Remembering the End of Eternity: 19th Century Architectural Mementos of Ancient Ruined Rome, 2021

Page 68

XVI. Baptistries, Pisa i. 5-1/2”h.,1880’s, carved alabaster ii.10-1/2”h., 1870’s, carved alabaster, paint over gilded paint base iii. 12”h., 1890’s, carved alabaster with glass dome See Pricing

Neither Roman, nor a ruin, the material of these Pisan architectural memento – alabaster quarried in nearby Volterra – was in use with models in Rome, Florence, Pisa, and elsewhere by the third quarter of the 19th century. When we think of Italian alabaster, what may come to mind is the soft, granular, bright white stone from which souvenir knick-knacks were crudely carved into the 20th century. In fact, the Volterran quarries, first set to use by the Etruscans twenty-five centuries ago, offered a wide range of colored alabasters. One mid-19th century catalog lists forty different types.

i.

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These intricately carved models of Pisa’ 14th century Baptistry, are assembled from several varieties of alabaster –a highly translucent yellow veined stone; grey; and white. Often with alabaster pieces from this period, souvenir sellers sought the ric patina of ancient Roman marbles, though rendered in this far less costly material. Towards this, they devised an unusual finish, “An artificial polish is given by the application with a woolen cloth of a paste compounded of bone dust and common soap,” notes Stone Magazine (1895). ii.


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XXII. Cleopatra’s Needles, New York

1min
pages 90-93

XXI. Siegessaule Monument, Berlin

1min
pages 86-87

XX. Seven Souvenir Vendome Columns and Luxor Obelisks

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pages 84-85

XIX. Colonne de Juillet, Luxor Obelisk & Colonne Vendome

1min
pages 76-83

XVII. Rouen Cathedral Clock

1min
pages 70-73

XVIII. Arc de Triomphe

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pages 74-75

XVI. Baptistries, Pisa

1min
pages 68-69

XII. Ruins of the Temple of Vespasian

1min
pages 56-57

XIII. Pantheon, Colosseum, and Temple of Hercules Victor

1min
pages 58-61

XIV. Ruins of the Temple of Vespasian and Temples of Hercules Victor

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pages 62-63

X. Sarcophagi of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus

1min
pages 48-51

IX. Column of Phocas

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pages 46-47

Vespasian, and Castor and Pollux, Trajan’s Column VIII. An Extraordinary Model of the Ruins of the

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pages 40-41

Temple of Castor and Pollux

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pages 42-45

VI. Temples of Hercules Victor (Temples of Vesta VII. Bronze Models of the Temples of Saturn,

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pages 38-39

II Trajan’s Column in Rosso Antico Marble

1min
pages 22-23

IV. Capitoline Wolf

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pages 34-35

V. Temples of the Sybil

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pages 36-37

I. Trajan’s Column in Gilded Bronze

1min
pages 18-21

Who’s Your Nero Now?

2min
page 17
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