Varij Disegni de Camini de Gabineti [sic]

The series "Varij Disegni de Camini de Gabineti" [sic] contains designs for chimney pieces by the Swiss-born, Italian architect Giorgio Domenico Fossati. While Fossati is principally known for his illustrations of the architectural treatises of Renaissance architects such as Palladio and Vignola, he was also active as an architect and designer himself. This print series with designs for chimney pieces, issued in 1740 just after his move to Venice, is one of the rare examples in which he published some of his own ideas. It is one of very few ornament prints to have been published in Italy in the eighteenth century, and has recently been credited with a role of influence on the young Piranesi, who would later publish his own "Diverse maniere d'adornare i cammini" in 1769. The full series consists of a title page and eleven plates, each showing one design, paired with depictions of human figures, putti and/or burning fires by the hand of Francesco Fontebasso. The Museum's series is incomplete and lacks four prints.