• Alessandro Specchi (architect)
• Francesco Faraone Aquila (etcher)
• Pope Benedict XIII (dedicatee)
• Fabrizio Colonna (patron)
• Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI (patron)

Etching of Specchi's design for the "prima macchina" of 1724

printed 1724

- This etching for a fireworks construction or macchina is built against the wall of a courtyard. The lower level of the macchina consists of a rocky cave containing mythological figures. The upper level is a small rotunda containing a statue of Victory surmounted by the Hapsburg double-headed eagle.

• record drawing

Etching

plate mark: 37.9 x 47.7 cm sheet: 42.2 x 51.9 cm

DR1988:0437:002

• line drawing

• pictorial drawing

• general view
• exterior view

- The sheet has several old folds and small repairs.

inscribed and dated - by an unknown hand, in the plate on the image, u.c.: "VIRTVTIS / AEDES"; below the image, l.l. to l.r.: "Prospetto in veduta della Prima Macchina rappresentante il Tempio della Virtù allusiua all'Eroiche Doti di S.M.C.C. fatta ergere per la Presentaz.[ion]e / della Chinea alla S.[an]ta di N[ost]ro S.[igno]re BENEDETTO XIII da S. Ecc.a il Sig.re Prencipe [sic] D. FABRIZIO COLONNA Gran Contestabile del Regno di / Napoli Ambasc.re Cesareo Straord.o, è fatta ardere con Fuochi di uago artifizio per lo spazio di un ora la Sera delli 8 Settembre 1724. / Alessandro Specchi Archi. invent. et delin. Francesco Aquila Sculp. con lic de Sup." dated and numbered - by an unknown hand, in graphite, on the print outside the plate mark, l.r.: "1724 / I"

• architecture temporaire

• fountain