View of Rome from the Janiculum in the South-West; verso: Sketch of buildings and plants

View of Rome from the Janiculum in the South-West; verso: Sketch of buildings and plants

Anthonis van den Wijngaerde

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Made of three pieces of paper glued together, this exceptionally large drawing is among the most detailed early panoramas of Rome. The view is from the Janiculum Hill, in the western part of the city, on the site of the American Academy. Missing is Saint Peter's Basilica, just beyond the left boundary of the drawing, but other famous monuments can be recognized: the Castel Sant'Angelo, the Pantheon (whose rotunda is incorrectly punctuated by columns), the Colosseum, and, in the right foreground, the church of San Pietro in Montorio with its famous Tempietto by the fifteenth-century architect Bramante. In the center foreground is the Aurelian Wall, built in the third century A.D. Visible at center, on the opposite bank of the Tiber, is the Palazzo Farnese prior to its completion, making it plausible that the drawing dates from the 1540s. Although the view is a generally precise rendering of the city, it is unlikely that Van den Wijngaerde made it entirely on the spot. It is more probable that he made various perparatory sketches on the Janiculum and then worked out the vast panorama in the comfort of his lodgings.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

View of Rome from the Janiculum in the South-West; verso: Sketch of buildings and plantsView of Rome from the Janiculum in the South-West; verso: Sketch of buildings and plantsView of Rome from the Janiculum in the South-West; verso: Sketch of buildings and plantsView of Rome from the Janiculum in the South-West; verso: Sketch of buildings and plantsView of Rome from the Janiculum in the South-West; verso: Sketch of buildings and plants

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.