Il Museo Pio-Clementino Descritto Da Giambattista Visconti Prefetto Delle Antichita Di Roma Tomo Primo (- Sesto) Dedicato Alla Santita Di Nostro Signore Pio Sesto Pontefice Massimo (Tomo Settimo Dedicato Alla Santità Di Nostro Signore Pio Settimo Pontefice Massimo)
Statue del Museo Pio-Clementino
Bassirilievi Del Museo Pio-Clementino Tomo Quarto
Busti Del Museo Pio-Clementino
Miscellanea Del Museo Pio-Clementino
Imprint
Da Ludovico Mirri Mercante Di Quadri Incontro Il Palazzo Bernini, In Roma: MDCCLXXXII (- MDCCCVII) Con Privilegio Pontificio
Physical Description
7 vols. ; 621 mm. (Folio.)
General Note
Vol. I: [ii], x, 102 p., dedic. pl. (port.), fold. plan, 52 [i.e. 54], [2] pl. There is an unnumbered pl. after pl. 10 and one after pl. 15. The final two plates are lettered A, B. - Vol. II: [ii], x, 112 p., dedic. pl. (port.), frontis., 52 [i.e. 53], [2] pl. There is an unnumbered pl. after pl. 34. The final two pl. are lettered A, B. - Vol. III: [ii], x, 83, [1] p., engr. dedic. pl. (port.), frontis., 50, [3] pl. The final three pl. are lettered A-C. - Vol. IV: [ii], xii, 107, [1] p., engr. dedic. pl. (port.), frontis., 45 [i.e. 47], [2] pl. There are bis pl. 29, 36. The final two pl. are lettered A, B. - Vol. V: [ii], viii, 90 p., engr. dedic. (port.), 45, [3] pl. The final three pl. are lettered A-C. - Vol. VI: [ii], xiv, 94 p., engr. dedic. (port.), 61, [2] pl.: [1] illus. The illus. is a printed inscription. - Vol. VII: [ii], vi, 108 p., engr. dedic. (port.), 50 [i.e. 51], [2] pl. Page 'vi' is misnumbered 'iv'. There is a bis pl. 43. The final two plates are lettered A, B.
Contents
Vol. I: [Half-title, t.p.] - [Engr. dedic. pl. (port.)] - [Dedic.] - Prefazione - Imprimatur; Approvazioni - [Fold. plan] - Statue Del Museo Pio Clementino Tavole I(-LII) - Addizioni E Correzioni - Indicazione De' Monumenti Citati Nel Corso Delle Illustrazioni E rappresentati nelle due Tavole A, e B - Indice Delle Cose Più Notabili; [colophon] - [Plates I-LII, A, B]. - Vol. II: [Half-title, t.p., dedic. pl. (port.), dedic.] - Prefazione - Errori Correzioni - Imprimatur; Approvazioni - [Frontis.] - Statue Del Museo Pio-Clementino Tavola I(-LII); Addizioni E Correzioni - Indicazione De' Monumenti Citati ... E rappresentati nelle due Tavole A, e B - Indice Delle Cose ...; [colophon] - [Plates]. - Vol. III: [Half-title, t.p., engr. dedic. pl. (port.), dedic.] - Prefazione; Errori Correzioni - Imprimatur; Approvazioni - [Frontis.] - Statue Del Museo Pio-Clementino Tavole I(-L); Addizioni E Correzioni - Indicazione De' Monumenti Citati ... E rappresentati nelle seguenti Tavole. Tavola A(-C) - Indice Delle Cose ...; [colophon] - [Plates]. - Vol. IV: [Half-t., t.p., engr. dedic. (port.), dedic.] - Prefazione - Imprimatur; Approvazioni - [Frontis.] - Bassirilievi Del Museo Pio-Clementino Tavola I(-XLV); Addizioni E Correzioni - Indicazione De' Monumenti Citati ... E Rappresentati nell due Tavole A, e B - Indice Delle Cose ... - [Colophon] - [Plates]. - Vol. V: [Half-t., t.p., engr. dedic. (port.), dedic.] - Prefazione - Imprimatur; Approvazioni - Bassireilievi Del Museo Pio-Cementino. Tavola I(-XLV); Addizioni E Correzioni - Indicazione De' Vari Monumenti Citati ... E rappresentati nelle tre Tavole annesse A, B, e C - Indice Delle Cose ...; [colophon] - [Plates]. - Vol. VI: [Half-t., t.p., engr. dedic. (port.), dedic.] - Prefazione - Errori Correzioni - Imprimatur; Approvazioni - Busti Del Museo Pio-Clementino Tavola I(-LXI); Addizioni E Correzioni - Indicazione De' Monumenti Citati ... E rappresentati nelle due Tavole seguenti A, e B - Indice Delle Cose ...; [colophon] - [Plates]. - Vol. VII: [Half-t., engr. dedic. (port.), t.p., dedic.] - Prefazione; Imprimatur, Approvazioni - Miscellanea Del Museo Pio-Clementino Tavola I(-L); Addizioni E Correzioni - Indicazione De' Monumenti Citati ... E rappresentati nelle due Tavole A, e B - Osservazioni Sul Primo (-Terzo) Volume Del Museo Pio-Clementino - Indice Delle Cose ... - [Plates].
Responsibility Note
The dedication portrait of Pius VI in Volumes I-VI is signed as engraved by Alexan. Mochetti; that of Pius VII in Vol. VII is signed as painted by G.B. Wicar, drawn by L. Agricola and engraved by P. Fontana. The general plan of the Museum printed in Volume I is signed as by Michel Angelo Simonetti Architetto and engraved by M. Carloni. The frontispiece of Volume II is signed as drawn by Vinc. Dolcibene and Leandro Ricci and engraved by Gius. Perini and Do. Pronti; that of Vol. III, as drawn by Pietro Felix and engraved by A. Mochetti; that of Vol. IV, as designed by Micchlo. Simonetti, drawn by Leandro Ricci and engraved by Ludovico Filiciani. All other numbered and lettered plates in Volumes I-VI are signed by draughtsmen and engravers. The draughtsmen were Vincenzo Pacetti, Ricciolini, F. Smugliewicz, M. Carloni, T. Matteini, V. Dolcibene, Stefano Tofanelli, Camporesi, L. Rocchegiani, Camoncini, Steph. Piale, Leandro Ricci, L. Corazzari, A. Cecchi, L. Agricola, Franc. Staccoli, Ant. Corsi, Agos. Tofanelli, Franc. Eustachi, G.B. Torisi, D. Del Frate, Arc. Migliarini, F. Giangiacomo, F. Pistrucci, Ferd. Mori, F. Cecchi, A. Pozzi, G. Cavicchioli, C. Camilli. The engravers were M. Carloni, Luigi Cunego, Giacomo Bossi, Alessandro Muchetti, Girolamo Carattoni, Domenico Pronti, Antonio Gregori, Giuseppe Perini, Stefno. Coppa, Franco Pozzi, Ant. Cap(p)ellan, Domenico Tanti, Cristoforo Silvestrini, Camillo Tinti, F. Morel, M. Tinti, Gio. Folo, Gugl. Morghen, Fontana, Franc. Cechini, Franco. Rastaini, L. Rocchegiani, P. Ghigi, Ang. Testa, Gio. Bruno, Domin. Cunego, P. Bettilini, G.B. Lionetti, D. Marchetti, G. d'Este, L. Fabbri, P. Savorelli, G. Balestra, Ant. banzo, F. Faccenda. But in Vol. III the final, lettered pl. (A-C) are unsigned; in Vol. IV the bis pl. 29, 36 and pl. A are unsigned and pl. B is signed by draughtsman only (Andrea Roncalli); in Vol. V pl. A, B are unsigned; in Vol. VI pl. A, B are unsigned; in Vol. VII pl. 43 bis and pl. A,B are unsigned.
The title page vignettes of Volumes I, III-VI are unsigned; that of Volume II is signed as made by D. Pronti, and that of Vol. VII is signed as drawn by L. Agricola and engraved by A. Mocchetti.
The printer of Volumes I-VI is named in their colophons: 'Pe' Torchi Di Antonio Fulgoni'.
Volumes I-III, V, VI are dedicated to Pope Pius VI by Ludovico (or 'Luigi') Mirri; Volume IV, to Pius VI by Luigi e Giuseppe Mirri; Volume VII, to Pius VII, by Gaspare Capparoni.
References
P. Liverani, 'The Museo Pio-Clementino at the time of the grand tour', in Journal of the history of collections 12:2 (2000), p. 151-159; R.T. Ridley, 'To protect the monuments: the papal Antiquarian (1534-1870)', in Xenia antiqua, I (1992), p.117-54; H. Gross, Rome in the age of enlightenment (1990); The Vatican collections, the papacy and art , by H.N. Abrams [exhibition catalogue] (1983-4); C. Pietrangeli, 'The discovery of classical art in eighteenth century Rome', in Apollo, 117 (1983), p.380-91; Antikensammlung im 18. Jahrhundert, ed. H. Beck et al. (1981); F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the antique (1981); S. Howard, 'An antiquarian handlist and beginnings of the Pio-Clementino', in 18th C. Stud., 7 (1973), p.40-61; The Academy of Europe: Rome in the eighteenth century, ed. F. den Broeder [exhibition catalogue] (1973); A.M. Clark, 'Development of collections and museums in 18th century Rome', in A.J. [London], 26 (1967), p. 136-43; C. Pietrangeli, Scavi e scoperte di antichità sotto il pontificato di Pio VI (1943; 2/1958); L. Hautecoeur, 'La vente de la collection Mattei et les origines du Musée Pio-Clémentin', in Mél. Archéol. & Hist.: Ecole Fr. Rome, 30 (1910), p.57-75.
On the museum building, designed by Simonetti, see C. Elling, Rome: the biography of her architecture from Bernini to Thorvaldsen (1975), p.527-8; C.L.V. Meeks, Italian architecture 1750-1914 (1966), p.72-8.
Summary Note
Publication-dates are given on the title-pages as follows: Vol. I. 1782 (but printed dedication, Approvazioni and colophon dated 1783; dedication-portrait, 1790); Vol. II. 1784 ( printed dedication, Approvazioni and colophon 1785; dedication-port. 1790); Vol. III. 1790 (Approvazioni 1789); Vol. IV. 1788 (dedication port. 1790); Vol. V, 1796; Vol. VI, 1792; Vol. VII, 1807 (printed dedication and Approvazioni 1808).
There are a number of title variants. The half-titles read: Vol. I-III ''Statue Del Museo Pio-Clementino Tomo Primo (-Terzo)'; Vols. IV, V, 'Bassirilievi Del Museo Pio-Clementino Tomo Quarto (Quinto)'; Vol. VI, 'Busti Del Museo Pio-Clementino Tomo Sesto'; Vol. VII, 'Miscellanea Del Museo Pio-Clementino Tomo Settimo'. In the title of Volumes II-VII the name of Giambattista Visconti is replaced by that of his son Ennio Quirino. The title of Vol. IV replaces the name of the dedicator and publisher, Luigi Mirri, with those of 'Luigi e Giuseppe Mirri'. The title-page of Vol. VII names also a new dedicatee and a new publisher: '... Tomo Settimo Dedicato Alla Santità Di Nostro Signore Pio Settimo Pontefice Massimo Da Gaspare Capparone ...'.
The plates show ancient statues of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, bas-reliefs (including sarcophagi) and busts of mythological and historical persons (philosophers, rulers &c.). In Volumes I-IV frontispieces show us parts of the museum itself (designed by Simonetti) - in Vol. I a plan, in Vols. II-IV interior views. All volumes carry dedication portraits (of Pius VI in Vols. I-VI and of Pius VII in Vol. VII).
The collection included some of the most celebrated ancient Greek and Roman sculpture in Rome - housed in galleries commissioned for it by Pope Clement XIV in 1770 and extended by Popes Pius VI and Pius VII. Many of its most admired works were removed by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797 under the terms of the Treaty of Tolentino - which occasioned the Pasquinade, "Tutti i Francesi sono ladri. - Non tutti, ma Buona Parte". But most of these works were returned after the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
Provenance
The 'Museum Pium Clementinum' [sic] was first listed as a desideratum in John Flaxman's report to Council on 1 September 1801 concerning the 'very disorderly state of the Library' (RA Council Minutes III, 109-10). At a Council meeting on 17 June 1802 'Mr. Flaxman reported that he had been informed of a very scarce Work published in Rome* [*Museum Pium Clementinum], not in the Library of the Royal Academy, never having before appeared in England, but would be brought to the Hammer the next Day, he thought it worthy the notice of the Royal Academy, & not to lose the opportunity of possessing so inestimable an acquisition.' (RA Council Minutes III, 145). It is probable that vols. I-VI of the present set were bought on the Academy's behalf at this sale by the Holborn bookseller Josiah Taylor, and that his final bill of £122 17s. (for supplying books and compiling and printing 250 copies of the new Library catalogue) reflected the cost of this last- minute acquisition (which was too late to be included in the catalogue), and was one reason at least why the ceiling of expenditure agreed by Council on 23 October 1801 (i.e. £97) ended up being exceeded by £25 17s.
The RA Keeper Henry Fuseli applied to Council for permission to borrow vol. I in April 1814 (RA Council Minutes V, 1814 April 15). On 12 November 1814 Council resolved to purchase Volume VII (Council Minutes V, 178).
Binding Note
19th-century calf, gilt borders on upper and lower covers; rebacked in 20th century, spine lettered 'Museo Clementino Tomo I (-III) R.A.'