VI. Triumphant baroque

Hubertus Goltzius. Icones imperatorum Romanorum. – Anvers: Balthasar II Moretus, 1645. In-folio.

The work contains Vivae imagines…(Gillis Coppens, 1557) and represents the fifth volume of Romanae et Graecae antiquitatis monumenta (1644-1645), constituted on the basis of printed materials that were recovered, thanks to Rubens, from the work of Flemish humanist and antiquarian Goltzius (d. 1583), whose various editions experienced so many financial disasters.

   Moretus kept the structure of the earlier editions: the elegant frontispiece was engraved by Cornelis Galle I, after a design by Erasmus Quellinus II and following a sketch by Rubens, and represents Julius Caesar (Rome), Constantine I (Byzantium) and Rodolph I (Holy Roman Empire), encircled by imperial symbols. Regarding the text, 160 imperial biographies extend to Ferdinand III, the current ruler; the portraits in large medallions, carved in chiaroscuro by Christoffel Jepher, copy and complete the intaglio models of Joos Gietleughen (1557). Their printing required several steps to print the ochre-coloured background, the portrait and the text, and the double border, evocative of the listel on coins and medals.

Mazarine: 2° 6641