Main entry:

Ponce, Nicolas, 1746-1831.

Title & Author:

Description des Bains de Titus, ou Collection des peintures trouvées dans les ruines des thermes de cet Empereur / et gravés sous la direction de M. Ponce ... Avec un avant-propose et un texte explicatif des planches.

Publication:

Paris : Chez l'Auteur ... Barbou ... a Yverdun, chez le Professeur de Félice, 1786 [i.e. 1787?]

Description:

[2], 101, [1] pages, 60 [i.e. 52] engr. plates ; 50.6 cm (2)̲

Notes:
The text has been attributed to F.B. de Félice, but is based on the Italian of Giuseppe Carletti's Le antiche camere delle Terme di Tito (1776-[1778]; No. 557). The plates are copied from those accompanying Carletti's work; one is dated 1787. Each leaf bearing arabic pagination is printed on the recto only.
Signature: 2:̲ {OCLCbrCB}1 a² A-G² H1 I-Bb². [52 leaves] $1 signed.
: This work provides a description and depiction of the decorated walls and ceilings of the 'Baths of Titus', now known to have been part of Nero's Domus Aurea, built near the site of Titus' baths and later partly covered by the Baths of Trajan (see Nash I, pp. 339-348). It was the first substantial work published by Ponce (although by this date he had contributed to several other publications, and had issued at least two collections of plates in collaboration with François Godefroy). The plates are all reduced copies of those drawn by Franciszek Smugliewicz and Vincenzo Brenna, and engraved by Marco Carloni, for Giuseppe Carletti's Le antiche camere delle Terme di Tito (1776-[1778]; No. 557). The earlier origins of the plates are hinted at on plate 1, which is copied from the title-plate to the illustrative matter accompanying Carletti's work, and which now has the words 'Nuovamente Stampata' added after the title (see Plates above). There is, however, little in the text to indicate that these plates are copies, it being noted only that the decoration had been drawn following the excavations in 1775 and 1776 by a group of 'bons Dessinateurs', with the present plates engraved 'd'après les Originaux' (see p.[i]). There is some doubt about who composed the 'Texte Explicatif Des Planches'. The imprint gives the first publisher as 'L'Auteur' with Ponce's address, suggesting that he took primary responsibility for the work. However, the third named publisher is 'Professeur de Félice', and he is also named in the 'Avant-Propos', where it is stated that these are the plates 'que le Professeur de Félice présente aujourd'hui au public' (p.[i]). De Félice is apparently the philosopher and historian Fortuné Barthélemy de Félice, and it is to him that the BM. Gen. Cat. attributes the text. Whoever compiled the descriptions however based his material on Carletti's Italian text, and there are sections that are virtually straight translations. It is only the footnotes that display any real originality. The number of different engravers involved suggests that the re-engraving of Carloni's original plates was treated partly as a student piece, with the work being undertaken by a group of young practitioners, probably including some amateurs, under the direction of Ponce and Pierre Philippe Choffard (who was an established engraver by this date, and signs plate 4 'Direxit'). L.C. Chateau, who signs four of the plates, is known to have been one of Ponce's pupils, and another plate is signed by 'Mlle Chateau', being presumably L.C. Chateau's sister. Ponce's wife Margueritte, who signs plates 7 and 9, was the daughter of Antoine François Hemery, who himself engraved plate 6.! %tSince the 'bons Dessinateurs' Smugliewicz and Brenna drew the decoration, a group of students engraved the plates, and de Félice is said to have supplied the main text after Carletti's original, the extent of Ponce's responsibility for the substance of the work is a little hard to estimate. It seems, however, that he acted as editor and overseer of the project, and as its publisher. If he did not compile the main text, then he may have supplied the preface, and perhaps also the footnotes to the descriptions. The fact that plate 22 is dated '1787' may indicate that the work was not completed and issued until this year, although it is also possible that the plate was produced earlier, but dated 1787 because publication was at one time planned for the latter year. The plates were reprinted in 1805, with a much abbreviated text, as Collection des tableaux et arabesques trouvés a Rome, dans les ruines des Thermes de Titus (No. 2598). Following the success of this work, Ponce published in 1789 a companion volume showing ceilings at the Baths of Livia, Villa Adriana and Villa Madama, this time with all the plates said to have been engraved by his own hand (see No. 2596). Again it is evident that Ponce copied thes plates from other published sources, including a further series of plates published by Ludovico Mirri, who had issued Carletti's work (see the Notes to No. 2596). The two collections of ceilings published by Ponce are often found together. For example, the Berlin copy of the present edition was bound with this 1789 volume, while the BAL copy of the Livia volume is bound with the 1805 abridgement. A combined reprint of the present work and the 1789 plates was published in 1838 (see the BM. Gen. Cat.).
There is a woodcut ornament of crossed quills on the titlepage. A combined woodcut and typographical head-piece appears on a1a. Woodcut tail-pieces appear on a2b, A1a (rptd G1a, N2a, T1a), A2a, B1a (rptd D2a, Y2a), B2a (rptd Q1a), C1a (rptd O2a, P2a, V2a, Aa2a), C2a, D1a (rptd V1a), E1a, E2a, F1a (rptd X2a), F2a (rptd T2a), G2a (rptd G2a, K2a), H1a, I1a, M1a, M2a, N1a, O1a (rptd Z1a), P1a, Q2a (rptd X1a), R1a, Y1a, Z2a, Aa1a, Bb1a and Bb2a. Typographical tail-pieces appear on I2a, S1a and S2a, with typographical rules at the head of each plate description.

Subject:

Mural painting and decoration taly Rome.
Baths Italy Rome.
Bains Italie Rome.
Antiquities.
Baths.
Mural painting and decoration.
Rome (Italy) Antiquities.
Rome (Italie) Antiquités.
Italy Rome.
Baths public hot spring Roman Ceilings panels Ceilings painted Interior decoration Panelling Italy Rome Domus Aurea

Added entries:

Félice, Fortuné Barthélemy de.
Carletti, Giuseppe.

Holdings:

Location: Library main m 23716
Call No.: W7301
Status: Available