Author: FONTANA (Carlo):
Title: Templum Vaticanum et Ipsius Origo Cum AEdificiis maxime conspicuis antiquitus, & recens ibidem constitutis; Editum ab equite Carolo Fontana Deputato ejusdem Templi Ministro, atque Architecto. Cum Indice Rerum notabilium ad calcem locupletissimo. Opus in Septem Libros Distributum, Latinisque literis consignatum a Joanne Jos. Bonnerue de S. Romain. Et dicatum Eminentissimus, ac Reverendisumus Dominus Cardinalibus Sacrae Congregationi R. Fabricae Divi Petrie Deputatis.
Description: Romae, Ex Typographia Jo: Francisci Buagni, 1694. 2 volumes. Large folio, 427 x 308 mms., pp. [xxxii], 489, [28] with continuous pagination through both volumes, but with errors in pagination, e. g., pages 205-206 and 343-344 repeated in the numbering.and plates sometimes included, collating [a]² p² b6 c-d4 A-2B4 2C6 2D² 2E-3A4 3B6 3C-3F4 3G1 3H1 3I1 3K1 3L-3V4 3X6, 79 plates, many folding, bound in later18th century calf, black morocco labels; spines wormed and tender, but holding firm. A reasonable set, with spectacular plates and complete. The Italian architect Carlo Fontana (1634 or 1638–1714) "mainly worked in Rome, assisted by his nephews Girolamo and Francesco Fontana (1668–1708), but he sent a model for the cathedral of Fulda, and others to Vienna for the royal stables. Among his other foreign works were the designs for a Jesuit complex in Azpeitia, Spain, in the village of Loyola where Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order was born. This grandiose basilica was a major influence upon baroque architecture of the New World. Fontana was an able artist and a good designer, but lacked the innovation that characterized early Baroque architects like Cortona and Borromini. In addition, he was more successful as an architect than as a writer. By order of Innocent XI he wrote a diffuse historical description of the Templum Vaticanum (1694), which included his project for completing St. Peter's. In this work Fontana advised the demolition of that dense nest of medieval houses called La Spina which formed a sort of island from Ponte Sant' Angelo to the piazza of St. Peter's; the project was completed under Mussolini, creating the Via della Conciliazione. Fontana made a calculation of the whole expense of St. Peter's from the beginning to 1694, which amounted to 46,800,052 crowns, without including models. He also published works on the Colosseum; the Aqueducts; the inundation of the Tiber, etc. Furthermore, twenty seven manuscript volumes of his writings and sketches are preserved in the Royal Library at Windsor" (Wikipedia)

Keywords: architecture illustration prose


See more books from our catalog: Architecture