Piranesi's Map of Rome

Nice example of this celebrated plan of Rome, engraved by Giovani Battista Nolli and Charles Nolli, with decorative elements engraved by Giovanni Battista Piranesi.

The map shows the center of Rome in great detail, lying on a sort of curtain deployed from the cherub at the top right, spectacularly placed in an urban setting which pays tribute to the policy of Pope Benedict XIV Lambertini (1740-1758).

In the upper left a putti is shown supporting the coat of arms of Cardinal Alessandro Albani, to whom the work is dedicated, as noted in the inscription contained in the cartouche below. Just below, a legend in cludes a list of palaces, monuments and churches, which is continued at the right edge of the map. In the bottom center, on the ruins of a pedestal, the title is given, along with the names of the makers. At the bottom appear, a mirror-image of the Basilica of St. Peter is shown, the symbolic place of Christian Rome, along with the most prestigious architectural achievements of eighteenth-century Rome: the facade of the Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme di Pietro Passalacqua and Domenico Gregorini, the Fountain Trevi by Nicola Salvi and the facade of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore by Ferdinando Fuga.