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Original fileBoog van Janus en San Giorgio in Velabro
About This Work
An engraving depicting the four-sided Arch of Janus Quadrifrons alongside the medieval church of San Giorgio in Velabro. Figures are shown going about daily business, including laundry drying in the foreground near an ancient water conduit. The composition emphasizes the scale and decay of the Imperial Roman structure against the later Christian portico.
This print is part of Sadeler's 'Vestigi delle antichità di Roma,' produced while he was the court engraver for Rudolf II in Prague. The ruins served as a meditation on the passage of time and the recovery of classical wisdom (Prisca Sapientia), central themes in the Neoplatonic and Hermetic culture of the Rudolfine court.
Inscriptions(Latin)
Vestigi del tempio di Jano quadrifronte, qual antiam.te fu posto nel foro boario, Fu detto edificio fatto con quattro faccie a guisa d'un portico quadro di opra Jonica et ornato con 48. nichi cioè 12. p faccia, oggi è spogliato de suoi ornamenti vicino a qesto al segno A si vede un arco piccolo di forma quadra di otto pilastri d'opera Corinthia fu drizzato quest'arco dalli argentieri et mercanti di detto foro boario in honore di Settimio et Marco Aurelio Imperatori, Vedesi ancor nel segno B. un condotto d'acqua antico che fu ritrovato sotto terra dove per beneficio publico ivi si sono fatte bellissime fontane con un lavatore et si chiama quella piazza la fontana di santo Giorgio per esser ivi la chiesa di questo Santo. Marco Sadeler excudit 13.
Translation
Remains of the temple of Janus Quadrifrons, which was formerly situated in the Forum Boarium. This building was said to have been made with four faces in the manner of a square portico of Ionic work and adorned with 48 niches, that is, 12 per face; today it is stripped of its ornaments. Near this, at the sign A, is seen a small arch of square shape with eight pillars of Corinthian work; this arch was erected by the silversmiths and merchants of the said Forum Boarium in honor of the Emperors Septimius and Marcus Aurelius. Also seen at sign B is an ancient water conduit that was found underground, where, for the public benefit, very beautiful fountains have been made there along with a washhouse, and that square is called the fountain of Saint George, as the church of this Saint is there. Marco Sadeler excudit 13.
Connected Texts
Rudolf II
Sadeler was the imperial engraver for Rudolf II, whose court in Prague was the primary center for esoteric and natural philosophical inquiry in the early 17th century.
Provenance & Source
Object
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
paper
height 158 mm x width 267 mm
architectural
Linked Data
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