Striking full color example of Rossi's scarce historical city plan of Rome at the height of the Roman Empire, based upon a plan by Giacomo Lauro in Rome.
The plan is a remarkable bird's-eye view looking across the Tiber River to the main portion of Rome. Filled with illustrations of buildings, coliseums, etc. The large plan is surrounded with text and 20 engraved views of historical events. Here, Rossi has signed the map, Jacobus de Rubeis, as he was also known.
Giacomo Lauro was an Italian painter, engraver, printer and antiquarian of the late Renaissance period, active mainly in his native Venice and Treviso. Lauro published his Antiquae urbis splendor, in four parts (1612, 1613, 1615, 1628). The Antiquae urbis splendor, was a significant departure from previous publications of sixteenth century Rome, as Lauro's brought the ruins of Rome to life.
Giacomo Giovanni Rossi (1627-1691) was an Italian engraver and printer. He worked in Rome, the heir to an important printing business founded by his father, Giuseppe de Rossi (1570-1639). Giuseppe began the press in 1633 and Giovanni and his brother, Giandomenico (1619-1653) took it over upon his death. The brothers expanded the business and by the mid-seventeenth century it was the best-known printing house in Rome.
For his maps, Giovanni worked with Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola. They produced the Atlas Mercurio Geografico. The first edition is undated, but the second was issued in 1692, a year after Giovanni’s death. The maps were by Cantelli. The firm also published maps based on those of Nicolas Sanson.
Later, the business passed to Lorenzo Filippo (1682-?). By 1738, the firm was known as Calcografia Camerale, then, from 1870 to 1945, as the Regia Calcografica. Today, the firm is still in business and is called Calcografia Nazionale. It operates as a free museum and offers one of the best collections of prints and plates in the world.