Capponi, Lorenzo
1733 – circa 1776

Engraved plan, elevation, and sections of the Cathedral of Bologna (Metropolitana di San Pietro), drawn by Flaminio Minozzi, engraved by Lorenzo Capponi, and dedicated to Cardinal Vincenzo Malvezzi

[Bologna], Lorenzo Capponi, 1760

folio (510 × 375 mm), (8) ff., a suite of seven engraved plates (six double-page and one full-page) and one printed leaf (see list of prints below).

paper armorial shield charged with three crescents

Back of binding lightly worn; otherwise in fine state of preservation.

binding contemporary Italian grey boards, upper cover lettered (at a later date) Capponi | Cattedrale di S. Pietro | in | Bologna.

A rare publication commemorating the newly rebuilt Cathedral of Bologna (Metropolitana di San Pietro), dedicated by the printmaker-publisher Lorenzo Capponi to the Archbishop of Bologna, Cardinal Vincenzo Malvezzi Bonfioli (1715–1775), who had consecrated the church on 15 August 1756. The restoration of the primitive Romanesque-Gothic structure had been underway already for more than a cen­tury, when Benedict xiv took charge, commis­sioning the new façade by the architect Alfonso Torreggiani (1743–1755) depicted here (it was modified later by Francesco Tadolini).¹

A plan, elevation, and three sections of the church were drawn for Lorenzo Capponi by Flaminio Innocenzo Minozzi (1735–1817), a pupil of Giovanni Carlo Sicinio Bibiena (until 1752), and in the Bologna Academy (until 1757). Our publication is the earliest work mentioned by Luigi Crespi in his résumé of Flaminio’s career (1769):

Opera sua sono i cinque disegni fatti in misura della nostra chiesa cattedrale di s. Pietro, cioè l’intera pianta, con la facciata, e spaccati, che furono inta­gliati in rame da Lorenzo Capponi, e pubblicati con la stampa per il Guidotti.²

Surprisingly little is known of the printmaker Lorenzo Capponi, and nothing before this ambitious publication, which suggests that he was already well-established as a printmaker-publisher by 1760. In 1763 Capponi published the polemic Lettera di Lorenzo Capponi a un suo amico against Pianta e spaccato del nuovo Teatro di Bologna fatta in occasione dell’apertura di esso li 14 maggio 1763 colla descrizione di detto teatro (anonymously published by Giuseppe Longhi). In 1771 appeared Capponi’s principal work, Pianta e spaccato del nuovo teatro di Bologna offerto al nobil’ uomo ed eccelso sig. senatore conte Girolamo Legnani da Lorenzo Capponi (published by Lelio dalla Volpe).³ He was active also in Rome, publishing there on his own account (‘nelle stamperia di Lorenzo Capponi presso il Palazzo di Firenze’) and in associa­tion with Fausto Amidei, Carlo Barbiellini, and Giovanni Bartolomicchio, until about 1773. Lorenzo Capponi’s last work may be his print of Cardinal Malvezzi’s catafalque, produced for a description of the funeral esequies published in 1776.⁴

These copies are known to the writer

● Bologna, Biblioteca Comunale dell’Archigin­nasio, Catalogo Frati-Sorbelli, 17 R I 41 and 17 Q I 5⁵ ● Einsiedeln, Stiftung Bibliothek Werner Oechslin, A10e; 297 ● Hannover, Technische Informationsbib­liothek und Universitätsbiblio­thek, gr 2 Haupt 1152 ● Rome, Bibliotheca Hertziana, E–BOL 67–3600 gr raro (lacking one plate: ‘Taf. 2 mit Porträt des Kardinals Malvezzi fehlt’).

A single print (the dedication to Malvezzi, written on an altarpiece supported by two an­gels bearing cardinalitial insignia; see Fig. 1) is recorded in the Gabinetto delle Stampe of the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna (Inv. C. 515).⁶

reference Luigi Frati, Opere della bibliografia Bolo­gnese che si conservano nella Biblioteca Municipale di Bologna (Bologna 1888), p.282 no. 2332

List of Prints

■ oval portrait within a frame lettered around Vincentius Cardi. | Malvetius Bono. Archi with his heraldic insignia below, signed Lorenzo Capponi del:, et sculp: | Presso allo stesso in Bologna (matrice 372 × 248 mm, sheet 510 × 375 mm)

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■ dedication (eighteen lines) to Cardinal Vincenzo Malvezzi, subscribed by Lorenzo Capponi, Bologna, 1 February 1760 (matrice 570 × 415 mm, sheet 510 × 760 mm) (see Fig. 1)

■ plan of the Cathedral (scales in ‘Piedi 54. di Bologna’ and ‘Palmi 84. Romani’), legend below Spiegazione de Siti indicati nella Pianta della Catte­drale di Bologna, la cui Capella maggiore, fatta a spese del Cardinale Gabriello Paleotti e disegno del Tibaldi. Il rimanente sino al quarto Altare proseguito dall’Arcivescovo Alfonso Paleotti, e idea del Padre Gio: Ambrogio Magenti, e il restante con che si compie la sudetta Cattedrale, fatto eseguire a pro­prie spese dalla Sovrana Munificenza dell’immortal Memoria Benedetto xiv con disegno e direzione di Alfonso d’Antonio Torreggiani Bolognesi with a thirty-five point key (matrice 725 × 465 mm, sheet 510 × 760 mm)

■ front elevation of the Cathedral (scales in ‘Piedi 60. di Bologna’ and ‘Palmi 100. Romani’), legends below Facciata della Cattedrale di S. Pietro di Bolo­gna and Flaminio Minozzi del. | L. Capponi sculp. (matrice 565 × 455 mm, sheet 510 × 760 mm)

■ section of the Cathedral (scales in ‘Piedi 40. di Bologna’ and ‘Palmi 60. Romani’), legends below Spaccato della Facciata di dentro, and F. Minozzi del. | Lorenzo Capponi s. (matrice 575 × 460 mm, sheet 510 × 760 mm) (see Fig. 4)

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■ section of the Cathedral (scales in ‘Piedi 40 di Bologna’ and ‘Palmi 60. Romani’), legends below Spaccato della parte dell’Altare Maggiore, della Cattedrale di S. Pietro di Bologna, and F. Minozzi del. | L. Capponi scul. (matrice 575 × 450 mm, sheet 510 × 760 mm) (see Fig. 2)

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■ section of the Cathedral (scales in ‘Piedi 40 di Bologna’ and ‘Palmi 60. Romani’), legends below Spaccato per il lungo della Cattedrale, di S. Pietro di Bologna, and Flaminio Minozzi del. | Lorenzo Capponi in. (matrice 465 × 700 mm, sheet 510 × 760 mm) (see Fig. 3)

■ eight epigraphs within the Cathedral, reproduced in two columns of letterpress, headed ‘Memorie che si leggono nella Cattedrale di Bologna’ (sheet 510 × 760 mm)

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