[Vedute delle Quattro Principali Basiliche e Monumenti di Roma nel XVIII Secolo].

A wonderfully extra-illustrated example of this fine set of views of Rome by Panini, commissioned by him with the aid of engravers such as Antonini, Polanzani, and Volpato.

Francesco Panini (1738-1800) was one of the most important eighteenth-century artists who emphasised the size and grandiosity of his native Rome, often under sizing the figures in the foreground to emphasis the awe inspiring views. He has been overshadowed by his father Giovanni Paolo, one of the most appreciated eighteenth-century painters, but was just as influential and capable.

This copy of Panini's Vedute di Roma has 40 plates, while other copies in institutions have fewer: the Calcografia Nazionale catalogue lists 37 engravings, and the Getty copy has just 27.

The extra plates in the rear, focusing on the Vatican, are:
Piazza e tempio di Santa Maria della Rotonda gia l'antico Pantheon by Alessandro Specchi, 1693, and his other well known engraving of the Colosseum Prospetto dell'Anfiteatro Flavio, 1703.
Pianta delle Grotte Vaticane by Pietro Paolo Drei, c.1640-75
Cathedram S. Petri in interiore templi fronte (Plate 41 from the Album 'Basilica di S. Pietro in Vaticano') by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, c.1666-80.
Molis aenae quam fusili artificio Urbanus VIII by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, c.1650.
Facciata della sacrosanta Basilica Vaticana by Antonini Carlo, 1788.
Obeliscum ab Imp. Ant. Caracalla Romam by Francois de Poilly, c.1651-55 with its companion Tabula Secunda quae Obelisci Caracallae by Louis Gommier, c.1707.
Pianta e Prospetto dell'Ospedale nuovamente fatto by Vasconi Filippo, 1726.
Pianta della Piazza del popolo and Veduta prospetica della piazza del popolo in roma by Giuseppe Valadier, 1794.
Il Sontuosiss.o et Ameniss.o Palazzo et Giardini di Tivoli (from Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae) by Antonio Lafreri, 1573.
Vero e Novo Disegno di Frascati con Tutte le Ville convicine by Dominique Barriere, c.1650.

Large folio (54 x 41.5 cm); extra-illustrated with 53 double page engravings, 40 of which in title work, armorial bookplate to pastedown, touch of marginal spotting but images still clean and clear; contemporary full calf, rebacked and recornered with original spine laid down, spine gilt with gilt morocco lettering piece, all edges and endpapers marbled, spine a little worn and crumbly, a very good copy.