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A View of the Vestibule of Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome

Artist and publisher Georges François Blondel French
1765–67
Not on view
Georges-François Blondel was the son of a leading French architectural theorist Jacques-François Blondel. After training in Paris, he worked first in Rome and then in London, where he learned the technique of mezzotint engraving. This print depicts a celebrated structure of eighteenth-century Rome, Ferdinando Fuga's dramatic facade of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, completed in 1743. It is one of nine architectural views the artist published between 1765 and 1767. His taste for monumental classical structures and his tendency to make even modern subjects resemble ancient ruins suggest his admiration for Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1788). The fragmented view, small figures, and classical architectural forms which Blondel created similarly give the late Baroque structure the appearance of an ancient ruin. Unusually, Blondel rocked the mezzotint plate twice: first when preparing the ground for the design, and again when scraping the composition, creating haphazard, expressive strokes that animate the sky.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: A View of the Vestibule of Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome
  • Artist and publisher: Georges François Blondel (French, 1730–after 1792)
  • Published in: London
  • Date: 1765–67
  • Medium: Mezzotint; published state
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 22 1/4 x 16 in. (56.5 x 40.6 cm)
  • Classifications: Prints, Ornament & Architecture
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1967
  • Object Number: 67.797.6
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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A View of the Inside of St. Stephens Walbrook, Done from the Drawing in his Majesty's Collection, Georges François Blondel French, Mezzotint; proof before letters
A View of the Inside of St. Stephens Walbrook, Done from the Drawing in his Majesty's Collection
Georges François Blondel
ca. 1767
A View of a Prison of the Composition of Mr. Blondel done at Rome, Georges François Blondel French, Mezzotint; second state of three
A View of a Prison of the Composition of Mr. Blondel done at Rome
Georges François Blondel
1765
General Washington, Valentine Green British, Mezzotint; first state of two
General Washington
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January 15, 1781
Scrapbook of Drawings and Prints, Gideon Saint British, Pen and ink, engraving and etching
Scrapbook of Drawings and Prints
Gideon Saint
ca. 1760
Imaginary View of Venice, houses at left with figures on terraces, a domed church at center in the background, boats and boat-sheds below, and a seated man observing from a wall at right in the foreground, from "Views" (Vedute altre prese da i luoghi altre ideate da Antonio Canal), Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal) Italian, Etching; undivided plate, only state
Imaginary View of Venice, houses at left with figures on terraces, a domed church at center in the background, boats and boat-sheds below, and a seated man observing from a wall at right in the foreground, from "Views" (Vedute altre prese da i luoghi altre ideate da Antonio Canal)
Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal)
Joseph Smith
1741

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