George Glazer Gallery - Antique Prints - Moving & Erecting the Vatican Ancient Obelisk

Moving & Erecting the Vatican Ancient Obelisk
Large Engraving by Alessandro Spechhi, Rome, 1694

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Carlo Fontana (1634-1714) (author)
Natale Bonifacio (1538-1592) (after)
Alessandro Specchi (1668-1729) (engraver)
Obeliscummirade magnitudinis ex Aegypto olim ab Octaviano Aug. in Urbe aduectum, & in Circo dem Vaticano Collocatum…
[Great Obeslisk at One Time from Egypt, Later Transported by Octavian Augustus to the City of Rome, & Placed in the Vatican Circle…]
from Templum Vaticanum et ipsius origo. Cum aedificiis maximè conspicuis antiquitus, & recèns ibidem constitutis. Cum plerusque regulis, novisque architectura operationibus ab ipsomet in lucem evulgatis.
[The Vatican and Its Origins]
Giovanni Francisco Buagni, Rome: 1694
Black and white engraving
23 x 47.5 inches, overall
19.5 x 44.75 inches, plate mark
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Alessandro Specchi's 1694 engraving illustrates part of the complex process of moving and re-erecting the ancient Egyptian obelisk that now stands before St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The obelisk was moved there in 1586 by Pope Sixtus V from a location about 275 yards away, under the supervision of architect Domenico Fontana (1543-1607). The massive project took 13 months. The monument still stands in St. Peter's Square today, over 400 years later.

This engraving was published as a large folding plate in Book III of Templum Vaticanum et ipsius origo by Carlo Fontana (1634-1714), one of eight prints depicting the moving of the obelisk. In 1590 Domenico Fontana had published a book documenting his engineering feat, Della Trasportatione dell'Obelisco Vaticano e delle fabriche di Sisto V [On the Transportation of the Vatican Obelisk and the Buildings of Sixtus V], illustrated with engravings by engravings of Natale Bonifacio. Specchi based his plates for Templum Vaticanum on Bonifacio's. An example from the 1590 book on the web site of the Linda Hall Library indicates the kinds of adaptations Specchi made in combining this source material into his own splendid large compositions (see References below). The scaffold depicted by Bonifacio is faithfully reproduced in Specchi's version, but Specchi has omitted the background that obscures the structural elements at the bottom of the scaffold, changed the arrangement of horses and workers, and of course, combined several different phases of the process into one giant plate. Integrated into the illustrations are text panels in Italian, explaining the process shown in the pictures. The text refers to the obelisk as La Guglia – the Spire – as it was known colloquially in Rome at the time.

The obelisk was quarried in Egypt during the age of the pharaohs in the 13th century BCE, and stood in Alexandria. There it had fallen and been re-erected by the Romans during the reign of Augustus. In 37 AD, the Roman Emperor Caligula transported it by an enormous barge to Rome where it was set up in the center of his chariot racecourse. By the 1500s, nobody knew how these earlier civilizations had managed to erect these enormous monuments, and at 83 feet high and weighing 330 tons, the risk of having it fall and shatter during the process of maneuvering it into place made Fontana's feat a daring one. Using massive 51-foot levers, 40 winches and huge teams of men and horses to power the operation, his plan was a triumphant success, and encouraged Sixtus to unearth and restore other Egyptian obelisks brought to Rome by the ancient emperors that had long since fallen.

Alessandro Specchi was an Italian architect, urban planner, engraver and aquatintist. A student of the architect Carlo Fontana, he assisted in the construction of Fontana's chapel of St. Fabian and San Sebastiano Fuori le Mura in Rome. Specchi was a prolific architectural engraver from at least 1684, known especially for his prints of Roman palaces and other buildings. He engraved 79 plates for Fontana's major work Templum Vaticanum et ipsius origo (1694) and contributed 52 plates to Quarto Libro del Nuovo Teatro di Palazzi di Roma (1699) and 286 plates for Studio d'Architettura Civile (1702-21), both documenting Rome's architecture and issued by the renowned de'Rossi publishing house.

Center cartouche: Sixto. V. Ponto. Opt. Max/ Quod singulari pietate, & magnificentia, Obeliscummirade magnitudinis ex Aegypto olim ab Octaviano Aug. in Urbe aduectum, & in Circo dem Vaticano Collocatum…Natalis Bonifatius Sebenicensis in Aere Inciderat.

Small cartouche: DOMENICO FONTANA DA/ MILI DIOCESI DI COMO/ INVENTORE ET CONDUTTORE

Obelisk inscriptions:

DIVO CAES. DIVI/ IVLII. F. AUGUSTO/ TLCAES. DIVI AVG/F. AUGUS. SACRUM

Inscription lower left: IO. GUERRA M. LIN. NB. F.

Allegorical women in center cartouche – RELIGIO, MAGNIFICENTIA

References:

"Alessandro Specchi." The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000. Artnet.com. http://www.artnet.com/library/08/0804/T080478.asp (27 January 2006).

Bradley, Bruce. "Moving the Vatican Obelisk." 28 October 2002. Linda Hall Library fpr Science, Engineering and Technology. http://www.lindahall.org/events_exhib/exhibit/exhibits/civil/vatican.shtml (26 January 2006).

Grassi, Giulia. "Da Caligola a San Pietro." Scuola d'Italiano - Roma. MATDID. http://www.scudit.net/mdobel_vaticano.htm (26 January 2006).

Lunde, Paul. "A Forest of Obelisks." Originally published in Saudi Aramco World. March/April 1979, Vol. 30, No. 2. Online at Aramco Services Company. 2004. http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/197902/a.forest.of.obelisks.htm (26 January 2006).