Sunday, April 8, 2018

Old Rome in Northern Prints and Drawings

Anonymous Flemish artist
Roman landscape with view of the Colosseum
ca. 1500-1600
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Maarten van Heemskerck
Rome - Ruins on the Palatine Hill
ca. 1532-36
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Maarten van Heemskerck
Study of unidentified ruins with parts of the ancient city wall of Rome in background
ca. 1532-36
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Jan Brueghel the Elder after Matthijs or Paul Bril
View in Rome with round temple and so-called Temple of Fortuna Virilis
drawing
1594
British Museum

The Temple of the Animals

The temple of the animals has fallen into disrepair.
The pad of feet has faded.
The panthers flee the shadows of the day.
The smell of musk has faded but lingers there –
lingers, lingers, Ah, bitterly in my room.
Tired, I recall the animals of last year:
the altars of the bear, tribunals of the ape,
solitude of elephantine gloom, rare
zebra-striped retreats, prophecies of dog,
sanctuaries of the pygmy deer.

Were there rituals I had forgotten? animal calls
to which those animal voices replied,
calld and calld until that jungle stirrd.
Were there voices that I heard?
Love was the very animal made his lair,
slept out his winter in my heart.
Did he seek my heart or ever
sleep there?

I have seen the animals depart,
forgotten their voices, or barely remembered
– like the last speech when the company goes
or the beloved face that the heart knows,
forgets and knows –
I have heard the dying footsteps fall.
The sound has faded but lingers here.
Ah, bitterly I recall
the animals of last year.

– Robert Duncan (1957)

Anonymous artist
Interior of Roman ruins
ca. 1600-1700
drawing
National Galleries of Scotland

Anonymous artist
Rome - Arch of Constantine with Colosseum behind
ca. 1600-1700
drawing
National Galleries of Scotland

Anonymous artist
Riders near Roman ruins
ca. 1600-1700
drawing
National Galleries of Scotland

Anonymous Dutch artist
Rome - Ruins of the so-called Tomb of the Horatii and Curiatii
ca. 1675-1711
etching
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Anonymous Dutch artist
Rome - Ruins of the Baths of Constantine
ca. 1675-1711
etching
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Anonymous Dutch artist
Rome - Pantheon
ca. 1675-1711
etching
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Allan Ramsay
Rome - Temple of Venus and Roma
ca. 1755
drawing, watercolor
National Galleries of Scotland

Allan Ramsay
Rome - Interior of the Colosseum
ca. 1755
drawing, watercolor
National Galleries of Scotland

Allan Ramsay
Rome - Interior of the Colosseum
ca. 1755
drawing, watercolor
National Galleries of Scotland

Allan Ramsay
Rome - Interior of the Colosseum
ca. 1755
drawing, watercolor
National Galleries of Scotland