Bidspirit auction | Augusti apud Venetos templi D.

Augusti apud Venetos templi D. Marci accuratissima effig ratio / Palatii senatorii apud Venetos conflagratio anno MDLXXVII. Colónia, c. 1600. - [VENICE – ST MARK’S AND THE FIRE AT THE DOGE’S PALACE]. Augusti apud Venetos templi D. Marci accuratissima effigratio / Palatii senatorii apud Venetos conflagratio anno MDLXXVII. Georg BRAUN; Frans HOGENBERG (eds.), after a drawing by Georg (Joris) HOEFNAGEL ( Depingebat Georgius Houfnaglius … anno 1578 ). [Cologne, Georg Braun & Frans Hogenberg, c. 1600]. Engraving; 425 × 535 mm (sheet). Sheet divided into two vertical views. On the left, perspective of the Piazza San Marco, seen from the end opposite the basilica: the paved square, animated by small figures in Venetian dress, leads the eye towards the five-portal façade of St Mark’s, flanked by the campanile and Procuratie buildings; at top is the word “Oriens”. On the right, dramatic view of the Piazzetta and Molo during the great fire at the Doge’s Palace in 1577: in the background Saint Mark’s and the Procuratie appear again, while to the right the palace burns violently, enveloped in smoke; in the foreground, from the Grand Canal, one sees the columns of the Piazzetta, boats, debris and groups of people and soldiers attempting to contain the blaze; “Septentrio” indicated at top. Verso with long Latin text under the heading AVGVSTI APVD VENETOS TEMPLI D. MARCI DESCRIPTIO and concluding paragraph “ DE PALATIO SENATORIO VENETO ”, paged “60”, belonging to volume V of the Civitates orbis terrarum . The two scenes, based on a drawing by Hoefnagel made in 1578, are among the most celebrated graphic testimonies of St Mark’s Square in the 16th century and, at the same time, of the partial destruction of the Doge’s Palace by the fire of 1577. Included in the monumental Civitates orbis terrarum , they fixed in lasting form the iconography of Venice’s “drawing room” and were widely reused in later cartography and printmaking.