Putti at play. Charming Pompeii fresco antique print.

by Lavega, Francesco

18thC antique print. Pompeii fresco of Putti performing - from a series of small engravings of Putti at Work and Play.

Original copperplate-engraved mezzotint c1757 by Rocco Pozzi after a drawing by Francesco Lavega for the most important 18th century recording of the archaeological findings from excavations at Pompeii, Ercolano (Herculaneum) and Stabiae (Campania), - hundreds of years after the region was covered by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in AD79. With patronage of King Charles II, published in Naples circa 1760, with fine later hand-colour.

The engraving is half-framed - mounted between 'antique white' conservation ragmat board, and covered with cellophane for protection. External size for frame window: 29 x 34cm (11.5 x 13.5 inches). Mount window size approximately 13 x 18cm (5 x 7 inches)