolli'

s map, which was immediately copied, modified,

and plagiarized, represents the sole original cart

og

raphic produc

tion

of

eighteenth-c entury

Rome

. Aside from

him

the mapmakers

of

thi s period continued to produce re-editions and derivative

variations

on th

e perspective maps

of

the

pr

ev

iou

s

cent

ury.

The

great map of Falda of 1676 (cat. 65), for example , was re-issued

a numb er of

tim

e s

in

1679, 1705, 1730, a

nd

756 and there

are

about ten

ot

her versions

and

derivations engra

ved

during

the co

urse

of th e ce

ntur

y. Likewise, the map of Magg

i-M

aupin,

dating from 1625, was offered anew by the editor Carlo Losi in

1774. Production was driven by

in

creasing demand, and th e

new

Calcografia

Camerale

(founded by Clement XII w ith the ac

qui

si

tion

of

th

e

De

Rossi printwo rks exploited its immense patrimony

of copperplates to

meet

it .

5

Unlik

e the

oe

uvre

of

Nolli, Fa

ld

a,

or

M aggi, Piranesi's cart

o

graphic production

includes

maps of both modern and a

ncient

Rome and maps of arch aeological si tes, such as Hadrian's Villa at

Tivoli

His famous imaginalY, visionary, and

polemi

ca l recon

structions of th e.ancient top ography of the

Urbs

(cat. 68) drew on

cen

turies of ca

rt

ographi c and a

ntiqu

arian c

ultur

e and joined it to

th

e sc ien tific model exemplified in the work of Nolli. Vasi also

updat

ed

tr

a

dition

in a

way that

is sc ient ific and sys

tem

ati c.

In

the

ten bo oks

of

his Magn Jicenze, he t

ook

up Falda's baroq ue tradi

tion of

vedutismo,

th e genre of depicting urban landscapes, and

renew

ed

it , setting himself

in

dialogue with the most advanced

Italian

expo

nen ts of th e genre: Carlevaris and Canaletto (cat. 82)

in Venice

,

Marc'

Antonio dal R e

in

Milan, and

Gi

use

pp

e Zocchi

in

Florence.

Nolli

began survey

in

g Rome in 1736,

th

e same year Vasi

es tablished him self

in

th e city. A few years later,

Pir

anesi, at age

twenty th e

yo

ungest of th e th ree, arrived and learned

printm

.a

kin

g

from

Vasi.

The

earlies t biographers of Piranesi reco unt instances

of in tense rivahy, and the art historical literature has latch ed

on to these stories to advance an image of the genius student

ent ering the studio

of

a master suspicious

of

th e talent

of

his yo

un

g

apprentice

7

T he discord between the two ,

as

narrated by Legrand

and Bianconi, is said to have culminated in attemp ted h

om

icide.

Vasi

defend

ed him self,

pushing

the hot

-b

loo ded

Venetian

back

and sub

se

quen tly dismissing him from the studio . Legrand has

him telling Piranesi, vous et

es

trop peintre

pour

etre jamais

graveur ( you are too much a painter to eve r be an engr aver ) g

Whether

Vasi eve r actually said thi s (and,

in

fac

t ,

wheth

er

Piranesi actually did try to kill him) is an

ot

her question, although

Piranesi's presence as an a

ppr

enti ce

in

Vasi's studio is docum

ented

in contemporary accounts.

9

Piranesi's collaboration on the first

co

ll

ec tion of eng

ra

vin

gs

published by Vasi, the Vedute di R oma sui

Tevere (ca. 1743-44) and reissued in the Mag

n Ji

cenze,

is

accepted

by most

sc

holars

IO

T he influence of Vasi sho ws in the earliest

wo

rks

of

Piranesi, including a small drawing of the Ponte Milvio

(fig. 1 , which displ

ays

strong affi nities to an etching executed

for the Vedute di R oma sui Tevere (cat.4

3 .11

I

wou

ld suggest that

these initial contacts

between

Piranesi

and

Vasi

exten

d b

eyond

th e incidental and are actu ally essenti al to th e more general

artistic development of Piranesi. And the same Roman art istic

and c

ultur

al circles that sponsor

ed

Vasi also promoted the activity

of Piranesi. In these same years

th

at Vasi was devel

opi

ng the idea

that

wo uld become the

Magn Jicenz

e, he was also collabora ting on

the engraving of

Nolli

's uova PiQl1ta (cat. 66). Ini tally, the great

vedutista

Giova nni Paolo Panini was

in

volved with the project

as we ll . Panini exe rt

ed

considerable influence on both Vasi

and

Piranesi,

and

it was he w ho fac ilitated the influence Filippo

Ju

var

ra would

have

on

the

tw

o ar

ti

s

ts.

12

OLL

Giovanni Battista Nolli trained as an engineer and surveyor in

Milan un der the direct supervisi

on of

th e eminent mathemati

cian Giovanni Giacomo Marin

on

i during th e cadastral campaign

ordered by Charl es IV of Austria.

3

Arri

ving

in R ome in 1734-35 ,

Nolli

enthu sias

ti

cally and

somewha

t over-am.bitiously proposed to

survey the entire city wit h th e same new

ca

rto graphic techniques

used in

th

e recent Milan tax n ap. His goal was

to

publish an inno

vative and highly precise map integrat

in

g ancient, med ieval, and

modern Rome.

T his major u ndertaking was initially promoted by a



Fi

g.

1.

G . Piranesi .

Pont

e Milvio, ca .

1743-47.

Black chalk. Biblioteca

di

Archeolog ia e Storia dell arte.

pr

i

va

te

comp

any

form

ed by

thr

ee friends-

Diego

R evillas,

Canon

An

ton

io Baldani,

and

Marchese Alessandro Gregorio

Capponi-a

trio w

ho se

motives co

mmingl

ed

th

e scientific and

th

e

commer

ci

a

l.

Revillas, a mathematician and cartographer

from

Milan, was

professor of mathematics at

th

e Sapienza (the pontifical university)

as

we ll as an ama

teur

architect and s

tudent

of

th

e philosoph er and

scient ist Francesco Bianchini.

14

Baldani was a canon, a lea

rned

anti

quarian and secretary and librarian of the same Cardinal Alessandro

Albani who

wo

uld later be re

membered

for his me

ntor

ship of

Jo

ha

nn Joa

c

him

Winckelmann.

ls

Capponi

was superintende

nt

at

the

Ca

pitoline

Museum

a

nd one

of the

mo

st e

nthu

sias tic cultural

or

ganizers at the

court

of Clem

e

nt X

(Co rsini ,1

730-40

.16T he

pa

rtne

rs

intended

to

promote

the

ex

haustive surveying

of

every

block of hous

in

g every monum ental building every c

hur

ch,

an

d every vestige of antiquity. T his

in f

ormat

ion was

then

to be

integrated

into

a systematic,

sc

ientific collection

of all

knowledg

e

regarding the structural evo

lution

of

the

Urb s from

antiquity to

the pre sent.

17

The collaborators projected a map of several colors

to better indicate

th

e various periods a

nd

transformations

and

an

encyclopedic register

of

building

s monuments

, a

nd other

stru c

tures,

both

ancient

and mod

ern, including

ho t

el

s

hospital

s

public

offices,

th

eaters, libraries, a

nd

bread s

hops.

Nolli s

work, both

as proj ec

ted

a

nd as

ac tually executed, is

th

e

produ

ct

of

a close collaboration be

twe

en

many

participant

s

all

invo

lved

in

th

e

progr

ess

ive artistic a

nd

int

e

ll

ectual culture

of

Rome.

Card

inal N eri

Cor

sini s circle, for instance,

domin

ated by

Bottari a

nd

Capponi,

developed

pr

ecocious and

inten

se

re

fl

ec

tion

s

a

bout modern urb

anism ,

th

e conservation

of

historical

patrimony

,

a

nd th

e defen

se

a

nd

development of the papal state.

8

Likewise,

the s

umptu

ous and aes

th

e

ti

ca

ll

y pi

onee

ring co

urt of th

e

Car

dinal

MA R

IO BEVILACQUA

39



GIUSEPPE VASI'S ROME

4

0

Alessandro Albani, enlivened by the presence

of

Antonio Baldani

and Ridolfino Venuti, was probably the most advanced circle for

the debates on ancient art.19 And the sc ien tific conm1Unities of

the French Minim

order

of the Trinita dei

Monti,

with Fathers

Jacquier and Le Seur,

were

important, too,

as

(among

other

contri

butions)

th

e first diffusers

of

the work

of

Newton. Finally, among

th

e first proponents

ofNolli's

work we re the Girolamite monks

of

Sant'Alessio and the Jesuits

of th

e Collegio

Romano. Th

e Kirch

e

rian museum, assembled at the collegio and directed by Father

Contucci, was formative to the mathematic and as tronomic int er

ests of the grea t Jesuit polymath Ruggero Giuseppe Boscovich.

Nolli 's netw orks put him in contact with

ll

these circles.

Th e agenda of

Nolli's back

ers was

too

demanding

and

complex

not to fail. n 1748, tw elve years after starting on the

work,

a re

du

ced version

of

the

proje

ct

took form in

the

publi

cation of the uova Pianta (cat . 66): as splendid as the map is it

lacks

most of

the planners ' initially

co

nceiv

ed

apparatus. Its author

had renounc

ed

his plans

to

create a map

of ancient

Rome and

delegated the anal

ys is

of the medieval and R enai

ssa

nce city

to

hi

s r

ev

ision of

Leonardo

Bufalini's

1551

map, through which he

provided the po

ss

ibility of a comparative analysis

of

ancient topog-

raphy. In the

uova

Pianta the

monum

ental vestig

es of

antiquity

are indicated with a darker line and are integrated into the plan

view

of the contemporary city , thus suggesting an in tegration

of

the

ancient

and modern .

Nolli's precision led him to remeasure all ancient monuments

de

sp

ite the labor involved and even when recent surv

eys

were

available and published . In the case

of th

e Colosseum, for instance,

Nolli rectified the survey that Carlo Fontana had published in

1725 .

2

The ca rto gra

pher

's familiarity

with

the Forma Urbis the

ancient marble map of

Rome

from the

tim

e of Septimius Severus

whose

fra

gments Nolli and R evill

as

mounted a

lon

g the stairs of

the Ca mpidoglio's Palazzo

uovo

in 1742, led him to investigate

more deeply the questions

of

ancient topography. Studying the

fragments of the Forma Urbis with R evillas Nolli attempted to

identify existing ruins in

th

e ancient fragments, advancing

th

e study

of

this scale map

of th

e ancient ci

ty.21

From this e

xper

ience

most

likely arose Nolli's plans

to

dedicate hi m

self to th

e planimetric

rendering

of

great ancient architectural complexes, such as Pliny 's

Villa Laurentina and Hadrian's villa at Tivoli. n his training as

a pragmatic draftsman, his fascination with the st

ructur

e of the

co

ntemp

orary metropoli

s

and

his

pr

eocc

upation

w

ith

technical

problems (fi ss

ur

es

in

large s

tructur

es dra

in

age, and land registers ,

for instance), Nolli had not previou sly developed any interest

for the ancient. Several oversights, such

as

the completion

of

the

Teatro di M arcello

into

the

form of

an amphitheater in

th

e

uova

Pianta reveal his limitations in the field of archaeology. Although

he included references to th e ancient layer

of

the city in the map

and its index, Nolli played to his own strengths by devo tin g

his

a

ttention

primarily to

th

e surv eying of

th

e settecento city. The

great success of Nolli's wo rk

in

Rome

and

in

all of

Europe

may

be meas

ured

by the

number

of

r

e-e

dition

s

copies, a

nd

deriva

ti

ons

a

pp

earing on both the Ro man and the foreign market-especially

in

England-during the second half of the eighteenth century 22

The uova Pianta established new criteria for the representation

of urban

space and laid the foundation for a truly mature and

a

utonomous

ca rtographic aesthetic based on advanced scientific

techniques new

to

surv eying.

PIR NESI

Piranesi 's cartographic production

cl

osely parallels the scientific

revolution

of Nolli, but mu ch more than e

ither Nolli or

Vasi,

Piranesi immersed hi mself

in

antiquity. Hi s early biographer,

Legrand (who used documen tation

provided

directly from the

artist's sons),

23

noted that he was always among the ruins, and

that in

Rome

he found himse

lf

immediately in a wo rld richer with

new

ven

tures and stimuli

than

what he had known in Venice.

Prior

to his arrival

in

Rome at age t

we

nty , Piranesi was

edu ca ted

in

Venice among circles that included the land surveyor

Giova nni Filippini, a former colleague of Nolli on the cadastral

works in Mil an. n

Rome,

Piranesi was closely

ti

ed to

th

e Vene

tian Felice Polanzani, an engraver specializing in cartography

and

who, late r, in 1755, signed the edition of Maire and Boscovich's



NIIOila C

arta

Ce

ograjica dello

Stato Ecclesiastico

4

Piranesi branched

out

from his Venetian roots, ho wever befriend

in

g the young

pClIsiolll1

aires of

the

French

Academy. in R ome w ith w

hom

he

shared a develop

in

g interest

th

e vIsIonary reformulatIon

of

the

arandeur of the ancient city.

In

Piranesi's case, thi s vision was

n f o r m e by an analytic knowledge of the monuments ga

in

ed

through laborious measuring cam paigns.

25

H e also had his

Roman

influences,

of

this period,

including Giovan

ni Paolo Panini, the

celebrated vedutist and professor

of

perspective at the

French

Academy, a

nd

Giova

nni

Battista

Nolli

, whom Legrand calls,

the

scholar N olli.

In

the bio grapher's words:

[Nolli]

took

up and

produced

also this map of Rome so

admirable for its careful details and its extreme fidelity.

Pira esi followed in their footsteps and he became familiar,

especially because

of

Nolli , with every last ruin

of

anc ient

Ro me. He sought ou t the various ramparts

of

the city's

walls and ran incessan

tl

y from the

ruin

s to the libraries to

learn their nam es and their positions, from the libraries back

to the ruins to admire once again these

imp

osing creations

2 6

In this lively description we sense the excitement of Piranesi

ab

out

the execution

of

a precisely defined professional task

ca

rri

ed

out

un

der the supervisio n of

Nolli

, all in that critical and genera

tive moment of the Nuova Pianta.

At the behest

of

Pope Benedict X IV (Lambertini, 1740-58),

Piranesi also served

as

a field

ass

istant to Nolli in

th

e redefinition

of the

rion

i

of Rome

Y Likewise , he collaborated with Nolli and

R evillas on a prestigious project comm

is

sioned by the Marquis

Capponi, curator

of

the Capitoline Museum. Mentioned abo ve,

the projec t consisted

of

the study of the fragments

of

the

Forma

Urbis

and marked a moment of deep reflection on th e city and its

cartographic represen tation. It was a foundational experience for

all of Piranesi's future

ca

rtographic production.

28

Nolli

recognized

the talents and proclivities

of

th e yo ung

Venetian

and, by 1743,

entrusted hl'ln .

h i

. d . f h' P

p wit t

le

ecoratlOn an

engrav111g

0 IS lanta

lccola

c

at . 67).

Th

us, Piranesi

occupie

d a

position

parallel

to

R O BE V L CQU

Fig. 2 Detailfro

l l

cat 67

41



G IUSEPPE VAS] S ROME

42

Fig. 3: G.B. Piranesi.

Pl

an of an

cie

nt Rom

e j

rom Le a ntichi ti romane, 175 6, Vol 1, Plate 1

6.

Fig. 4: G. B. Pir l .

esi.

Fragments of the Forma Urbis,jrom Le anti chit a ro mane, 6 Vol. 1, Pl

ate

17.

Vasi , who engraved N olli s Nu ova Pi an

ta

, w ith dec

or

ative parts

by Panini .

29

While Piranes i conte sted Nolli s relative disin terest in

antiquity, he remained fa ithful to the model of cartogr aphic re

pr

e-

se

nt

ation se t fo

rth

by his maste

r.

30

Piran

es

i s fi rs t published map of his

own

appears at th e

ope ning of th e fi rs t vo lume of th e An tichita

Ro

m

an

e which he

published in 175 6, th e year of N olli s death

(fig. 3)

. Titled Pi

an

ta

di

Ro

ma

diseg

nata

co

lla sit

ua

z ione di tutti i Monum en ti antichi, it

pr

esents a plan of th e ruins of th e principal ancient

monum

ent s

w ithin the city walls. Beyond th e walls, th e artist reproduces,

with sha

din

g

to

highlight the material

thickn

ess of th e marble

slabs,

th

e k

no w

n fragme

nt

s of th e Forma

Urhis

w hich he depicts

on th e follow ing plates in mo re detail (fig 4). T he map is based

on N olli s topogra

ph

y with

Pi

ranes i

co

pying

th

e orographic indi-

cations that delim it the city s hills, as we

ll as

the course of th e city

wa

ll

s.

T he

wa

lls and many of

th

e monu men ts are,

in

fac t,

dir

ec tly

traced

on

a

1:

1 scale) f

rom

N olli s Pianta Pi

cco

la (cat. 67),

th

e

same

pr

oj ect on

wh

ich Piranesi h ad wo rked as th e e ngrave

r.

N o lli

had himself plann ed a map

of

ancie

nt

R om e, but it neve r m ade it

to publication.

Although Piranesi s Pianta

di

R

oma

depends

on

N olli in certain

ways, it is not entirely derivative . H e deploys Nolli s material

(so

me of which he had helped pro duce himse lf during his appren-

ticeship) to incisively fo cus on his own interests. Pir anes i s additi

on

of th e

fr

agm e

nt

s

of

th e F

orm

a Urhis in the margins, along with the

cele

br

ative inscriptions markin g the 1742 installa

ti

on of th em by

N olli and R evillas, reflects a new approach .

Th

ese are complete d

with In

dici

distinguishing th e historical

fr

agments from the new,

speculative modern

on

es that Nolli had devise d (and that Pi ranesi

had excluded from re

pr

odu ction). At the e

nd

of the volume, Pira-

nes i inserted a double page m ap sh

ow

ing the cour

ses of

the ancient

a

qu

educt

s,

which he had prepared, aga

in

using N olli s

Pi

an

ta Picco

la

as a te

mpl

ate (cat. 68) . T he delinea

ti

on of the borders of

th

e four-

teen

reg

iones of

th

e ancient city

(a

nces

to rs

of the mo

dern

city s rioni

and th e layout

of

the aqu educts

dr

aws on an unco

mpl

eted proj ect

on which N olli s backer Can

on

A

nt

onio Baldani was invo lved ,



Fig. 5.

G. B . Pi

rartes i. Pi an

ta

e veduta del Ca mpidog

li

o

antico from

Le

ant

ichi ta ro m ane, 1756, Vol. 1.

Fi

g.

6.

G.

B. Pi ranes i. Pianta de ll anti co Foro Ro m

ano from

Le antichita

romane

1756,

Vo

l

1,

Plate

11

3.

along w ith the learned Jesuit Contuccio

Co

ntu cci and several other

erudite contributors to the

Libro th

at accompanied

th

e Nolli plan.

31

Th is map exte

nd

s its scope to the

north

, beyond the Porta del

Popolo and along the Via Flarninia c

ontro

versially exte

ndin

g the

ancient Campus Martius

up

to the P on te Milvi0

3

Pi

ranesi s borro wings, repetition

s

collaboration

s

a

nd perh

aps,

even, instan ces of plagiarism do

not in

validate

th

e brilliance of

his first c

oh

ere nt and critical ensembl e

of

topographi c plates, his

Antichita R omane, the fi rs t volume of w

hi

ch co

nclud

es w ith plans

of the Forum (

Pi

anta dell antico

Foro

R omano and the Capit oline

Hill

(Pianta

de

l Monte Capitoli

no

(figs . 5,

.

n

thi s instance,

the visionary constru ction

of

a grandi ose ancient metropolis is

made

ta

ngible, me asurable and real

throu

gh a general plan view.

Co nceptually, the

se

plans for eshadow P

ir

anesi s grandiose map

of the Campus M artius of ancien t Rom e.

At

op a solid a

rm

atu re,

Piranesi s Campus M artius is rendered as a dreamlike and utopian

space, far fro m principl

es

of topographic realism ye t still repre

sented through th e terse and crystalline sc ientific patterns devel-

oped by N olli for

th

e ic

hno

graphi c map of

th

e real, mode

rn

, and

meas

ur

able R ome. n

th

e 1773 Pi

a

nta di

R oma e del Campo Marz io

(cat. 68),

Pir

an

es

i again began by tracing Nolli s

P

ian

ta P

icco

la

with out bo therin g to modify th e plan either w ith the updates

tha t N olli had inc

orp

orated bet we en the publication of the Pianta

Pi

la and the later

Pian

ta Grande, or with his ow n wo rk on the

Ave

ntin

e, the church and piazza of

Sa

nta M aria del P riorato. T he

map-

ind

ex stru ctu re advances N olli s v ision and wa s similar to that

used by Giu

se

ppe V

as

i in his P

rospetto

(cat. 9), which

had

been

published in 1765. Piran

es

i, too o

ft

en considered

to

be a geni

us

individualist, is actually deeply imbricated in a wo rld of peers

whom he respected enough to fu el his ow n brilliance with their

ideas a

nd in

nova

tion

s.

MA R IO BEVILAC Q UA

43



; I

USEPPE VAS

I S RO

ME

44

V SI

H av

in

g arrived

in

Ro me in 1736, Vasi was qui ckly r

ecog

nized

as

one of the principle

eng

ravers in the city. H e was know n especially

for his

print

s of architec

tur

e, as the erudite antiquarian Francesco

Vettori re

mind

s us

in

his

17

41

A nim

adversiones

in Lame

ll

am

Aeneam

vetustissimam Musei Vi

ctorii

, a t

ex

t in which the author lists a

ll

the

active R oman engravers with their respective specializa

tion

s.

33

A

learned man and courtier, Vettori cultivated exce

ll

ent rapports

with Vasi s proponent Giovanni Gaetano Bot tari and the C orsini

court

of

which he was a central figure) as w e

ll

as with Giu

se

ppe

Bianchini, al

so

one ofP iranesi s fmt R oman p ro tectors. Bianchini s

yo un

g

ass

istant , O razio Or landi co

ntribut

ed text for the

Li

bro

of

N olli s

Pian

ta

G

ra

nde

as we ll as the commentary for the earlies t

boo ks of Vasi s

Magn

iji

.

ce

nze,

which Piranesi wo uld later make use

of in the

dr

afting of the text used in his own

wo

rks.

34

In his

fmt Ro

man years, Vasi worked for the Ca lcogra

fi

a

Ca m

erale, engrav

ing

large celebrative prints and colla

bor

a

tin

g

w ith the pensionna i

res

of the

Fr

ench Academy. T hese included

Pi

ra

nes i s yo

un

g co

ll

eagu

es

and friend s, such as Duflos and Le

Lorrain

wh

o, w ith Vasi, recor ded the annual Jesta de

ll

a Chinea

at

th

e commi

ss

i

on

of

th

e

Co

lo

nn

a princes (cat

s. 86, 88- 90).35

Vas i diligently devo ted himself to managing a wo rkshop, which

becam e increasingly impo rtant and organized in its activity over

th e years. In his wor kspace and under the direct sup ervision

of

the maestro, specialists, young artists, and co

ll

aborators wo rked

on

such important illustrated books as

Ni

cola Zab aglia s 1743 Caste

ll

i

e Ponti,

edit ed by Bottar

6 (cat. 10); a

vo

lum e by

Geo

rg Caspar

von Penner, published in 1748, on the frescoes

of

the Zu ccari

bro

th

ers

in

the Palazzo Fa

rn

ese at

Ca

prarola (cats. 98- 101); and

the

E

va

ngeliario Qu

adru

plex

and various other publica tions

of

Bianc hini, that same schol ar who a

utho

red

th

e texts of

th

e first

two

b

oo

ks of Vasi s

Magnijicenze.

T he wo rks

hop

also pro

du

ced

some

of th

e plates for the

Narrazione

de ll

e

so

lenni

reali

Jes te Jatte

ce

l

ebrare in

Napo

li

da Sua Maes ta

il

R e

de

ll

e

Du

e Sicilie C

arl

o .. per

la

nascita

de

l suo Pr imogen i

to

Fi lipp o . . for Vasi s patron King C ha

rl es

of

the

Two

Sicilies,\an

un

de

rt

ak

in

g

coo

rdinated by

Bo

ttari

hi m

s

el

f

and published in 17 49

ca

ts. 3,

4)

.

7

In thi s same fruitful decade,

Vasi also did the engraving

wo

rk for N olli s N uova Pianta di Roma,

men tioned above, and began the Magnijicenz

e,

the wo rk that

wo uld ens

ur

e his

fa

m e.

T he genes is and exact c

hro no

logy of the ten vo

lume Magniji-

cenze,

published b

etwee

n the years

1747

and

1761,

is still

not

ent irely cl

ear

38 What is abu ndan tly evident , neve rthel

ess,

is the

encyclopedic a

mbition

a

nd

sys tematic me

thod

of

th

e project. The

volumes foll

ow

a clear organiza tional strategy, beginning with

the city s ex terior (Le po rte e mura di R oma , 1747), pr oceeding

to the public squ ares

of

its int erior (Le piazze principa

li

di R oma,

1752) and on to its great

es

t buildings (Le

bas

iliche e chiese an

tiche di

R

oma, 1753; I

pal

az z

i e

e

vie pi

i ce

lebri di

essa, 1754). T hen,

come

s

a book of

bridg

es and ri

ver

views i po

nti, e Ie v

ed

u

te su

I

Tevere,

1754), b

ase

d on and partly reusing material

fr

om a book that Vasi

had pro

du

ced

over

a decade before, the Ve

dute di Roma s

uI Tevere

(probably printed in

1743).

T he res t

of

the volumes

of

th e Magniji-

cenze likewi

se

proc eed by cat

egory

Le chi

ese

parrocch

iali,

i

ss

ued

in

1756; I

conventi e Ie

case

dei chi

er

i

ci rego

l

ar

i,

1756; I

monasteri e

conserv

a

to ri

di donn

e, 175

8; a

nd I co llegi,

sp

eda li

, e lu

og

hi pii, 1759-

concluding w ith a set of villas and gardens

th

at takes the viewer

back

ou

t

of

the dense,

urb

an

fa

bric to the garden zone within

and im

me

diately outs

id

e

th

e city s walls

(Le ville e giardini piu

rimarc

h

evo li

,

1761). V

as

i s sys tematic examina

ti

on of

th

e

modern

city renews

th

e spirit e

mb

odied by prior a

uth

ors of

vedute

of the

baroqu e city, from Ferre ri o to Fa

ld

a a

nd Ve

nturini. Such proj ects,

organized in series, represe

nt

atte

mp t

s at a cartogra

phi

c riassunto

,

or summary, of the city.

T he first

bo

ok of

th

e

Magnijicenze, th

e one treating the wa

ll

s

a

nd

gates of the city, includes a table w

ith

the distances from one

gate to anothe

r.

Th e title that Vasi gives to th e table, M

i

sura

de

ll

e

di

stanze da una

Po

rta

a

ll

al

t

ra

,

ca

mmin

and

o p

er la

st

ra

da Ju

ori

de

ll

e mu

ra,

per dimensione Orizontal

e, Javor

ita a

ll

Autore

di quest

e

Descriz ion i dall Architetto, e Geometra il Sig. Gi

o.

Ba ttista No

i

Co ma sco,} gives direct t

es

tilTlOny of Vasi s relatio nship with and

debt to N olli a

nd

suggests, furthermore, a rapport of esteem . H e

also includ

es

a sma

ll

ic

hn og

ra

phi

c map ori

en

ted w

ith no

rth at

th e top

of

the page, which, though no t copied from N olli, surely





G

IU

SE

PPE

VAS I

'S ROME

that I wo uld not suffer them

in

any of my own plates, and that

the defects

all

derive

from

not having used

proper

diligence . H e

follows by explaining Vasi' s efforts

to

repair

th

e damage :

Ther

efore

Signor

Vas

i,

in order

to

re

me d

y the me

ntion

ed

defects in th e manner po

ss

ible, took recourse in masking

th e writing wi th the mentioned coun termarks, whi

ch

through modifying the harshne

ss

of th e characters rendered

their de fects less detectable.

This

is

what

I can say

in

regards to the quality of this lettering.

Piranesi goes

on to

rec

onunend

that Ghigi not be paid the full

price, t

es

tifying about rates with a specificity

th

at makes this state

ment

an extremely valuable doc

um

ent for the economic

hi

s

to

ry

of

settec

e

nto

printmaking.

On the basis of L

eg

rand's

co

lorful story of

attempted

homi

cide ,

it

is easy to assume (as so

man

y have) that Piranesi and Vasi

were firm antagonists. But

Pir

anesi's testimony

in

the Ghigi case

shows that Vasi trusted him

and

respected his ju dgment enough to

ask him for a testim.onial and that Piranes i was willing to put his

ow n reputation at Vasi 's service when aske

d.

Th e episode suggests

a degree of es teem between the two sometime collaborators. It

should be noted also that Piranesi's appearance as an outside and

os

tensibly

imp

artial expert witness precludes the possibility

th

at

he was directly

involved in

the preparation of

th

e Prospetto,

as

some have tried to assert.

Th e

wording

on the Prospe tto and the acc

ompanying

Indice

isto rico also caused some problems of a different sort. Vasi h ad care

lessly indicated that th e Piazza di Spagna, the piazza onto which

the Spanish Em.bassy fronted, fell under direct Spanish jurisdiction ,

like the emb

assy

itself. A delicate diplomatic quarrel between th e

church and the kingdom of Spain ensued, and Vasi surely fe lt th e

burden of th e scapegoat. Charles

of

Spain, to whom. th e work

was dedicated, must have been

pl

eased, as he bought up a

ll

copies

of the work a

nd

circulated them

as

gifts.

42

Vasi was al

so

p(llitically as tute: he ga ve his Prospetto to various

European co

urt

s, among

th

em the imperial co

urt

at Vienna and

th

e

Savoya rd court of the kin gs

of

Sardinia at Turin. On September

24,1766

, Natoire, direc

tor of th

e Frnch Academy in

Ro m

e, wrote

to

inform

the

Marqui

s

of

Marigny in Paris that the engraver had

me

ntion

ed his intention to offer the king of France th e

Prosp

etto

w

ith

fini s

hing

touch

es

in

waterco

lor.

4

For this

th

e king

wo

uld

gi ft

Vasi 100 luigi, a considerable

sum

. Th e exchange was considered

sufficiently newsw

orthy

to m

er

it me

ntion

in C hracas's news

paper,

th

e

popular

Diario Ordinario di Roma.

44

N atoire could not

withhold

from snippily wishing,

os

tensibly on Vasi's behalf, that

the other

mon

archs to whom he had sent his Prospe

tto

had al

so

compensated him

so

genero us ly. 45

In

offering to watercolor the

view

to resembl e a painting, Vasi was participating in a traditi

on

of

polychromy, abhorrent as it may be to today

s

collector,

th

at had

ampl e preced

ent

in Ro me. Th e Maggi-Maupin map of R ome,

from

1625, was particularly

we

ll

s

uit

ed to this

pr

actice .

One

can

only imagine what an impression Vasi's wall-sized print

might

have

mad

e with color applied by the mas

ter

himself.

As

mu

ch as s

om

e viewers reveled

in

Vasi's work, he also had his

critics . Louis

XVI,

who had rewarded Vasi

so

richly for the Pros-

petto

found

his engravings of th e interior and

ex

terior of St. Peter's

Basilica undistinguished (cats. 13, 14)45 But eve n the Prospetto

more spectacular than scientific, sometimes

fell

short in circles

that prized technical developments like

Nolli

's or intellectual

flights like

Pir

anesi's. Luigi Vanvitelli, the architect, dismissed it as

being of use primarily as a tourist's souvenir. Vanvitelli, ironically

enough, was both the son of a view painter (Gaspar van Wittel)

and one of the backers listed in the final

volume

of the Magn ficen ze

(1761). Charging his

broth

er with the task of procuring Vasi prints

for Antonio

Rinaldi

, arc

hit

ect at the impe

ri

al court at Saint Peters

bur

g,

Vanvitelli states:

It 's not Piranesi's works that Rinaldi is asking for, but

th

e

views

of Rome

by Vasi, which cost l

ess,

that is to

sa

y about

two

or three zecchini . . .. If I have written Piran

es

i it was a

nusunderstanding, even

i

I have wlitten that I don

't

want

you to acquire the big vi

ew

of Rom e [i. e. Vasi s Prospetto] as

I don

't

like it, though perhaps in St. Petersburg it w

ill

be fine.



He

seems to have a change of heart in mid para graph , and

con tin ues:

But, since it 's Rinaldi s mo ney you co uld also provide it ,

at a relatively low price, as I believe Vasi has set th e price

low deliberately in order

to se

ll the

work

w hich is of

poor

qua lity,

as

one

mu

st

with

a

thin

g of

poor

taste

4 7

It is true, incidentally, that Vasi's works generally cost less

than Piranesi's,

but

part

of

the disc rep ancy is certainly due to

sc

ale: Piranesi's standard vedute were made from larger plates than

Vasi's 8 Ano

th

er dismi

ssa

l

co

mes

from the

famous

collector Pierre

Jea n Ma riette, w ho declared in January of

1766

that "Vasi's view

of

Ro me

,

taken from th

e Ja

niculum, doe

s

not piqu

e my curiosity

very muc h. 9 But th ese criticisms reflect only a portion

of

public

opinio n. Vasi's engravings supplied the market with a doubtlessly

cap tivat

ing

product

and

were

s

impler

and

more

affordable

th

an

Piranesi' s prints. The reader will recall from the first paragraph of

this essay that Clement XIII hi mse lf bought Vasi's wo rks to offer,

along with those of

Pir

anesi and

Nolli,

to guests and illustriou s

visitors . And in the splendid

librar

y

of

th e Co unt of Firmjan, th e

plenipoten tiary minister in Naples, imperial governor of Milan,

and patron of artists and archi tec ts the works

of

Vasi, Piranes i,

and No lli appear together alongside other se lec t publications illus

trating ancient and mode

rn Rom

e.

50

Vas i is often

comp

ared to

Pir

anesi, but the

pro

s and cons of

each from an e

ighteen

th -

ce

ntury

point

of

view eme

rge w

ith

a certa

in

clarity in the assessment of a

contempor

ary observer,

the French

eco

nomist and politician

Jean

-

Marie-Roland

de la

Platiere . Speaking of Pi anesi , he wr ites:

No

o

ne

h

as

engraved

th

e ruins in a

mann

er

quit

e so grand,

and wi

th

as

much

effect.

This

Ve netian has a ta

lent

so

superior in this genre,

that

he renders

ce

rtain obj ects

mo r

e

strongly than

nature

it

se

lf

do

es.

His burin,

it is tru e, is

not

alw

ay

s the

most

faithful [to reality],

he

knows well

how

to

l

d to a subj ect when his

mod

el is s

par

se

or

arid

....

As for

R O

BEVIL CQl

F <;. 7. Piranes i Piazza Sa n Pietro, ca . 1775 from Vedute di

Kama.

Fi

g

8.

Giu

se

ppe

Pia zza San Pietro. 177

4.



GIUSEP PE VAS I'S ROME

regular architecture, he renders it

with

mediocrity. Vasi

gives

mo r

e precision and a better effect: one can

ju d

ge,

for instance, from th e view

of

th e Piazza and C

hur

ch of

San Pietro , which both artists have etched. Vasi's version

is mu ch sup erior to that of Piranes i's (cats. 7, 8).

As

for

figure-d rawing, this is an enterprise

from

which he [Pira

ne

si] should abstain

himself

I highly esteem

Piran

esi 's

etching

s, who wouldn ' t? [But] his wo rkshop is a non-stop

market, where one is disappointed to see talent doubly

degraded by an avidity that is at

on

ce bitter and sham

ef

up l

While Vasi's Prospetto r

em

ains remarkably and consistently

popular (even today, as the mysterious owner

of

the copperplates

continues to produce copies

that

are alternately passed off as eith er

antique or new), the Magnificenze has been less

fortun

ate: t stood

up

less firmly

to

the demands of romanticism,

and

th e vo gue for its

vo

lumes died out

in

the e

ighteenth

century. An

attempt to

revive

the mark

et after his dea

th

with new produc

tion

of the prints-and

to fraudul

en

tly pass them off as the collaboration of V

as

i a

nd Pira

nesi im ed at a gullible audi ence who recognized the latter artist

as a celebrity

c

ats.

25, 32, 34, 48).

The author of thi s attempt ,

possibly V

as

i' s

son Mari

ano, affixed the falsified insc

ription

Vasi

e

Piran

es i upon the co

pp

erplates and also

aw

kwardly so

ught to

update the images by e

limin

a

ting outdated

details

in

th e

clothin

g

of the p

eo

ple and th e style of

the

carriages. 52

n he middle dec ad

es

of th e eighteenth century, Nolli, Vasi,

and

Piranes i all la

id

th e

foundation

s for a new vision of Rom e,

includin

g both its millen nial gl

ory and

its role in modernity. But

each leg of this

tripod

is distinct.

Piran

esi's poetics is pervaded

with a vision of grandiose antiquity and

tr

agedy of th e sort

that

is

characte ristic of

Vico

. Hi s modus operandi and taste for the sublime

are distant from the rationa l, clean, and crystalline method s of

Nolli, even ifPiranesi found co nsiderable inspiration in Nolli.

On

the

other

hand, Vasi's sys t

em

atic analysis

of

the

mo d

ern metrop

o

li

s

in

his seri

es

of

extremely rich views, consistently equal

in

size,

format, and technique, constitutes an exhaustive

taxonometric

catalogue. His w ork, in the end , is both popular and didactic,

offering at a glance a summary view yet display

in

g a systematic

methodology,

always lucid , rational, and concei

ved

in

th

e true

spirit

of

the eighteenth century. Piranes

i,

by contrast, is

sel

ec

tive, and as he ages, he increasingly privileges effect

ov

er truth.

Piran

es i,

in

his

135

l

arge-format

vedute (cat

s.

78-8

1), choo

ses hls

subjects liberally, pri vileging th e most commercially viable themes

(Saint Peter's Basilica, the Trevi Fountain, the

Co

losseum) and

excludin

g either partially or en tirely others considered less impo

r

tant . Plates of palaces, villas,

indi

v

idu

al churches , and scenes of

piazzas are, in fact,

quit

e rare

in

his oeuvre. Vasi, on the other

hand , pro ves to be faithful to himself over the decades in which

the publica tion of th e M agnifice nze soars. He gives his

view

er the

w hole ensemble, which in its totality attains a surpassing greatne

ss.

Translated from the I

ta

lian by Stephen McCormick

Bruno

Contard

i, 1998, p. 55. Piranesi e

La

corte

Rezzoni

c

a,

in Barbara

Jatta, ed.

Piran

es

i e l Aventino

(

Ro m

e: 1998), pp. 4

9-

55.

2 Consider, for instance, Ludovico Ughi 's map of Venice from 1729, which

seems to have been conceived

in

close relationship to D omenico Lo

vi

sa's

Gran teatro

di

Venezia;

M arc'A ntonio dal Re ' s

vedu

te of Mi lan, produced in

1734 along with a planimetri c map of the c ity ba sed on a recent tax map);

and the 1731 plan

of Flor

ence by Ferdin

ando

Ruggieri, which was regula

rl

y

sold along wit h Giuseppe Zo cchi's series of views, published in 1744.

3 Luisa Scalabroni,

Giuseppe

Va

si

1710-1782),

Ro m

e 1981, pa

ss

im

;

Oli

vi

er

Mi

chel,

L Accademia

in

Le Palais Famese ,

2,

Ro

me, 1981, pp.

567-611

;

H enry Millon,

Vasi-Piranesi

:f

uvarra ,

in Georges Brunei, ed. ,

Piran

ese

et les

FraI1

(ai

s Rome , 1983, pp. 345- 354; Giovanna Curcio, ed.,

Giu

sepp

e V

asi:

Palazz i di Roma, Milan 1993 ; John Moore, Prints, Sa lami and C heese:

Savoring the

Roman

F

es

tival

of

the C hin e

a,

in

Art Bulletin,

77 (1995),

pp.

584-606;

Mario Gori

Sa ss

o

li

, G iuseppe

Vas

i: 'Magnificenze' di

Ro m

a

mod

erna,' in Mario Bev

il

acqua, e

d.

,

Nolli Va si Piranesi: Ilr/m agin e

di

Ramo

antica e mod ema , Rappresentare e c

onoscere

la metrop oli dei Lumi,

pp. 31- 35;

Paolo C oen,

Arte, cultura e me

rcato

in una bott

ega

rOllana del

XV I

II

sec

olo:

L impresa c

al

cografica di Giuse

pp

e e

Mari

ano Va si ra ntinuita e rin/1.ovame

llf

o,

in Bo llettino d'arte ,

Vo l.

115 , 2001, pp. 23- 74; Allen C een, G iu

se

ppe

Vasi, in Edgar Peters

Bowron

a

nd

Joseph

J. Ri

shel, eds.,

Art in Rome

in

the

Eighteenth Century,

London, 2000, pp. 152- 154; Anna Grelle

Iusco,

G iusepp e Vasi. II fonda di matrici dell lstituto Naz ionale per la Grafica.

Osservaz ioni e divagaz ion i, Ro me, 2004.





GIUSEPPE VASI'S ROME

50

fidelite. Piran

es

i s'a ttachait

it

leurs p

as,

il apprit

it

connaitre surtout avec ce

dernier ju

squ 'aux mo

indr

es vestiges d

es ant

iguites de Ro me; il recherchait

les diff

ntes enceint es de ses 111urs et courait sans cesse des

Ruin

es aux

bibliotheques pour

tr

ouver l

es

noms, la po si tion et la destination de ses

masses , des bibli othegues aux

Ruines po ur

admirer e

ncor

e ces fabriqu

es

ill1posantes .

27

Bernardi no Bernardini ,

Des criz ione del nuovo ripartirn

ento

de' rioni

di

Ramo

fatto per

ordine

di N. S. Papa Benedetto X IV, Rome, 1744.

28

John

Pinto, Forma Urbis Roma

e,

op. cit. , pp.

143-46.

29 For dating, c

fr.

Mario Bev ilacqua, R oma el secolo dei LUll1i op. cit. pp.

38, 40; Luigi Fi cacci, The

Di

scovery

of

Rom e out of the

Sp

iri

t

of

Piron esi, in

idem, Pi

rones

i.

The Complete Etch ings, Koln

, 2000, pp. 18- 19.

30 Allan Ceen, Pir

an

es

i and Nolli:

lrn

ago

urbis

Ro

mae

,

in Malco

lm

Campbell, ed.,

Pironesi: R ome Recorded ,

Ro m e, 1990, pp.

17

-2 1.

31

Some

of

the

res ults of this map, the

Tavola

topog rajica di R oma

in

wi si

disl1lostrana

gli andamfllti degli al1tichi

acquedotti we

re taken up in Alberto

Cassio, Co rso dell'Acque Antiche portate

da

lantarle contrade ... , I- I Ro me

1756-57.

32

Mario Bevilacqua, ed.,

Piran

esi

Ta ccuini di Modema

(

Ro m

e:

2008), I.

pp.

226-27.

33 Fra ncesco Vettor i, A nimadversiones in Lamella

Aeneal1l vetustissill1am

iVlusei

Victorii ,

Rome,

1741, p. 16.

34 Mario Bevilacqua,

The Youn

g Piranesi: th e Itin era ri es of his Formation ,

in F Barry, M. Bevilacqua , H. Hyde Minor, e ds. The Serpent and

the

Stylus:

Essays on G.

B. Piran

esi (Ann Arbor: 2006).

35 Archivio di Stato di

Roma,

Ca mera1e

n

Calcografia, b. 6, with reco rd

of payments to engrave rs from 1738 to 1746; Pao lo

Co

en

, op. cit. , pp.

27 -28; John Moo re,

Prints,

sa

lami

and cheese , cit .; idem , Buildirrg set pieces in

eighteenth- century ROln

e:

the

case

of he Ch in

ea

,

in M emoirs of the

Ameri

can

Academy in R ome ,

43 (1998-1999),

pp. 183-292

.;

Mari o

Go

ri Sassoli,

De

lla

Chinea e di altre 'Macchine di Gioia' . Apparati arch itettonici perfuochi

d

'a

rtificio a R oma nel Settecen to

(R oma

1994 ;

[d. ,

La

cer

ilnonia della Ch in

ea.

Dal teatro delle

corti

al popolo

festegg

ial1te, in M arcello Fagiolo, ed. , La festa a

R oma dol Ri l1asci/'llento 1 1870. At/ant

e,

Torino 1997, pp. 42 -55.

36

Nicola

Zabag

lia,

Caste

lli

e ponti di maestro N icco

la

Zabag

li

a ,

Ro m e,

1743.

Cfr. Ange la Marino , ed., Sap ere e

sap

erfa re nella Fabbrica di S. Pietro: Castelli

e ponti di

Ma

est ro Niccola Zabaglia, 1743, Rome, 2008.

37 Though the prince was born in 1747, the wo rk on the festival b

ook

took

ove r t wo years. Heather H yde Minor, R ejecting Piran esi, op. cit.

38 Millon

,

op

. cit. , passim; and Sca

1ab

ron i , op. c

it

., p .

412.

39 Co

en,

op. cit., p. 60.

40 Mario Go ri Sassoli , Roma veduta: Disegni e stamp e panora

m,i

che della

citta dal XV al X IX secolo , in idem., ed., Roma verl

uta:

Diseg

l i

e stalt/pe

pal/oralllic/le della

citra rial

XV 1 XIX

seco lo, Rome , 2000, pp. 79-94.

41

Bibli oteca Aposto li

ca

Vati

ca

n

a,

Autografi Ferrajoli , sezione III ,

ra

ccolta

Visconti, n. 5761, anno 1765.

Th

e text, in full and in the origi nal Italian,

reads: 10 sottoscritto ricercato per la velid ad osserva re, e dire con mio

giuramento,

se

i

ca

ratteri , che

so

no in

cis

i dal Sig.

D. Gi

o. Batta Ghigi nei

ra lll

i

del Sig. Giu se ppe Vasi, i quali appartengono

alla

Prospetti

va

di Roma siano

stati fa tti ad u so d'arte, 0

pure se

siano

dif

ettosi; e

po

i rifelire qual s

ia il l

o

ro

prezzo, e vaJore;

Avendo

li percia diligente

mente

osserva

ti

in alcun e

li

ste d i

ca

rta ove si liconosce l'opera del Sig. Abbate Ghi

gi

pura, e sc hietta

per

essere

state stampate prim

a,

che il Sig. Va si avesse

co

ntrasegnati dd. ca ratteli, con

tante linee, co

me

ho ve

dut

o d'altre liste

di ca

rta

di

posteliore

impress

ione.

vedo , che non v'e, che dire intorno alla fornu de

ll

e lettere; imp eroche se ella

non e pelf etta, mente di meno ella e tollerabile, ma osservo

per

altro primiera

mente, che Ie linee fra loro non sono in dista nze uguali; secondariamente, che

Ie

lettere di aJc une linee so no pili pi cco1e di

qu

elle dell'altre;

in

terzo

lu

ogo,

che in alcune linee Ie lettere

so

no pili strette; in qua rto lu ogo, che Ie majus

cole

d.i

u

na

medesima lin

ea non so no

ugu

alment

e alte, ma qual'e pill grand

e,

quai'e pi ll piccola; ed in quinto luogo, che n

on

essendo capu ta in una linea

tutt

a la dicitura com

presa

so tto

que

sto , e quel nunm1ero il Sig. Abbate Ghigi

in molti di questi incontri ne ha tiportato il rimanente nello spatio susseg

ue

nt

e: difetti

tutt

i cosi disgradevo

li

, che da me

non

si

soffr

ir

e

bb

ero in alc un

dei

mi

ei ra nti, e deri

va

ti tutti dal non

ess

ere stata usata la

do

vuta diligenza .

Cosi che il Sig. Vasi

per

rimediare a tutti i divisati difetti nella maniera possi

bile e ricorso a velare tut ta la sc ri ttura con i dd. contrasegni, i quali men tre

modiftca no I'asprezza dei caratteri, ne rendono meno se nsibile il difettoso; e

cia e

quanto

io po sso dire de lla

qualid

di questa

littur

a. Quamo a1 prezzo

po

i, che suol pagarsi non agli Inciso ri, che o perano cosi negligentemente,

com e ha fatto il Si

g.

Abbate Ghigi nei prede tti rami del Sig. Vasi, ma acoloro,

che u

sa

no Ie divisate diligenze, posso attestare essere sempre stato, ed

esse

r

solito darsi sei pauo li , e

ta

lora cinque pauoli per

og

ni centinaj o di parol

e, e.

questo e il prezzo, che pagasi ... non

so

lo in R oma , ma in

Napo

li , in Firenze,

ed

in Venez

ia

, ed il prezzo , c

he

io

so

no srato solito di

pa ga

re per c ir

ca

duemila

rami da m e incisi, e da diversi Incisori scri tti . .

Cia

e

quanto

io

po

sso att

es

tare , e riferire per la ve ritit , e

medi

ante il mio

g

iuramento per la piena sc ienza, che io ho di tali cose, che rutto il giorno

s

ono

acc

adut

e, ed acca

don

o a m e medesimo, e c he

ho

veduto accadere a

tanti altr i Inciso ri in Ro ma. [n fede Ro ma que sto di primo Giugno 1765 .

Gio. Barta Piranes

i.

42 Thi s

incident

has been disc usse d and made famous by Al essandro Anselmi,

II Palazz o dell'Alllba

sci

ata

di

Spagl/o presso la Santa Sede ,

Ro me, 2001,

pp.

187-88.

43

Corr

espondOll ce des

Directeur

s de I A cademie

de Fran

ce aR

ome

1666 1793

edit ed by Anatole de M ontaiglon , Jul es Guiffrey, X II

(1764-177

4), Paris ,

1902, pp. 1

27-28

, 132, 136.

44 Coen, op . cit. , p. 57

n.

195; Su

sa

nn a Pasquali, op. cit . See also the letters

of

Va

si

to Mar

igny in

Correspon riOl

lCe

rles Directelm ,

pp.

14

8-

49,

and th e

repli es

of

M arigny to Nato ire and Vasi , ibirl

.,

pp.

147- 4

8;

152- 54; as

we ll as

Chracas, Diorio

Orrlir/Orio

, n . 7782, May 16, 1767.





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o

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Documents

Bevilacqua, M.- Plans, Views and Panoramas, The Visions of Vasi, Nolli, and Piranesi (article-2010)+