#21-957-295 #40
The full title of the book is: “Les Edifices Antiques De Rome Dessinés Et Mesurés Tres Exactement Par Antoine Desgodetz Architecte” and means approximately the same as “The ancient buildings of Rome drawn and very accurately measured by Antoine Desgodetz architect”. It was published in Paris and edited by “Chez Jean Baptiste Coignard imprimeur du roy ruë St Jacques a la bible d’or”. The book is illustrated and contains many very fine ink drawings, either full or double sided. Each illustration bears a Roman numeral to match the respective monuments and is numbered consecutively with the text. The book is very large, about 41-44 cm, and has a leather cover made of calfskin. The spine has gold embossing. In the context of the book, it could emphasize the magnificence of the buildings, by which the author must have been fascinated. Also, the size of the book thus does justice to the level of detail in the drawings. The way the book is laid out suggests that the book is aimed at the educated class and was possibly intended to serve as a building manual for the builders or construction managers of the time. The language of the book is French. The author of the book Antoine Desgodets lived from 1653 to 1728 and was an architect during his lifetime. He wrote about the ancient architecture in Rome in Italy from the 17th century. His book was for a long time the most accurate record of ancient Rome. From 1674-76 Antoine Desgodetz had submitted the drawings to the Académie Royale in Paris, but they were not approved until 1694. Antoine Desgodetz pointed out the differences between the Vitruvian theory and the actual remains, as well as the inaccuracies of the measurements given by Palladio, Labacco, Serlio, Fréart de Chambray and François Blondel. Consequently, he points out many important buildings of his time. These are, for example, the ‘Temple de Vesta’, the Pantheon, the Arch of Titus or the Arch of Septimus, and the amphitheater with the name of the time “Colisée”. In general, the monuments are mainly Roman temples, triumphal arches, monuments, amphitheaters, baths and public buildings in Rome.