Artwork Information

This print was included was included as an illustration in the 1787 publication "Monumenti Antichi Inediti Ovvero Notizie Sulle Antichita E Belle Arti Di Roma" (Unpublished Ancient Monuments or News on Antiquities and Fine Arts of Rome), which seems to have been a compilation of etched illustrations of Ancient Roman fragments found mostly at the ancient site of Palestrina. One part of this etching is based on the design of a solar clock found at Palestrina in 1786 by Pierantonio Petrini. It is unlikely that the rosette was connected with the orologio solare. The original sundial entered the collection of Henry Blundell (1724–1810), who placed it on an 18th-century pillar incised with a relief and inscription loosely based on Vitruvius’s De Architectura.