Italian Palazzo, front architectural elevation, engraved by Falda, c1655

by Falda, Battista

17thC antique print. Falda architectural front elevation engraving.

Palazzo del S. Marchese Silvestri incontro l'oratorio di S. Lorenzo in Damaso nel Rione di Parione Architectura di Baldassar da Siena, in a parish in central Rome. Around 1200 the area was called the parish of San Lorenzo in Damaso. As the population grew and urbanization increased, around 1500 most of the commercial business moved from Campo de' Fiori to Piazza Navona which was wider. During 15th-16th centuries, several artists were commissioned to restyle the front of the greatest buildlings, and from 1574 to 1674 the buildings of Piazza Navona vastly changed in line with the new Renaissance style, under the influence of Bernini, Borromini and Bramante. 

Original copperplate etching-engraving by architectural draughtsman and etcher-engraver, Giovanni Battista Falda (1643-1678). Printed and published in Rome circa 1655 by architectural engraver, illustrator and printer, Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi (1627-1691). This fine engraving is from a series of classical designs used in actual contruction. Many builings did not survive and others have had considerable further renovations.

Falda was born in Valduggia but was sent to Rome to work in the studio of the great sculptor, artist and architect, Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). This is a superb example of his distinctive architectural style of etching-engraving. The next engraving is the side view.

Page size is 36 x 47cm (14 x 18.5 inches). To intaglio impression around plate measures 20 x 38cm (8 x 15 inches).