Dall'abisso de gl'anni augure di porpore, THE ART OF ROME A RARE WORK BY AN HARDLY KNOWN ARTIST

ICCIONIUS, Matheius. Dall'abisso de gl'anni augure di porpore, e corone sorgendo l'eternità, con vaga geometria misuri le glorie non meno d'in/0niti Heroi . [Roma] : Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi, [around 1650], 21 engravings. Matteo Piccioni was an Italian painter and engraver born around 1615 in Ancona, Italy, and he passed away in 1671. He was active in Rome, where he became known for his religious-themed paintings and engravings. In 1655, Piccioni was elected as an academician at the prestigious Accademia di San Luca in Rome, reABecting his recognition within the artistic community. The engravings in Matteo Piccioni's "Dall'abisso de gl'anni augure di porpore, e corone." (circa 1650) are based on bas- reliefs from the Arch of Constantine in Rome. This monumental arch, built in the early 4th century CE to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312 CE), is adorned with a mix of original sculptures and spolia repurposed reliefs from earlier monuments. This suite of 21 PLATES is exceedingly rare (a word we do not use lightly), one copy in Eton Library, two copies in Germany, one copy in Rome. No copy found in the US (Princeton, Yale, Harvard, NYPL, LOC) independently checked. Complete. BOUND WITH ERRIER (François): Ill[ustrissi]mo D.D. Rogerio Duplesseis d[omi]no de Lioncourt Marchioni de Montfort, comiti de la Rochegvion, e[t] [ceter]a, utriusque ordinis christianissimæ maiestatis equiti regiis a cubiculis primario : Heroi virtutum et magnarum artium eximio cultori. Auorum pace belloque præstantium et ævi melioris decora referenti; Segmenta nobilium signorum e[t] statuarii, quæ temporis dentem inuidium euasere Urbis æternæ ruinis erepta typis æneis ab se commissa perptuæ uenerationis monumentum [Rome], 1638. In folio (430 x 275 mm), actual prints (180 x 220 mm), some variations in size) calf, ornate ribbed spine, (period binding). MagniHIcent suite of 100 plates of Roman antiques, with one folded plate.…