Two Presumed Drafts for Engravings Belonging to Antonio Lafrery's "Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae"

Abstract

The writer identifies two drawings of funeral monuments in the University Library of Ghent as drafts for engravings belonging to Antonio Lafrery's Speculum Romanae magnificentiae. The drawings, by an anonymous artist, undoubtedly originally belonged to a drawing book and represent the mausoleum of Ceacilia Metella and of Publius Vibius, both in Rome. Research into the iconography of the monuments represented shows that there is a close relationship between the anonymous drawings and two engravings from the press of Antonio Lafrery, a FrancComtois who earned a reputation for his many views of the Roman architectural heritage, finally collected in the famous Speculum Romanae magnificentiae. The writer argues that the drawings of the anonymous artist are in fact drafts presented to, or made for, Lafrery, and he suggests that the artist was the young Hendrik van Schoel, sr., which would date the drawings to around 1549.