This exhibition explores the multiplicity of views of Rome that appear in prints produced from the 16th to the 18th century.  Artists such as Giovanni Battista Piranesi captured the shifting balance between ancient and modern that defined the Eternal City as it went through three centuries of extensive changes. The transformation culminated in the redesigned early modern city so magnificently rendered by Giambattista Nolli in his 1748 map of Rome, also on view. The prints in this show examine a wide range of themes including burgeoning popular antiquarianism, the monumental construction projects sponsored by various popes, and the influence that the Grand Tourists who flocked to Italy from across the globe had on the art market.

Visit the University of Oregon’s website that presents the Nolli map of Rome as a dynamic, interactive, hands-on tool.

Imago Urbis: Giuseppe Vasi’s Grand Tour of Rome
Antoine Lafrery’s Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae