Room 4 of 6

Antiquity & ruins

Rome, Greece and Egypt as the antiquarians recorded them: Montfaucon's Antiquity Explained, the triumphal arches and temples of Rome, the pyramids and temples of the Nile, and the reliefs of the Louvre.

137 prints

Before 1700 2 1700 to 1789 83 1790 to 1849 36 1850 and after 12

Order: Price, high to lowOldest first Newest first Price, low to high

French Renaissance Relief Sculptures, Château d’Écouen Engravings, 1803

£2,035

1803 · 62.6 × 46.7 cm

Grand Roman Relief Engravings after Antique Sculpture, Montfaucon 1721

£1,615

1721 · 45 × 45 cm

Classical Gods & Mythology, Set of 3 Antique Engravings, Montfaucon 1721

£1,265

1721 · 24.8 × 42.5 cm

Eternal Echoes Engraved: The Pantheon, Rome's Ancient Marvel, circa 1705

£1,190

1705 · 57 × 41.5 cm

Monumental Classical Relief Scene, Montfaucon Antiquity Explained Engraving 1721

£1,145

1721 · 50.2 × 42.4 cm

Roman Female Statues and Medallions, Montfaucon Antiquarian Engraving, 1721

£1,145

1721 · 50.2 × 42.3 cm

Monumental Mythological Scene, Classical Figures and Clouds, Montfaucon, 1721

£1,060

1721 · 50 × 42 cm

Monumental Classical Relief Frieze, Montfaucon Antiquity Explained, London 1721

£1,060

1721 · 50.2 × 42.3 cm

Classical Marble Statues, Apollo and Nude Figures, Montfaucon Antiquity, 1721

£1,060

1721 · 25.5 × 42.3 cm

Bembine Tablet of Isis Engraving from Montfaucon Antiquity Explained, 1721

£1,060

1721 · 62 × 46.8 cm

Antique Roman Temple Engravings Set of 3, Montfaucon 1721 Architecture

£1,060

1721 · 25.3 × 42.2 cm

Antique French Architectural Sculpture Engravings Set of 3, Louvre Reliefs. 1803

£1,010

1803 · 46.7 × 62.6 cm

Antique Louvre Sculptures & Institut Ceiling Ornament Prints, Baltard 1803

£1,010

1803 · 62.6 × 46.7 cm

Monumental Classical Sculpture Studies, Montfaucon Antiquity Explained, 1721

£975

1721 · 25.5 × 42.3 cm

Antique Roman Sculpture & Medals Plate, Montfaucon, Antiquity Explained, 1721

£975

1721 · 25.5 × 42.3 cm

Antique Roman Sculpture Engravings, Set of 3, Montfaucon, 1721

£975

1721 · 25.3 × 42.2 cm

Pair of Classical Mythological Engravings, Montfaucon Antiquity Explained 1721

£935

1721 · 24.3 × 42.2 cm

Antique Roman Statues & Medals Plate, Montfaucon, Antiquity Explained, 1721

£890

1721 · 25.5 × 42.3 cm

Roman Relief and Classical Medallions, Montfaucon Antiquity Explained, 1721

£890

1721 · 25.5 × 42.3 cm

Pair of Roman Classical Sculpture Engravings, Montfaucon Antiquity, c.1721

£890

1721 · 24.3 × 42.2 cm

Double Bacchic Frieze, Classical Mythological Relief, Montfaucon Engraving 1721

£840

1721 · 50 × 42 cm

Monumental Classical Frieze, Montfaucon Antiquity Explained, London 1721

£840

1721 · 50 × 42.1 cm

Antique Roman Ephesian Artemis Statues, Montfaucon Classical Engraving 1721

£840

1721 · 24.3 × 42.2 cm

Monumental Roman Temple Architecture Engraving, Montfaucon 1721

£830

1721 · 50 × 42 cm

Antique Roman Chariot Reliefs and Medallions, Montfaucon Engraving, 1721

£805

1721 · 25.5 × 42.3 cm

Diana of the Ephesians Antique Engraving, Montfaucon Antiquité Expliquée 1721

£795

1721 · 24.3 × 42.2 cm

Pompey’s Column, Alexandria, Antique Egypt Engraving by Norden, 1755

£780

1755 · 28.5 × 44.6 cm

Antique Louvre Architectural Relief Engravings Pair, Neoclassical Ornament, 1803

£755

1803 · 46.7 × 62.6 cm

Antique Louvre Architectural Engravings Pair, French Neoclassical Reliefs, 1803

£755

1803 · 62.6 × 46.7 cm

Large Classical Relief Engraving with Female Figures, Montfaucon, London 1721

£745

1721 · 24.3 × 42.2 cm

Pair of Serlio Architectural Plan Engravings, Neoclassical, c.1721

£745

1721 · 50 × 42 cm

Grand Roman Basilica Interior, Antique Engraving by Montfaucon, 1721

£745

1721 · 50 × 42 cm

Classical Mythological Figures Engraving, Montfaucon Antiquité Expliquée 1721

£735

1721 · 24.3 × 42.2 cm

Antique Roman Goddess Statues and Reliefs, Montfaucon Classical Engraving 1721

£720

1721 · 24.3 × 42.2 cm

Jupiter and Roman Coin Types, Antique Classical Engraving, Montfaucon, 1721

£715

1721 · 25.8 × 42.4 cm

Diana of Ephesus Antique Engraving, Montfaucon Antiquité Expliquée, 1721

£715

1721 · 24.3 × 42.2 cm

Across the Nile, Pair of Antique Egypt Engravings with Distant Pyramids, c.1755

£715

1755 · 44.6 × 29 cm

Meleager and the Calydonian Boar Antique Engraving, Montfaucon 1721

£710

1721 · 24.3 × 42.2 cm

Antique Caryatid Sculpture of the Louvre Interior, Baltard Paris 1803

£705

1803 · 46.7 × 62.6 cm

Temple of Vesta & Classical Rotunda Engraving, Montfaucon 1721

£660

1721 · 25 × 41.2 cm

Jupiter Cults and Roman Coins, Composite Classical Engraving, Montfaucon 1721

£660

1721 · 25.8 × 42.4 cm

Egyptian City Architecture with Tower, Denon Engraving, 1802

£655

1802 · 41.5 × 58.5 cm

Cybele, Magna Mater, Classical Goddess Statues and Medals, Montfaucon, 1721

£650

1721 · 25.8 × 42.4 cm

Old Cairo on the Nile with Distant Pyramids, Antique Egypt Engraving, c.1755

£645

1755 · 44.6 × 29 cm

Temple Ruins at Thebes with Architectural Plan, Egypt, Antique Engraving, c.1802

£630

1802 · 58.5 × 41.5 cm

Roman Sculptures & Portrait Heads, Composite Antiquities Plate, Montfaucon 1721

£615

1721 · 25.8 × 42.4 cm

Vue des Ruines de la Vénerie, Architectural Ruins Copperplate Engraving, 1803

£615

1803 · 62.6 × 46.7 cm

Une des Faces de la Pyramide de Peunom, Peunom Pyramid Facade c.1873-1875

£585

1873 · 49.8 × 36.2 cm

About antiquity & ruins

From the 1500s to the 1800s every educated traveller learned architecture from the ancients, and the antiquarians published what survived. Bernard de Montfaucon's Antiquity Explained (1719, English edition 1721) gathered temples, reliefs, statues, altars and lamps into hundreds of copperplates; Norden, Pococke and Denon measured the temples of the Nile; Piranesi's successors drew the arches and ruins of Rome.

The room also holds the classical sculpture of the Louvre as Baltard engraved it in 1803, and the ruined castles and abbeys of the Romantic era.

Explore

By place, by maker and by subject.

Places

Rome 68 Venice 18 Paris and France 71 London 35 Amsterdam 28 Dutch castles and estates 83 England, Scotland and Wales 46 Sweden and Denmark 17 Germany and Austria 20 Istanbul and the Ottoman world 21 Egypt 40 Jerusalem and the Holy Land 15 Indonesia and Batavia 31 China and Japan 23 The Americas 20

Makers and books

Montfaucon's Antiquity Explained 44 Racinet's ornament and interiors 147 Dolmetsch's Ornamentenschatz 31 Baltard's Louvre (1803) 22 Furniture designs: Sheraton to Kramer 88 Albertolli, Neufforge and the neoclassical pattern books 26 Benoist's Rome (1869) 15 Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna 8 Nash's Mansions of England 7

Subjects

Castles 100 Country houses and estates 57 Town halls and civic buildings 35 Bridges 32 Columns, obelisks and monuments 43 Temples and pagodas of Asia 14 Tombs and mausolea 38 Pulpits, altars and church furnishing 22 Staircases and great halls 14 Ceilings and frescoes 16 Tiles, mosaics and stained glass 22 Renaissance ornament 94 Medieval, Gothic and Celtic 56 Baroque and Rococo 84

Questions about antiquity & ruins

What is Montfaucon's Antiquity Explained?

L'Antiquite expliquee et representee en figures by the Benedictine scholar Bernard de Montfaucon, Paris 1719, translated into English in 1721: many folio volumes and supplements, with more than a thousand plates of classical antiquities. Its large plates of temples and reliefs are favourite architectural prints.

Are the Egyptian prints from Napoleon's Description de l'Egypte?

Most here are earlier: Frederik Norden's Travels in Egypt and Nubia (1755) and Richard Pococke's Description of the East (1743 to 1745 and later editions), with some plates from Denon's Voyage of 1802.