Fontein op Piazza San Pietro in Montorio op de Janiculumberg te Rome 1653 - 1691

Curator: Ah, a visual hymn to civic pride. This is "Fountain on Piazza San Pietro in Montorio on the Janiculum Hill in Rome," a baroque engraving dating back to the late 17th century, conceived by the hand of Giovanni Battista Falda. Look at how masterfully he's captured the scene! Editor: My eyes are immediately drawn to the contrast between the man-made and the organic – the severe geometry of the fountain against the unruly Roman skyline and suggestion of overgrown shrubbery. A bit theatrical, isn’t it? Curator: Entirely so! But note how the architecture dictates social relations – tiny figures in dark clothes become almost decorations to emphasize how this space molds collective life, worshiping and dawdling together on stone. Consider also that etching process... copper plates and acid baths mirroring societal stratification and rigid codes... Editor: Speaking of that city, I am wondering about the social climate and the means for creating something so elaborate? What kind of labor went into erecting the fountain, carving the details...and whose pockets was this extravaganza funded by? It speaks volumes about baroque society, doesn’t it, to put it so centrally on display, no less. Curator: Indeed. Remember, Baroque art often served to impress and awe – political power channeled through art and the very earth! Look closer at the details... are those lions adorning the fountain, each spewing its watery tribute? Falda's keenness, making it alive! It has a heartbeat somehow, even now in print. Editor: It’s all such calculated propaganda though. You get a clear view of the surrounding architecture and of everyday activities of the citizenry – all meticulously arranged. Curator: But that very arrangement is where Falda’s genius resides! He manages to fuse topography with social narrative and imbues it with the sensibility of the age. One almost hears the murmur of conversation, the splash of water...doesn’t it feel a little eternal, too? Editor: Eternal or simply symptomatic of wealth and the power, maybe both? But you're right – thinking about the etchant eating away the copper to deliver this exact perspective centuries later gives it weight, no pun intended! Curator: Precisely! Falda managed to ensnare something vital in the copper—a testament not only to Rome but to art’s mysterious capacity to hold history suspended in time. Editor: Well, from the micro to macro: that intersection of materiality, craft, labor, representation, power, civic life and social relations, that's why this print, this artwork matters.