Art Identification

[Aims]

Hello, I have acquired about 15 of these framed prints. The frames are heavy and sturdy (on back, brackets with screws hold frame together) There are two prints in each frame. "Elevation of the arch of Septimius Severus of Rome", "Elevation of the arch of Constantine of Rome". I found similar prints, without the English wording. Are these copies from a book? Or other artwork with the title changed? Any info would be great.

 

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[Mackaydon]

Aims,
Welcome to Treasurenet !!
I don't know the answer to your Q, but the print entitled "Elevation of the arch of Septimius Severus of Rome" reminded me of this coin which shows the same arch.
Don.....

Some history:
The Arch of Septimius Severus was constructed in the the Forum Romanum in 203 AD to commemorate his victories with Caracalla and Geta over the Parthians.
Originally, a bronze quadriga (chariot pullled by four horses) with the emperor and his sons topped the arch. Inscriptions dedicated the arch to all three, but Caracalla had Geta’s name removed from the arch after murdering him. The arch survived into our time because an early Christian church had incorporated it into its building. After the church itself was no longer used, it still remained the owner of the arch and thusly the arch was not torn down for building material. It is, today, one of the best preserved Roman monuments in existence.
Don...

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

I have handled a lot of artwork over the past 35 years, but without being able to examine it first hand it's hard to say exactly what you've got.

Due to the fact that someone has gone to the trouble and expense of framing them, I'd say your prints likely came from a 19thc reference book.

I might suggest that you remove one of these from it's frame and take it to an art gallery or to an art expert in your area for authentication.


Best of luck,
Dave

 

[Mackaydon]

Antoine Desgodetz' elevation of the Pantheon in Les edifices antiques de Rome: engravings served designers who never travelled to Rome.​

Antoine Babuty Desgodetz's (1653–1728) publication Les edifices antiques de Rome dessinés et mesurés très exactement (Paris 1682) provided detailed engravings of the monuments and antiquities of Rome to serve French artists and architects. The name Desgodetz appears on your presentation.
Don......
PS: Les edifices antiques... was reproduced in 1972 (Portland, Oregon : Collegium Graphicum).

 

[Mackaydon]

Adding further;
[FONT=&quot]Antoine Desgodetz (1653-1728) was a trained French architect. He was sent to Rome in the mid 1670s by the French Académie d’Architecture to take reliable measurements of the principal surviving buildings of Ancient Rome, and returned to Paris in 1677 with the first really accurate drawings of Rome’s temples, theatres, baths and triumphal arches. The publication in 1682 of [/FONT]Les edifices antiques de Rome, in which the engraved plates carefully reproduce Desgodetz’s original drawings, was a landmark in the provision of exact measured illustrations of famous buildings of the past.
Source: https://www.theantiquarium.com/item/003851/antoine-desgodetz-de-la-basilique-dantonin-a-rome
Don.....

 

[Aims]

Thank you all for your reply. I appreciate your responses

 

[A2coins]

Nice finds I agree if someone spent a lot to frame them they might be valuable.

 

[A2coins]

Welcome to tnet also

 

[Red-Coat]

Just tidying up some blasts from the past (including some very ancient ones), largely for the benefit of anyone searching the site for information.

@Mackaydon is correct in all he says about Desgodetz, but these are not his engravings. Note that there’s a reference to ‘G. Marshall’ and these are George Marshall's re-engravings from “The Ancient Buildings of Rome” published in two volumes. Only Volume I was printed in his lifetime (in 1771) and the publishers I & J Taylor later printed Volume II together with a reissued Volume I in 1795.

The work gives full credit to the French artist and architect Antoine Babuty Desgodetz, because it’s an English version of his ‘Les edifices antiques de Rome dessinés et mesurés très exactement’ (The ancient buildings of Rome drawn and measured very precisely) originally published by Coignard of Paris in 1682. The original work was an ambitious attempt to be the first precise description of ancient Roman architecture, and became a seminal resource for French artists and architects during the following century with a consequent demand an English version. It was reissued twice, in 1729 and 1779 (and has been reprinted in modern times, as has Marshall’s English version).

Little is known about George Marshall, except that he resided for a time in Kensington Palace in London and undertook the task of engraving new plates for the English version of Desgodetz’s work. The English version may have been commissioned and financed by George III, since the work is dedicated to him in the frontispiece.