MEDALION EXHIBITION. GIUSEPPE VASI (1710-1782). Magnificences of ancient and modern Rome

A tribute to one of the most emblematic figures of the eighteenth-century European engraving

Giuseppe Vasi (1710-1782), architect, drawer, etcher, painter and poet of Arcadia, founder and leader of the realistic vedutisti (view makers), nicknamed by the famous art historian Henri Focillon, “an authentic poet of Rome”, was one of the most illustrious and prolific exponents of Italian chalcographic art of the Baroque era, leaving us one of the most precious, rich, authentic and comprehensive visual evidence of the Eternal City in the eighteenth century.

However, his name remains widely known for a remarkable publishing project, carried out from 1747 to 1761, during which time he dedicated himself to the elaboration of his capital work, “Delle Magnificenze di Roma antica e moderna”, bringhing together ten volumes that display a captivating and memorable textual and visual archive of the “greatness” of eighteenth-century Rome. Listed by the posterity as an indisputable masterpiece, the monumental editorial approach transcends, at the level of the method of investigation and vision, the artistic concerns and responses of many of his quild members.    

Now on display for the first time, the engravings of Giuseppe Vasi in the patrimony of the Cluj-Napoca Art Museum, only five in number, served at the time to illustrate four of the ten volumes of the outstanding Vasian chalcographic enterprise, namely volumes VI, VII , VIII and IX, which were published in Rome in 1756, 1758 and 1759, thanks to the involvement of the brothers Niccolò (1717-1795) and Marco Pagliarini (1723-1791), some of the most important exponents of the Roman publishing market in 18th century Rome and, implicitly, the local trade in books and prints.__________

CURATOR:

Alexandra SÂRBU

ASSISTANT CURATOR:

Andrei BUDESCU