Defending the Family in Roman times. Herculaneum fresco.

by Vanni, Niccolo

Vanni Herculaneum classical fresco with frieze, engraved c1757.

Wonderful copperplate-engraved mezzotint c1757 by Nicolaus Billy from the drawing by Nicolaus Vanni, with missing, damaged sections indicated. This fresco was unearthed at Herculaneum following 18th century excavations. It was engraved for the most important 18th century publication of archaelogical discoveries, Le Antichita di Ercolano Esposte (Herculaneum Antiquities Exposed), printed in Naples between 1757 and 1792, under the patronage of King Charles II to document forty years of excavations and the archaeological ruins that were unearthed around the Bay of Naples at Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabia (Campania), Roman municipia that were buried when Mt Vesuvius erupted in 79AD.

This page has fine later colour, and age-soiling and foxing. Page size is 48 x 35cm (18 7/8  x 13 3/4 inches). To intaglio impression measures 375 x 260mm (14 3/4 x 10 1/4 inches).