Dr Emil Braun’s Panorama von Rom. Aufgenommen vom Casino der Villa Ludoviso und in Kupfer gestochen von Carl Sprosse. Neun Folioplatten und Titelvignette
- Subjects
- Italy - Description and travel
- Prints - Artists, German - Sprosse (Carl Ferdinand), 1819-1874
- Topographical books and prints - Italy - Rome
- Authors/Creators
- Braun, August Emil, 1809-1856
- Artists/Illustrators
- Sprosse, Carl Ferdinand, 1819-1874
- Printers/Publishers
- Wigand, Georg, active 1829-1858
Braun, August Emil
Gotha 1809 – 1856 Rome
Dr. Emil Braun’s Panorama von Rom. Aufgenommen vom Casino der Villa Ludoviso und in Kupfer gestochen von Carl Sprosse. Neun Folioplatten und Titelvignette.
Leipzig, Georg Wigand, 1851
oblong folio (650 × 856 mm), (19) ff., comprising: (folio 1) title as transcribed above, with an engraved view, signed by Sprosse and dated 1847, printed on china paper and mounted; (2–10) panoramic view in nine segments, of which two signed by Sprosse and dated respectively 1847 and June 1847, another signed by him and dated June 1848, printed on india paper (each 545 × 785 mm) and mounted; (11–19) outline of the panorama, on nine numbered lithographed plates (290 × 450 mm), captioned upper left Panorama di Roma with below a numbered key identifying the principal sights depicted (no. 3 signed E. Pistrucci Lith. 18, Newman St. [London]).
In faultless state of preservation.
bound original grey wrapper with label on upper cover (210 × 260 mm, printed with same text as title-page).
An extraordinary, seven-metre long panorama of Rome, widely regarded as the finest of all panoramas dedicated to the city.1 The viewpoint is in the Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi, in Porta Pinciana, outside the city walls, and the principal subjects of each of the nine panels are the Villa Medici (panel 1), Villa Borghese (2–3), Monte Gennaro (4), Villa Ludovisi (5), Palazzo Barberini (6), Quirinale (7), Villa Malta (8), S. Pietro (9).
(pl. 9: 545 × 785 mm, sheet 650 × 856 mm)
The engraver, Carl Ferdinand Sprosse (1819–1874), was trained in the Academy in Leipzig, and worked as an architectural draughtsman for several publishers, before his arrival in Rome in March 1844. According to a report appearing ‘on the eve of publication’, he executed the drawings ‘during a period of three months, and another year was spent etching them upon copper’.2 The work was published under the auspices of Emil Braun, first secretary of the Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica in Rome (1840–1856), a prolific scholar – he was the first to publish a major monument of Greek ceramics, the huge vase discovered in 1844 by Alessandro François at Fonte Rotella near Chiusi (now Museo archeologico nazionale di Firenze) – and dealer in antiquities.3
The panorama undoubtedly was issued in Rome, however no set of the prints accompanied by an Italian title-page is known. Besides this Leipzig edition, one was published in London, with its letterpress title-page reading Dr. Emile Braun’s | Panoramic View | of | Rome. | From the Summit of the | Casino of the Villa Ludoviso. | Nine Folio Plates and Vignette Title. | London: | Published for the Author, | by Thomas McClean, 26 Haymarket | [1850].4
The Leipzig and London editions were accompanied by smaller lithographic key plates, identifying the sights depicted. One of these plates (pl. 3) carries the name and address of the London lithographic printer E. Pistrucci.5
These copies are known to the writer
● Berlin, Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Kunstbibliothek, OS 27506 ● Cambridge, University Library, Tab.a.19 ● Città di Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica, Gabinetto delle Stampe, Stampe. II. 175 / 1–297 ● Göttingen, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, GR 2 H ITAL I, 324/31 ● Munich, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Inv.-Nr. 2002:15 d8 ● Rome, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele9 ● Rome, Museo di Roma, Gabinetto comunale delle stampe, GS 697010 ● Rome, Paolo Antonacci Antichità11 ● Rome, Biblioteca di archeologia e storia dell’arte, Fondo Lanciani, Rome XI, 19, 1–7 (incomplete)12 ● Unlocated (ex-Sotheby’s 1981)13
references Charles Le Blanc, Manuel de l’amateur d’estampes (Paris 1850), iii, p.578 no. 7; Wilhelm Engelmann, Bibliotheca geographica. Verzeichniss der seit der Mitte des vorigen Jahrhunderts bis zu Ende des Jahres 1856 in Deutschland erschienenen Werke über Geographie und Reisen (Leipzig 1857), p.844; Andreas Andresen, Die deutschen Maler-Radirer des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (Leipzig 1866), I, p.83 no. 7: ‘Die besseren Abdrucke dieses schönen, in Deutschland wenig bekannten Panorama’s sind auf chinesischem Papier’
1. Domenico Gnoli, in Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele (Rome), Mostra di topografia romana ordinata in occasione del Congresso storico inaugurato in Roma li 2 aprile del 1903 (Rome 1903), p.20: ‘Il più grande panorama circolare o ciclorama, di bellissima esecuzione’; Maria Elisa Tittoni, in Roma, La magnifica visione: vedute panoramiche del xviii e xix secolo dalle collezioni del Museo di Roma, catalogue of an exhibition, Museo di Roma, 15 November 2008–19 April 2009 (Rome 2008), p.11: ‘Senza dubbio, però, la più imponente per le straordinarie dimensioni e per la fedeltà della rappresentazione è l’incisione all’acquaforte da otto matrici del Panorama di Roma di Carl Ferdinand Sprosse realizzata fra il 1846 e il 1847’.
2. The Roman Advertiser. Journal of Italian Intelligence, Science, Literature, Fine Arts &c, no. 82, 4 November 1846, pp.234–235, noting ‘The plates may be seen at the apartments of Dr. Braun at N. 131 Via di Monte Caprino, near the Capitol’.
3. For a discussion of some ceramics supplied by Braun, see Wiebke Fastenrath Vinattieri, Der Archäologe Emil Braun als Kunstagent für den Freiherrn Bernhard August von Lindenau, catalogue of an exhibition, Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg, 12 June–12 September 2004 (Altenburg 2004).
4. Title-page reproduced in Roma, La magnifica visione, op. cit., p.21. The English edition was advertised by the bookseller Charles Muquardt of Brussels in his ‘Monthly list of all New Books published in Great Britain’, new series, volume 85, 1 October 1849, ‘Annuals, Illustrated Works, and Books of Importance, for 1850’: ‘14. Dr. Emil Braun’s Panorama of Rome. Nine large Folio Sheets, and Vignette Title. Proofs, on India Paper (the Set) [£]6 6[shillings] 0[pence] Prints ([the set]) [£]8 3[shillings] 0[pence]’.
5. Michael Twyman, ‘A Directory of London Lithographic Printers 1800–1850’ in Journal of the Printing Historical Society 10 (1974–1975), p.44.
6. Katalog der Ornamentstichsammlung der Staatlichen Kunstbibliothek, Berlin (Berlin & Leipzig 1939), no. 2750; local opac ‘Neukauf, Katalog-Nr. OS 2750m’.
7. ‘Le stampe sono sciolte e senza frontespizio’ (Library’s opac). From the collection of Thomas Ashby.
8. An incomplete set, presented by Dr Claus Regnault, Munich; see ‘Berichte der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen’ in Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst 56 (2005), pp.235–236.
9. Mostra di topografia romana, op. cit., p.20 no. 36.
10. Exhibited Roma, La magnifica visione, op. cit., pp.13 (donated by the Amici dei Musei, 1963), pp.21–24 (reproduced), 46 no. 5 (London issue by Thomas M’Lean).
11. Exhibited Roma veduta: Disegni e stampe panoramiche della città dal xv al xix secolo, catalogue of an exhibition, Palazzo Poli, 30 September 2000–28 January 2001, edited by Mario Gori Sassoli (Rome 2000), pp.226–228 no. 70: ‘Il particolare formato dell’incisione, che si sviluppa per una lunghezza superiore ai quattro metri, ha portato alla conservazione di esemplari non completi montati però in modo da mascherare la mancanza di una o più tavole o frammenti di tavola’.
12. Cited Roma veduta, op. cit., p.228.
13. Sotheby’s, ‘Catalogue of Decorative and British Prints’, London, 19 June 1981, lot 292a (lacking title, and some key plates).