Architectural Posters of Rome

Rome: Architecture from Antiquity to the Baroque

These fifteen architectural posters span almost two millennia of Roman building history. Reconstructions, façade studies and historic city views reveal how ancient monuments, papal patronage and Baroque stagecraft continue to shape the image of Rome.

AP 319, AP 353, AP 357 and AP 307 · Monuments of Ancient Rome

The Pantheon assumed its present form under Emperor Hadrian between AD 118 and 125. Behind the classical portico lies a circular interior whose height equals the 43.3-metre diameter of its concrete dome; daylight enters through the open oculus (AP 319 and AP 013). The Arch of Constantine was dedicated in 315 to commemorate Constantine’s victory over Maxentius. Its relief programme reuses numerous elements from earlier imperial monuments and combines them into a new political statement (AP 353). AP 357 unfolds the tiered arcades of the Colosseum, inaugurated under Titus in AD 80. AP 307 reconstructs the Forum of Augustus, dedicated in 2 BC with the Temple of Mars Ultor.

AP 208 · Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s Campo Marzio

Piranesi’s Campo Marzio dell’Antica Roma, published in 1762, is one of the most compelling engagements with the ancient city. Its densely worked plan combines surviving remains, antiquarian knowledge and bold reconstruction. Temples, theatres, porticoes and monumental complexes overlap to form an imaginary metropolis that does more than document the past: it conveys the generative power of Roman architecture.

AP 538 and AP 417 · Piazza Navona

The elongated form of Piazza Navona still follows the arena of the Stadium of Domitian, built around AD 86. During the seventeenth century the Pamphilj family transformed the site into one of Rome’s great Baroque urban spaces. At its centre stands Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers, inaugurated in 1651, opposite Sant’Agnese in Agone. AP 538 sets out the façades of both long sides as precise elevations. AP 417 presents the piazza in a historic view from around 1680, revealing its theatrical character as a setting for public life.

AP 540 and AP 131 · Saint Peter’s Basilica

Construction of the new Saint Peter’s began under Pope Julius II in 1506, and the basilica was consecrated in 1626. Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo and Carlo Maderno were among the architects who shaped this century-long project. Michelangelo designed the dome, completed by Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana between 1588 and 1590; Maderno completed the basilica with the façade erected from 1608 to 1612. AP 540 shows a fully coloured frontal view with the dome and the adjoining colonnades of Saint Peter’s Square, while AP 131 uses a restrained line drawing to focus on the basilica’s architectural order.

AP 355, AP 354 and AP 356 · Baroque Urban Space and Villa Culture

The Trevi Fountain was begun in 1732 to Nicola Salvi’s competition design against the rear of Palazzo Poli. Architecture, rock and water merge into a monumental scene (AP 355 and AP 014). At Piazza di Spagna, Francesco De Sanctis’s staircase of 1723–1726 links the square with Trinità dei Monti; its divided and reunited flights turn circulation itself into a public place (AP 354). Villa Borghese was begun in 1607 for Cardinal Scipione Borghese. Flaminio Ponzio started the building and Giovanni Vasanzio completed it as a luminous suburban villa for the cardinal’s celebrated art collection (AP 356 and AP 022).

AP 713, AP 104 and AP 105 · Transformation and Comparison

Castel Sant’Angelo was erected in the second century as Emperor Hadrian’s mausoleum and later incorporated into Rome’s defences. The ancient tomb became a fortress, papal residence and prison; AP 713 captures this accumulated history in its distinctive cylindrical silhouette. AP 104 and AP 105 broaden the view from individual monument to architectural type. Façades of Roman palaces and churches from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, each covering the years 1450 to 1750, can be compared directly through their proportions, storeys, domes and portals.