Henri Godts

(École italienne) - BARTOLI, Pietro Sante (1635-1700).- Monocromata, in Constantiniana Vaticani aula [...]. ROMAE, APUD JOAN. JACOBUM DE RUBEIS, S.D. Engraved dedication-title, 11 etchings featuring 15 scenes, cuv. ca. 10 x 47,6 cm, on laid-paper, not numbered, signed, with captions. Album in-8° oblong : half leather, paper boards, flat spine, sprinkled edges (joints broken, spine and corners rubbed). Complete magnificent serie of 11 etchings featuring 15 scenes, drawn, engraved and signed by Bartoli, a pupil of Poussin and famous for his professional accuracy in drawing monuments, after the monocrome fresco's by Romano which decorated the large hall or "Sala di Constantino" of the Vatican. The etchings are preceded by a dedication and a title, both engraved by the same artist. We could place the 1st publication between 1655 and 1667 during the pontificate of Alexander VII (Bartoli dedicated this serie to his treasurer). Giulio "Pippio" Romano (ca. 1499-1546) was an Italian painter and architect, who excelled as a pupil of Raphael and helped him with the decorations of loges at the Vatican and the palace of the Borgia's. He became Raphael's heir and after his death in 1520, he started to work on his biggest achievement, the fresco's in the large hall. Unfortunately for many Roman artists including Romano, Adrian VI succeeded the late pope Leo X, a great lover of arts, and all funds were cut off. The last plate with the muses demonstrates how happy Romano must have been when he resumed work (only 20 months later) and that Adrian VI was succeeded by the cousin of Leo, cardinal Giulio de Medici, an even greater Maecenas than Leo ever had been. # Berlin Katalog n° 4073; # not in Cicognara.