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Medium etchings (prints)
  • This view of the Belvedere Gardens and Courtyard at the Vatican is particularly important since it shows the courtyard as it was originally designed by Donato Bramante in 1505. Bramante's design offered an unobstructed prospect from the papal apartments (at left) through the length of the courtyard to the exedra, the semi-circular structure at the right of the image. This perspectival view was later blocked by the construction of a library for Pope Sixtus V in 1587-89.
    Still image

    Belvedere Gardens

    Brambilla, Ambrogio, active approximately 1579-1599
    This view of the Belvedere Gardens and Courtyard at the Vatican is particularly important since it shows the courtyard as it was originally designed by Donato Bramante in 1505. Bramante's design offered an unobstructed prospect from the papal apartments (at left) through the length of the courtyard to the exedra, the semi-circular structure at the right of the image. This perspectival view was later blocked by the construction of a library for Pope Sixtus V in 1587-89.
    Date Issued or Published
    1579
    Copyright
    IN COPYRIGHT
    This view of the Belvedere Gardens and Courtyard at the Vatican is particularly important since it shows the courtyard as it was originally designed by Donato Bramante in 1505. Bramante's design offered an unobstructed prospect from the papal apartments (at left) through the length of the courtyard to the exedra, the semi-circular structure at the right of the image. This perspectival view was later blocked by the construction of a library for Pope Sixtus V in 1587-89.
  • The story of how this obelisk came to be in the piazza of the Lateran spans three thousand years. It was first quarried by Thutmose III around 1450 BC and stood at the Temple of Amun at Karnak. When the emperor Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) had the first obelisks brought from Egypt to Rome in 10 BC, he had considered this one, but was deterred by the fact that it was the largest of all obelisks (being over 32 meters tall and weighing 455 tons). The obelisk remained at Karnak until Constantine the Great (306-337), intending to send it to Constantinople, had it transported down the Nile to Alexandria. It went no further, however, until his son Constantius II (337-361) brought it to Rome in 357 and had it erected on the central barrier of the Circus Maximus. There it joined one of the obelisks brought earlier by Augustus. In Egypt obelisks were always dedicated by the pharaoh to the sun god. They retained these same associations with supreme royal authority and the cult of the sun when they were relocated, but now the supreme authority had passed to the emperors of Rome. Sometime after the sixth century both obelisks fell, broke into three parts, and were buried under the mud in the frequently flooded Circus. By the time of the Renaissance, antiquarians knew that the two obelisks should still be at the site from their study of classical sources. Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590), hearing about this just after he had moved the Vatican obelisk to the front of St. Peter's, ordered the obelisks to be excavated. It took nine months and 300 men to uncover and move the huge stone of the obelisk of Constantius to the piazza where it was reassembled and raised. In an elaborate ceremony in 1588 it was exorcised of pagan demons, consecrated, and rededicated to "the most invincible Cross." Topped by the cross and the pope's coat-of-arms, the obelisk's inherent power and authority then passed to the Christian church. Piranesi has made the soaring emblem the sole focus of this view, depicting its hieroglyphs in detail, if not with complete accuracy.
    Still image

    Egyptian Obelisk Erected by Sixtus V in the Piazza of S. Giovanni in Laterano

    Piranesi, Giovanni Battista, 1720-1778
    The story of how this obelisk came to be in the piazza of the Lateran spans three thousand years. It was first quarried by Thutmose III around 1450 BC and stood at the Temple of Amun at Karnak. When the emperor Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) had the first obelisks brought from Egypt to Rome in 10 BC, he had considered this one, but was deterred by the fact that it was the largest of all obelisks (being over 32 meters tall and weighing 455 tons).
    Date Issued or Published
    1750
    Copyright
    IN COPYRIGHT
    The story of how this obelisk came to be in the piazza of the Lateran spans three thousand years. It was first quarried by Thutmose III around 1450 BC and stood at the Temple of Amun at Karnak. When the emperor Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) had the first obelisks brought from Egypt to Rome in 10 BC, he had considered this one, but was deterred by the fact that it was the largest of all obelisks (being over 32 meters tall and weighing 455 tons).
  • The print depicts the cavalcade accompanying Pope Clement XI from the Vatican Basilica to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome on April 10, 1701
    Still image

    Nuouo disegno dell'ordine tenuto nella solenne cavalcata dal palazzo vaticano alla basilica lateranense per il possesso preso da Nostro Signore papa Clemente XI. il di X. aprile M.DCCI

    The print depicts the cavalcade accompanying Pope Clement XI from the Vatican Basilica to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome on April 10, 1701
    Date Issued or Published
    1701
    Copyright
    NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES
    The print depicts the cavalcade accompanying Pope Clement XI from the Vatican Basilica to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome on April 10, 1701
  • The lower third of Falda's plan shows the Belvedere Court designed in 1505 by Donato Bramante for Pope Julius II (1503-1513) to link the palace with a fifteenth-century villa on the grounds. The small courtyard (no. 9 on the plan) at the lower right housed the incomparable collection of ancient sculpture begun by Pope Julius which included such works as the Laocoon. The view of the garden seems to be from the vantage point of the gallery which frames the court, looking straight across parterres of herbs to the Casino of Pius IV built by the antiquarian architect Pirro Ligorio in the 1560s. The casino was a place of retreat for the pope where he and his companions could contemplate the numerous reliefs and inscriptions that encrusted the walls facing onto the inner courtyard. At the lower left is the Fountain of the Mirrors with its giochi d'acqua or water games. Tricks with fountains that would suddenly drench unsuspecting visitors were a very popular feature in Italian Renaissance gardens.
    Still image

    Plan and Elevation of the Belvedere Garden of the Vatican Palace

    Falda, Giovanni Battista, approximately 1640-1678
    The lower third of Falda's plan shows the Belvedere Court designed in 1505 by Donato Bramante for Pope Julius II (1503-1513) to link the palace with a fifteenth-century villa on the grounds. The small courtyard (no. 9 on the plan) at the lower right housed the incomparable collection of ancient sculpture begun by Pope Julius which included such works as the Laocoon.
    Date Issued or Published
    1688
    Copyright
    IN COPYRIGHT
    The lower third of Falda's plan shows the Belvedere Court designed in 1505 by Donato Bramante for Pope Julius II (1503-1513) to link the palace with a fifteenth-century villa on the grounds. The small courtyard (no. 9 on the plan) at the lower right housed the incomparable collection of ancient sculpture begun by Pope Julius which included such works as the Laocoon.
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