The Dome

Section of Rome's Pantheon depicted in Serlio's Third Book of Architecture

A section of the interior of the Pantheon in Rome.

Engraving from the 1540 Venetian edition of Sebastiano Serlio's Book Three. As the most complete and much admired surviving ancient Roman building, the Pantheon takes pride of place as the first to be illustrated in this book, one of the earliest to describe the 'antiquities of Rome' and other ancient ruins of Italy.

Elevation of the dome of the Sorbonne in Paris

The dome of the church of the Sorbonne is an imposing and yet elegant Parisian landmark. Leading Baroque architect Jacques Lemercier was commissioned by the powerful Cardinal Richelieu to design this church in 1629.

Jean Marot (1619 - 1679) held the title of 'Architecte du bâtiments du Roi' (architect of the buildings of the king) during the reign of Louis XIV of France. He is better known today as an engraver of architectural views documenting the buildings of his predecessors and peers.

His most well-known publications are volumes of engravings called the Grand Marot for the larger size, and the Petit Marot for the smaller sizes. The Steedman copy is a Petit Marot. This publication is the earliest documentation of French late Renaissance and Baroque architecture, including important buildings by Jacques Lemercier, Louis Le Vau and François Mansart.

Exterior of Rome's Pantheon pictured in Serlio's Third Book of Architecture

An exterior view of the facade of the Pantheon in Rome. Built in the second century, the span of the base of this dome was the largest in the world for 13 centuries.

Engraving from the 1540 Venetian edition of Sebastiano Serlio's Book Three. As the most complete and much admired surviving ancient Roman building, the Pantheon takes pride of place as the first to be illustrated in this book, one of the earliest to describe the 'antiquities of Rome' and other ancient ruins of Italy.

Section of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome

The Steedman collection continues to acquire important newly published books when appropriate. This image is from The Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, a four-volume set published in Italy in 2000. It is an exhaustive and beautiful photographic and textual documentation of the basilica.

This is a section of the landmark Dome of St. Peter's.

Detail of the capital of Trajan's Column, showing the Dacians defeated by Rome

Robert Adam was anxious to prove to the aristocracy of Great Britain that he was a bona-fide antiquarian as well as a talented architect.  This was done at that time by studying, documenting, and publishing sumptious engraved folios describing archaeological sites.  During his stay in Rome, he discovered that the ruins of a late Roman palace was still undocumented.  He hired a team of artists, and traveled to the city of Spalato (present-day Split) on the eastern Adriatic coast (present-day Croatia).  He and his team spent 5 weeks there, and the results were published in 1764 as The Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia.

Adam erroneously identified the Palace of Diocletian's mausoleum as a Temple of Jupiter.  In this side view, the current state of the structure is documented - plants growing from it, contemporary houses next to it, local residents conducting their daily business in its precincts.

The ancient Roman Pantheon as etched by Piranesi in the 18th century

The ancient Roman Pantheon, etched by Giovanni Battista Piranesi as it appeared in the eighteenth century.

This image appears in the four volume set of folios that Piranesi published in 1756 as Antichità romane.

St. Paul's Cathedral, London, from the northwest

Frontispiece of Arthur F. E. Poley's St. Paul's Cathedral London Measured, Drawn & Described, a handsome folio published in 1927. This lithograph presents the view of the Cathedral from the northwest.

This book was part of the original donation by Mr. Steedman.