1624 G. Laurus, Gardens at Maecenas, Rome, Italy engraving

Gardens at Maecenas

Romae, Apresso Vitale Mascardi, Roma, 1612-1622.

FROM THE VERY SCARCE FIRST ISSUE ISSUED IN PARTS UNTIL 1622. CORRESPONDINGLY THE ENGRAVING ARE PARTICULARLY CRISP AND WELL DEFINED. In this, and only this, issue there is not text to the verso of the engravings

FINE ENGRAVING from one of the most influential and beautiful works on the monuments and antiquities of ancient Rome. The Antiquae urbis splendor, ('The Splendor of the Ancient City') served as an important reference book and source of inspiration for many writers and artists. Giacomo Lauro was a roman printmaker active from 1583 to about 1650. 

Leaf: 26 x 21 cm

Worming to lower  margin. Minor fingering to margins.

Laid out over a former graveyard on the Esquiline Hill by Maecenas (ca. 74-8 B.C.), a wealthy knight, advisor of Augustus, and patron of poets such as Vergil and Horace. Ancient sources tell us that Maecenas had the first heated swimming pool in Rome; and that the gardens contained a tall tower. The so-called “Auditorium” is preserved and can be visited. After Maecenas' death, the gardens became an imperial property. Tiberius lived here when he returned to Rome in A.D. 2 from exile on Rhodes.