Abcontrafactur des Künstlichen und Schönen Amphitheatri zu Verona.

About this piece

A hand-coloured woodcut of Verona’s Roman amphitheatre from the 1588 German edition of Sebastian Münster’s Cosmographia, published by Sebastian Petri in Basel. The date 1549 appears on the sweeping red ribbon within the image. The print opens up the ancient building to show its interior, setting long rows of arches against the surviving height of its outer wall.

The repeated arches give the composition an architectural rhythm. Above them, the curling ribbon carries the name Theatrum Veronense and fills the sky with red loops. The reverse contains German letterpress with coloured initials and a smaller coloured illustration, showing how an architectural subject could sit alongside the book’s accounts of places and their histories.

The colouring is strongest in the red ribbon and the pale blue surrounding the architecture. The paper shows a middle fold, paper discolouration and wear along the edges.