Smugliewiecz (Franciszek, after) & Carloni (Marco)

Ten plates from 'Vestigia delle terme di Tito e loro interne pitture', engravings, later hand colouring, sheets c.60 x 72cm, published by Ludovico Mirri, [1776-68] (10)

*** The word ‘grotesque’ first appeared in the 1560s in reference to ruins called ‘le Grotte’ (the caves). These caves were in fact rooms in the Domus Aurea, the unfinished palace complex started by Nero after the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD.