Tenplum (sic) Iovis Ultoris, from a Series of 24 Depicting (Reconstructed) Buildings from Roman Antiquity

Tenplum (sic) Iovis Ultoris, from a Series of 24 Depicting (Reconstructed) Buildings from Roman Antiquity

Anonymous, Italian, 16th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Perspectival depiction of a temple referred to as the ‘Tenplum [sic] Iovis Ultoris’. The building is characterized by its central plan and placed on podium with three steps which follows the shape of the building’s circular floorplan. The building has two main floors. The ground floor is marked by a portico, while the second has rectangular windows, crowned by pediments and flanked by pilasters. The building is crowned by a domed lantern which is supported by a drum decorated with C-volutes. While the Temple of Iovis Ultoris is identifiable with the Pantheon or Church of Santa Maria Rotonda still preserved in Rome today, this rendition was likely created as an ekphrasis, without knowledge of the remains of the original [The Pantheon is represented in a separate print in this series.] The present building, while fantastical in nature, bears some resemblance to Bramante’s ‘Tempietto’ and the centralized temples depicted by Raphael and Perugino in their respective versions of the ‘Sposalizio’, and in the latter artist’s ‘Delivery of the Keys’. The print is part of a group of architectural prints depicting 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. The plates are known in several (uncatalogued) states, and have undergone minor changes over time. Several titles of buildings have been changed, and the plates have been cropped as a result of plate cracks and oxidation. Most copper plates for this series have been engraved on both sides. This print is taken from the same plate as the 'Arcus Lutii Septimii'.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tenplum (sic) Iovis Ultoris, from a Series of 24 Depicting (Reconstructed) Buildings from Roman AntiquityTenplum (sic) Iovis Ultoris, from a Series of 24 Depicting (Reconstructed) Buildings from Roman AntiquityTenplum (sic) Iovis Ultoris, from a Series of 24 Depicting (Reconstructed) Buildings from Roman AntiquityTenplum (sic) Iovis Ultoris, from a Series of 24 Depicting (Reconstructed) Buildings from Roman AntiquityTenplum (sic) Iovis Ultoris, from a Series of 24 Depicting (Reconstructed) Buildings from Roman Antiquity

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.