Main entry:

Barbault, Jean, approximately 1705-1766, artist.

Title & Author:

Les plus beaux edifices de Rome moderne, ou, Recueil des plus belles vues des principales églises, places, palais, fontaines, &c. qui son dans Rome / dessinées par Jean Barbault, peintre, ancien pensionnaire du roy a Rome, et gravées en XLIV grandes planches et plusiers vignettes par d'habiles maitres ; avec la description historique de chaque edificie.

Publication:

A Rome : Chez Bouchard & Gravier Libraire françois ... de l'Imprimerie de Komarek, MDCCLXIII [1763]

Description:

[vi], [2], 72 pages, [44] double leaves of plates : illustrations (engravings) ; 54 cm (folio)

Notes:
Half-title: Edifices de Rome moderne.
Signatures: pi3 A-Z1 Aa-Nn1.
Following the death of Giovanni Giacomo Komarek in 1706, the printing house was run by his wife and children, and from 1762-1766, by his nephew, Francesco Bizzarini; see Alberto Tinto, "Giovanni Komarek tipografo a Roma nei secoli 17-18 e i suoi campionari di caratteri." La Bibliofilia 75 (1973): 189-225; and the entry for the Komarek family on the Brown University website "The Theater that was Rome" https://library.brown.edu/projects/rome/people/0202/
The French artist Jean Barbault arrived in Rome in 1747 and quickly became involved with the circle of Piranesi with whom he worked on the "Varie vedute di Roma antica e moderna," and for whose "Antichità romane" he contributed figures for 14 plates. Barbault's own views of the ancient city appeared seven years after his collaboration with Piranesi; the present work on "Rome moderne" appeared two years later, the year that Barbault died. The success of Barbault's views was largely due to the great fashion for large Roman views created by Piranesi's publications. Questions of plagiarism and influence surround the relationship of the two artists, since not only were they collaborators and rivals, but in Giovanni Bouchard they briefly shared a publisher as well.
Not in: Fowler architectural collection of the Johns Hopkins University.
Brunet, J.-C. Manuel du libraire et de l'amateur de livres (5e éd.), volume 1, column 646
Grässe, J.G.T. Trésor de livres rares et précieux, volume 1, page 289
Katalog der Ornamentstichsammlung der Staatlichen Kunstbibliothek, Berlin, 2712
National Gallery of Art (U.S.). Mark J. Millard architectural collection, IV, no. 14
In French and Italian.

Summary:

Album of 44 double-page etched and engraved plates of Renaissance and Baroque Roman architecture, drawn by Jean Barbault, and engraved by Domenico Montagù, Freicenet, and Etienne Giraud. According to the description in the Mark J. Millard architectural collection catalog (volume IV, pages 42-43): "The work is organized by building type: basilicas (starting with St. Peter's, then San Giovanni in Laterano); churches of the large orders (Gesù, Sant'Andrea della Valle); the two circular religious buildings inherited from antiquity (Santa Costanza and the Pantheon); an even longer section on palaces, fountains, and bridges; and a long section on piazzas. In the views of "modern Rome" Barbault is, inevitably, close to Piranesi's contemporary views. The plates are accompanied by extensive descriptive entries in French. These offer a brief history of each building, including discussion of the founder, the construction sequence, and the artists involved in making the decorations. The text, though separate from the plates, is ornamented with tail-pieces which illustrate additional sites in Rome."

Subject:

Buildings Italy Rome.
Architecture, Roman Italy Rome Early works to 1800.
Architecture Italy Rome Early works to 1800.
Monuments Italy Rome.
Constructions Italie Rome.
Architecture romaine Italie Rome Ouvrages avant 1800.
Monuments Italie Rome.
Architecture Italie Rome Ouvrages avant 1800.
Architecture
Architecture, Roman
Buildings
Monuments
Travel
Rome (Italy) Description and travel.
Rome (Italy) Buildings.
Rome (Italy) Pictorial works.
Rome (Italie) Descriptions et voyages.
Italy Rome

Form/genre:

Early works
Illustrated works

Added entries:

Bouchard, Giovanni, bookseller,.
Gravier, Jean, 1727?-1776, bookseller.
Bizzarini, Francesco, active 1762-1766, printer.
Freicenet, active 18th century, engraver.
Giraud, Etienne, active 18th century, engraver.
Montaigu, Domenico, active 18th century, engraver.
Edifices de Rome moderne.
Recueil des plus belles vues des principales églises, places, palais, fontaines, &c. qui sont dans Rome.

Recueil des plus belles vues des principales églises, places, palais, fontaines, &c. qui son dans Rome
Edifices de Rome moderne

Holdings:

Location: Library main m 8482
Call No.: M3111 GF371; ID:85-B5388
Status: Available