Italy, Rome, Amphitheater, Campus Martius, 2 views Giacomo Lauro, 1625, Vestigia Amphitheatri Statilii Tauri / Amphitheatrum Tauri Statilii ad Templum S. Crucis in Hierusalem

Two view of the famous Amphitheater of Statilius Taurus.
One view is as it was in Antiquity and the other one shows the ruins as they were in the 16th/17th Century. This was one of the earliest Amphitheaters and was built before the Colosseum.

The amphitheater was built on the Campus Martius in Rome in a period when many new temples and theaters were being built. The exact location is lost, but it was probably built in the southern area of the Campus Martius. Within a 50-year span, this area saw the construction of the Theater of Pompey, the Theater of Marcellus, and the Theater of Balbus, along with the Amphitheater of Statilius Taurus.

It was not a large amphitheater. Dissatisfaction over the Amphitheater of Statilius Taurus led Nero, in 57 AD, to build a new wooden amphitheater, the Amphitheater of Nero. After the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, both amphitheaters became ruins.

In 72 AD, Vespasian built a new, much larger stone amphitheater in Rome. This was the Amphitheatrum Flavium, today known as the Colosseum.

The engravings are taken from ´Splendore dell antica e moderna Roma ...´, published in Rome in 1624 (first edition started being published in parts from 1612 onwards). The view is explained in Latin text below the engraving.

Giacomo Lauro (or Jacobus Laurus) was an engraver, printer and print publisher. Active in Rome from 1583, when described as 'intagliatori di rame' (Ashby p.362). 17 March 1598 he applied for and was granted a 10-year papal privilege for an unspecified number of unnamed religious prints (Leuschner). Giacomo Lauro’s place and date of birth are unknown, although his signature “Jacobus Laurus Romanus” seems to indicate that the artist was proudly born Roman.

Lauro's earliest dated prints are of 1582 (Martyrdom of St Catherine), and carry the address of C. Duchetti (Ashby, 1926-27, p.362). He also worked for Panzera, c.1589 (Bertolotti). From 1590 he tried to establish himself as a publisher of his own work . He acquired and restored old plates, published copies of classic prints as Marcantonio's St Paul preaching (B.XIV.50.44). He accepted commissions, as the map of Rocca Contrada, 1594 (Anselmi). He probably acquired plates from Jacob Matham which he published in 1598 (Widerkehr). His 'Antiquae Urbis Splendor' was published in parts from 1612. In the volumes issued in 1614 and 1615 Lauro refers to having worked on the study of antiquity for 28 years which would mean that he began this work about 1586 (see Ashby, 1926-27, p.362).

Excellent. Never folded. Strong paper. Ample margins.

Images 18x23cm, pages 22x32cm