A prospect of the city of Rome from Janiculum. Etching by G. Vasi and G. Piranesi, 1765.

Along the bottom, a wall on which is engraved a key to the buildings numbering 390 items divided into eight days (Indice delle cose notabili diviso in otto giornate). Centre of the wall: coat of arms with supporters in the form of allegorical figures of Rome (with fasces) and Peace (with olive branch). Along the coping of the wall, a quotation from Martial: "Hinc septem dominos videre montes et totam licet aestimare Romam. M. Val. Mart. lib. 4 epig 64." (From here one may see the seven lordly peaks and take in the size of the whole of Rome)

"In 1765, Vasi published his famous panorama of Rome taken from the Janiculum hill in the casino of the garden of the Villa Corsini at the center of the print and nearly on the center of view of the entire print. This work, titled Prospetto di Città Roma visto dal Monte Gianicolo, shows a panoramic view of Rome looking northeast. It extends from St. Peter's Basilica (left) to the Fonte dell'Acqua Paola (right). Along the winding course of the Tiber, moving from left to right, one can see the Porto di Ripetta, Castel and Ponte S. Angelo, the Ponte Sisto (just to the south of Palazzo Farnese) followed by the Tiber Island. Domes ride like sails over the citys dense fabric and include all the major churches including the flattened dome of the Pantheon at the precise center of the view. Moving to the distant landscape Vasi shows a grand sweep of hills and mountains including Monte Mario, Monte Soratte, and the Alban Hills. The towns of Caprarola (actually impossible to see from this vantage point), Tivoli, Palestrina, and Grotta Ferrata dot the hillsides. Vasi portrays himself in the near left foreground behind an unlikely fisherman where he is contentedly sketching the scene. At the very bottom of the panels, Vasi lists 390 sites and monuments. He uses the same numbering system here as he used in his guidebook, Itinerario istruttivo diviso in otto giornate per ritrovare con facilità tutte le antiche e moderne magnificenze di Roma, published two years earlier."--Imago Urbis: Giuseppe Vasi's Grand Tour of Rome, University of Oregon website (accessed 26 January 2010)

1765.

1 print (12 sheets) : etchings ; platemark of ensemble approximately 101.2 x 259.5 cm

Prospetto dell' alma città di Roma visto dal Monte Gianicolo e sotto gli auspici della Sac. Maestà Cattol. di Carlo III Re delle Spagne pio giusto magnifico promotore eccelso delle scienze e belle arti disegnato e inciso e dedicato alla Maestà Sua da Giuseppe Vasi Conte pal. Cav. dell'Aula Lateran. nell'anno MDCCLXV. Etched trompe l'oeil tablet, lower left, represented as an overgrown ruin, bears lettering giving subject as "Prospect of the metropolis of Rome as seen from Janiculum", dedicated to King Charles III of Spain, and as drawn and engraved by Giuseppe Vasi, 1765.

According to Wilton-Ely, loc. cit., following Bier, Piranesi is likely to have designed and etched the prints forming the upper register of this work, and Vasi those of the lower register

John Wilton-Ely, Piranesi, London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1978, p. 34, no. 65

Wellcome Collection 16063i