Dante’s Monument from Antiquitatum civitatis Fori Julii
Dante’s Monument
Engraving from Antiquitatum civitatis Fori Julii (Venice, 1658 license / 1669 ed.).
Depiction of the poet Dante Alighieri’s tomb, framed within an architectural niche crowned with the inscription “Virtuti et Honori” (To Virtue and Honor). Dante is shown in relief, seated at a desk with book and writing implements, above a sculpted inscription plaque. The engraving is carefully composed to emphasize both the physical monument and the symbolic veneration of Dante as Italy’s preeminent poet.
Texts below image:
Upper roundel: “VIRTUTI ET HONORI.”
Inscription tablet (Latin):
“Urbis Monarchiae, lux fulgens, praelucidus auctor,
Illustrans celsos, ventorum vasta coercens,
Sic quasi rara coest mercedis dona capessens,
Auctoritate sua, virtutis fulgore refulsit.
Hic clarum Paradisi iter monstravit ab oris,
Quae gaudent tanto, raptaque Mater amore.”
Below image:
“Dantis Poetae Monumentum.”
Leiden between 1704 and 1725
Each Plate Approx 28 x 48 cm (Full Sheet Including Margins)
The Thesaurus Antiquitatum et Historiarum Italiae formed part of the monumental Thesaurus Antiquitatum et Historiarum series compiled by Johann Georg Graevius (1632–1703) and published in Leiden between 1704 and 1725. Overseen by the Dutch publisher Pieter van der Aa, the folio volumes combined texts, inscriptions, and richly engraved illustrations of monuments and antiquities from across Italy.
Many of the plates, such as those from the Monumenta Brixiana section devoted to finds from Brescia, document Roman statues, coins, inscriptions, and architectural remains. Executed in van der Aa’s workshop, the engravings often drew on earlier antiquarian sources but were presented in a format that reflected the 18th-century revival of interest in classical antiquity.
Conceived as a comprehensive resource for scholars, the Thesaurus also became a visual library for artists and thinkers of the early Neoclassical age, preserving and disseminating the legacy of ancient Italy through both scholarship and imagery.
