Rome, Piazza Augusto Imperatore, 2x Mausoleum of August Giacomo Lauro, 1625, Mausolaeum Augusti

Two view of the famous Mausoleum of Emperor August as it was in Antiquity and then the ruins as they could be seen in the 16th/17th century.

The Mausoleum of Augustus is a large circular tomb built by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 28 BC on the Campus Martius, surrounded by a park and ustrinum (place of the pyre). It is located on the Piazza Augusto Imperatore, near the corner with Via di Ripetta as it runs along the Tiber. It was one of the first building projects taken on by Augustus after the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. The Mausoleum contained the remains of a number of family members. The tomb, the biggest seen in Rome at the time, was influenced by that of Alexander the Great in Egypt.

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. Strong paper. Ample margins.

Images 18x23cm, pages 22x32cm