Mining Library Treasures

For centuries, Italy and Rome in particular have been much beloved travel destinations. From all over the European continent, travelers undertook an itinerary to the peninsula for various reasons. Already in Late Antiquity, Christians from all walks of life were encouraged to embark on a Peregrinatio ad limina apostolorum ('pilgrimage to the threshold of the apostles') to the Eternal City. In conjunction with the founding of the first universities in the eleventh century, scholarly travels were becoming more frequent as well. Moreover, starting in the fifteenth century, many humanists, painters, and sculptors also began to journey to Italy and Rome; their aim, however, was of a different nature. No longer was a pilgrimage or an academic training the predominant intention. Instead, the completion of a classical upbringing and education in the arts was their central objective in what would become known as the so-called Grand Tour.

Some of these 'Grand Tourists' decided to write about their travels, a few were even printed, published and used as a guidebook by later travelers. One of them was the traveling account made by the Antwerp jurist and burgomaster Franciscus Schottus (1548 – 1622). In his Itinerarii Italiae rerumque Romanarum ('The itinerary of Italy and the Ancient Roman remains', 1600) Schottus gives a comprehensive topographical description of several locations all over Italy (fig. 1). The Itenararii Italiae was the first travel guide that roughly encompassed the entire peninsula. Before that, the prevalent travel guides were predominantly fixated on specific regions and cities. 

Schottus' publication contained three books, each of these was focused on particular regions as well as cities and composed from various sources. The most important source was the 1574 travel log written by the famous Stephanus Pighius, who wrote a life about the travelings of Carl Friedrich, a young Prince from the Duchy of Cleves. This was supplemented by a synoptic travel tabulation by Nathan Chytraeus and assorted parts from other accounts, including those made by Jean-Jacques Boissard and Ludwig Schrader in the late sixteenth century. The book was printed in a duodecimo format of 480 pages by the Antwerp printer Jan Moretus. The small pocket size of the book made it ideal for traveling abroad (fig. 2). It was dedicated to Cardinal Bellarmine and devoted to the Jubilee celebration in 1600 (fig. 3). Schottus' book is often credited as the most important and widely used travel guide for the following two centuries. Although it was not an original treatise nor was it entirely enclosed, the Itenararii Italiae became a substantial commercial success. In accordance with the increasing influx of Grand Tourist, the travel guide would see many newly printed editions with further additions as late as 1761 and got translated into several languages, including Italian, French, German and English.

Whereas Schottus' itinerary constitutes a general description for traveling to Italy, other travel books had a more specific purpose. The studying of the arts was a considerable reason for many of the Grand Tourists to travel to the Italian peninsula. Especially the examination of the architectural remains was a notable aspiration for these travelers. As a result, the seventeenth century witnessed the inception of many illustrated guidebooks that tried to capture and evoke the architectural achievements of Classical Rome. Although attempts were already made to excavate and restore the remnants of these once great structures back in the late Medieval period, the Renaissance accelerated the interest and enthusiasm for this lost civilization. Furthermore, the coming of the printed book enabled the widespread distribution of a portrayal of Ancient Rome to a new pan-European audience. These graphic representations were not only of an archaeological nature, they also had a very distinct didactic purpose as well.  Their aim, however, was not only to teach but also to impress and inspire.

The first of these illustrated guidebooks were published in the late sixteenth century and would serve as an inspiration for the manifold publications that would appear in the following century. In 1618, a Roman engraver named Giovanni Maggi (1566 – 1618) had his Illustrium Urbis Romae Aedificioru et Ruinarum Monimenta ('The buildings and monuments of the ruins of the noble city of Rome') published by the Roman printer Joseph de Rubeis. The book was the second book in a series that he published, both of his books encompassed for the most part illustrations of the many ancient monuments that were found in Renaissance Rome.

Although Maggi made the engravings himself, he nevertheless took inspiration from preceding published illustrated guidebooks. An important vantage point was the publication by Giacomo Lauro, who had a similar approach as Maggi. Even though he looked at Lauro for visual models, he also more or less corrected them on basis of the same source material. The illustrations seemed like they were made on the spot in a seemingly unrefined sketch-like impressionistic style. Embedded in some of the engravings were bystander tourists and other artists, who, along with Maggi, made observations of the ruins. The depictions were accompanied by short descriptions of the particular sites in question. What made Maggi's Illustrium Urbis Romae stand out were his highly edited and stylistic imaginary re-constructions of the Roman ruins. Certain engravings depict the Roman structures as they could have been during the time that they were build and used. The Mausoleum of Augustus and the Circus Flaminius are great examples, Maggi even embedded chariots and horses racing on the tracks of the Circus (fig. 4). Some of his illustrations also clearly showed the monuments in ruins, like the Baths of Nero. Interestingly, a representation of the historic imagination is paired with the actual remains that would have been present in Maggi's time (fig. 5).