A Changing Perspective on the Eternal City Revealed
Blaeu’s Admiranda Urbis Romae (1663) Compared to Later Editions of the Town Atlas of Rome
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A comparison of Blaeu’s Admiranda Urbis Romae (1663) with later editions of the town atlas of Rome, published by Mortier (1704-05) and Alberts (1724), reveals a changing social perspective on Rome and its cultural heritage. Most remarkable is the increasing amount of attention dedicated to contemporary Rome by successive publishers of the town atlas. Even if the ancient monuments of the Eternal City continue to serve as a main focal point, they are treated from a changing angle, placing more and more emphasis on their surroundings and contemporary state. Furthermore, the public place that is still the centre of Rome’s public sphere, the piazza, starts to appear, indicating a growing interest in the city’s cultural life as it was emerging in the early eighteenth century. The observed development is analogous to the changing attitudes of subsequent generations of Grand Tourists, who seem more and more interested in the modern state of monuments and their cultural environment. Parallels on a broader, social scale are visible within the context of the Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns, the artistic and literary debate that raged predominantly in England and France from the 1690s onwards. While the Ancients believed that only classical literature, science and arts offered models for excellence, the Moderns questioned the supremacy of classical civilization, attempting to assert the independence of modern culture from the heritage of Roman and Greek authorities.
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5
H.Th. van Veen, ‘A Tuscan Plan of Action for Joan Blaeu’s Book of Italian Cities’, Lias, 18 (1991), p. 223.
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8
Van Veen, art. cit. (n. 5), p. 223.
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9
H. de la Fontaine Verwey, ‘Dr. Joan Blaeu and his sons’, Quaerendo, 11 (1981), p. 17.
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12
Van der Krogt, op. cit. (n. 2), p. 373.
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15
In Van der Krogt, op. cit. (n. 2), p. 373, it was stated that numbers 23 and 24, broadsheets, were also taken from Fontana; they do not, however, appear in his Della trasportatione dell’obelisco vaticano (1590). This particular depiction was drawn – after Fontana’s original – by Giovanni Guerra (c.1540-1618), etched by Natale Bonifacio da Sebenico (1538-92) and published in 1586 by Bartolomeo Grassi (c.1553-95) in Rome. Cfr. D. Fontana, Della trasportatione dell’obelisco vaticano et delle fabriche di Nostro Signore papa Sisto v, fatte dal cavallier Domenico Fontana architetto di Sua Santità. Libro primo (Rome 1590), pp. 8-76; <http://www.georgeglazer.com/archives/prints/arch/stpetoblsk.html> (20 January 2015).
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18
De la Fontaine Verwey, art. cit. (n. 9), p. 5.
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29
Van der Krogt, op. cit. (n. 2), p. 366.
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A Changing Perspective on the Eternal City Revealed
Blaeu’s Admiranda Urbis Romae (1663) Compared to Later Editions of the Town Atlas of Rome
In: QuaerendoSearch for other papers by Gloria Moorman in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
A comparison of Blaeu’s Admiranda Urbis Romae (1663) with later editions of the town atlas of Rome, published by Mortier (1704-05) and Alberts (1724), reveals a changing social perspective on Rome and its cultural heritage. Most remarkable is the increasing amount of attention dedicated to contemporary Rome by successive publishers of the town atlas. Even if the ancient monuments of the Eternal City continue to serve as a main focal point, they are treated from a changing angle, placing more and more emphasis on their surroundings and contemporary state. Furthermore, the public place that is still the centre of Rome’s public sphere, the piazza, starts to appear, indicating a growing interest in the city’s cultural life as it was emerging in the early eighteenth century. The observed development is analogous to the changing attitudes of subsequent generations of Grand Tourists, who seem more and more interested in the modern state of monuments and their cultural environment. Parallels on a broader, social scale are visible within the context of the Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns, the artistic and literary debate that raged predominantly in England and France from the 1690s onwards. While the Ancients believed that only classical literature, science and arts offered models for excellence, the Moderns questioned the supremacy of classical civilization, attempting to assert the independence of modern culture from the heritage of Roman and Greek authorities.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 268 | 33 | 3 |
| Full Text Views | 180 | 6 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 29 | 6 | 0 |