Colonne Antonine, from Les Plus Beaux Monuments de Rome Ancienne ou Recueil des plus beaux Morceaux de l'Antiquité Romaine qui existent encore
Not on view
Plate 29, Capriccio with the Column of Marcus Aurelius (called the Column of Antoninus Pius) and four obelisks, with additional structures and ruins visible in the background. This is one of twenty-nine full-page images in this volume and faces page 44, the first of two pages describing the Column of Marcus Aurelius.
Five of the monuments shown in this plate are identified in the inscription and are described on pages 45 to 47:
1. a column (shown lying on the ground) that had previously stood on what is now believed to be the base of the Column of Antoninus Pius on the Monte Citorio;
2. an Egyptian stela from the Piazza Barberini (identified as an obelisk);
3. an obelisk (shown raised at left and lying on the ground at right) found in ruins in the gardens of the Villa Ludovisi and later moved to the Basilica of St. John Lateran, although never raised at that site; the obelisk was erected above the Spanish Steps in 1789;
4. an obelisk originally from the Mausoleum of Augustus, now behind the Santa Maria Maggiore;
5. an obelisk and fountain from the Piazza della Rotonda in front of the Pantheon.
