Circus Flaminius E Veterum Monumentis in Lucem Eductus.

About this Item

Original hand-coloured engraving. Plate Size: 54.2 cm x 42.3 cm. Sheet Size: 64.6 cm x 55 cm. Original map. In very good condition. Very minor traces of browning to outer margins. Latin text on reverse. From Blaeu's 'Theatrum Civitatum et Admirandorum Italiae.' An attention-grabbing illustrated re-imagining of Rome's Circus Flaminius, a hippodrome, located in the southern end of the Campus Martius near the Tiber River. It contained a small race-track used for obscure games, and various other buildings and monuments. It was "built", or sectioned off, by Gaius Flaminius in 221 BC. The Circus Flaminius was never meant to rival the much larger Circus Maximus, and, unlike the Circus Maximus, it was not just an entertainment venue. It almost certainly lacked a track designed for chariot racing. The only ludi held there were the Taurian Games, which featured horseback racing around turning posts (metae). The obscure Taurian Games were held to propitiate the gods of the underworld (di inferi), and seem to have been symbolically grounded in the site itself, as they were never moved to a different circus. Though in abandoned ruins by the time of this engraving, the Circus Flaminius is stunningly recaptured in its ancient splendour and Imperial pomp by Blaeu. The main features of the Circus Flaminius can be seen: the decorated barrier (spina or euripus) complete with two obelisks dedicated to the moon and sun, and numerous devotional monuments to Neptune, Isis and Apollo are shown running down the centre of the track. Tripartite conical turning posts (metae) are placed at each end of the track. Golden statues adorn the outer walls of the stadium. Five galloping riders and horses and five horse-teams and chariots are seen on the racetrack. A large, highly decorative armorial coat-of-arms of the renowned De Graeff family is located in the top right corner. Top left corner shows explanatory/titular text that references Cornelis de Graef, s a mayor of Amsterdam from the Dutch Golden Age and a powerful Amsterdam regent after the sudden death of stadholder William II of Orange. Like his father Jacob Dircksz de Graeff, he opposed the house of Orange, and was the moderate successor to the republican Andries Bicker. In the mid-17th century he controlled the city's finances and politics and, in close cooperation with his brother Andries de Graeff and their nephew Johan de Witt, the Netherlands political system. During his life De Graeff was often called "Polsbroek" or "Lord Polsbroek". (Wikipedia) Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638) was a Dutch cartographer, atlas maker and publisher. Along with his son Johannes Blaeu, Willem is considered one of the notable figures of the Netherlandish/Dutch school of cartography in its golden age (the 16th and 17th centuries). Blaeu set up his mapmaking and publishing business in Amsterdam, where he sold instruments and globes, published maps, and edited the works of intellectuals like Descartes and Hugo Grotius. In 1633 he was appointed map-maker of the Dutch East India Company. In 1635, he released his atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive, Atlas novus. Willem died in 1638. He had two sons, Cornelis (1610-1648) and Johannes (1596-1673). Joan trained as a lawyer but joined his father's business rather than practice. After his father's death, the brothers took over their father's shop and Joan took on his work as hydrographer to the Dutch East India Company. Later in life, Joan would modify and greatly expand his father's Atlas novus, eventually releasing his masterpiece, the Atlas maior, between 1662 and 1672. (Wikipedia). Seller Inventory # 200058AG

Contact seller

Report this item

Bibliographic Details