Fountains of Rome
Rome: Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi, 1625. Etching and engraving on cream laid paper, 8 3/8 x 11 1/4 inches (222 x 286 mm), full margins. In good condition with some light yellow discoloration in the margins and on the verso, the image area remains clean and bright.
The inscription in the lower margin reads Altra fontana più sopra all'antecedente fontana rustica del teatro della villa Aldobrandini di Belvedere a Frascati, con giuochi d'acque nelle scale (Another fountain above the antecedent rustic fountain of the theater of the Villa Aldobrandini di Belvedere in Frascati, with plays of water in the stairs). Printed in 1691.
[Bartsch/Le Pientre graveur XXI.244.43].
Book II: plate 10, from "Le fontane delle ville di Frascati nel Tusculano con li loro prospetti" ("The fountains of the Villas of Frascati in Tusculano and their prospects"); a set of four books on fountains published by Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi (Italian, Rome 1627–1691), after Giovanni Francesco Venturini (active ca. 1650–1700) and Giovanni Battista Falda (1643–1678).
A charming scene with romping dogs and spectators watching the cascading water play a trick on an unsuspecting man who is sprayed as he descends the steps, as the fountain was designed to do.
An impression of this work may be found in the permanent collection of the British Museum, registration number 1928,0713.10.
Ex-collection Ferdinand Roten Galleries, Baltimore, with the gallery label on the mat.
Item number: 1355
Price: $650.00
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