The Amphitheater in Bordeaux [Teatrum Bordeos; Transitorium Caesaris], from the series 'Ruinarum variarum fabricarum delineationes pictoribus caeterisque id genus artificibus multum utiles'

The Amphitheater in Bordeaux [Teatrum Bordeos; Transitorium Caesaris], from the series 'Ruinarum variarum fabricarum delineationes pictoribus caeterisque id genus artificibus multum utiles'

Lambert Suavius

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Perspectival view of a building, described as the ‘Teatrum Bordeos’ in the model for this print, but changed in a later state to ‘Transitorium Caesaris’. The depiction shows the building in a ruined state and focuses on the entrance gate and the left side of the arcade of the amphitheater. The architecture does not closely resemble the ruins of the building in Bordeaux, and this rendering, likely conceived as an ekphrasis, may conflate elements from several different surviving examples into one building. This print and several others in this series published by Gerard de Jode were copied after a group of Italian architectural prints, previously attriputed to the Master G. A. with the Caltrop, and first published in Rome between 1530 and 1550. The prints depict buildings from Roman Antiquity, ranging from triumphal arches to bath houses, temples and palaces in Italy, France and Spain. Some of the buildings have been artificially reconstructed based on Medieval descriptions, while others are depicted in their ruinous states.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Amphitheater in Bordeaux [Teatrum Bordeos; Transitorium Caesaris], from the series 'Ruinarum variarum fabricarum delineationes pictoribus caeterisque id genus artificibus multum utiles'The Amphitheater in Bordeaux [Teatrum Bordeos; Transitorium Caesaris], from the series 'Ruinarum variarum fabricarum delineationes pictoribus caeterisque id genus artificibus multum utiles'The Amphitheater in Bordeaux [Teatrum Bordeos; Transitorium Caesaris], from the series 'Ruinarum variarum fabricarum delineationes pictoribus caeterisque id genus artificibus multum utiles'The Amphitheater in Bordeaux [Teatrum Bordeos; Transitorium Caesaris], from the series 'Ruinarum variarum fabricarum delineationes pictoribus caeterisque id genus artificibus multum utiles'The Amphitheater in Bordeaux [Teatrum Bordeos; Transitorium Caesaris], from the series 'Ruinarum variarum fabricarum delineationes pictoribus caeterisque id genus artificibus multum utiles'

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.