Friday, September 30, 2016

Views of Roman Ruins by Hieronymus Cock, 16th century

Hieronymus Cock
Title page - Views of Roman Ruins
printed at Antwerp in 1551
etching, engraving
Rijksmuseum

Hieronymus Cock (1518-1570)  enterprising son of a family of Antwerp artists  traveled to Rome in 1546 and stayed two years, drawing and studying what he found there. The etchings he produced back at home appeared for sale in 1551. The study of his etchings demonstrates how much more there was to find of the ancient surviving topography of built Rome in the days of Hieronymus Cock than would remain to be found in later centuries. There is a complete set of these at the Rijksmuseum. In later decades the images were recut and reprinted several times, with the result that later versions are much more widely available, but also degraded in quality

Hieronymus Cock
Colosseum
1551
etching
Rijksmuseum

Hieronymus Cock
Colosseum
1550
etching
Rijksmuseum

Hieronymus Cock
Colosseum
1551
etching
Rijksmuseum

Hieronymus Cock
Colosseum
1551
etching
Rijksmuseum

Hieronymus Cock
Colosseum
1551
etching
Rijksmuseum

Hieronymus Cock
Colosseum
1551
etching
Rijksmuseum

Hieronymus Cock
Colosseum, with Palatine Hill in the distance
1551
etching
Rijksmuseum

Hieronymus Cock
Palatine Hill
1550
etching
Rijksmuseum

Hieronymus Cock
Septizonium and Colosseum
1551
etching
Rijksmuseum

Hieronymus Cock
Baths of Diocletian
1550
etching
Rijksmuseum

Hieronymus Cock
Baths of Caracalla
1551
etching
Rijksmuseum

Hieronymus Cock
Basilica of Constantine
1551
etching
Rijksmuseum

Hieronymus Cock
Forum Romanum
1551
etching
Rijksmuseum