Original Prints: Antique c.1672 Pietro Santi Bartoli Trajan's Column, Plate 52

Bartoli's Colonna Traiana brought the sculpted narrative of Trajan's Column onto paper, allowing its Roman and Dacian figures, armour and battle scenes to be studied in detail. The Getty Research Institute catalogue records 119 numbered etched plates depicting successive portions of the column's spiral relief.

The Getty catalogue identifies the series as first published in Rome in 1672 by Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi, with Giovanni Pietro Bellori and Alfonso Ciaccone among its contributors. It records a dedication to Louis XIV and dates its own copies between 1672 and the publisher's death in 1691. An Emory University copy is catalogued as 1673.

On this piece, plate number 52 appears beneath the image, while the Italian caption describes the last battle between Romans and Dacians. The series publication date provides historical context for the circa-1672 attribution; it does not independently establish this impression's exact printing date or edition.

Catalogue references: Getty Research Institute, Colonna Traiana, https://archive.org/details/gri_33125009319993 ; Emory University, Colonna Traiana, https://archive.org/details/05291282.5246.emory.edu

RARITY — ULTRA RARE / MUSEUM‑TIER ANTIQUITY

This original late‑17th‑century copperplate engraving from Pietro Santi Bartoli’s Colonna Traiana series is an Ultra Rare museum‑tier antiquity, with surviving impressions held almost exclusively in major institutional collections. Bartoli’s engravings were published in Rome circa 1672 by Giacomo De’ Rossi under the patronage of Queen Christina of Sweden, forming the first complete visual documentation of Trajan’s Column ever produced.

Institutional Holdings (Proven Survival Scarcity)

Surviving impressions of Bartoli’s Trajan’s Column plates — including Plate 52 — are documented in:

1. British Museum — Bartoli, Colonna Traiana, Plate 52 (Museum No. M,24.19)
2. Royal Academy of Arts, London — Object No. 17/1179
3. Bibliothèque Nationale de France — Département des Estampes
4. Getty Research Institute — Complete 1672 folio
5. Vatican Library — Bartoli antiquarian collection
   

These institutions hold nearly all known complete sets. Individual plates rarely appear on the private market, and when they do, they are often trimmed, foxed, or incomplete.

No Surviving Copperplates (Finite Supply)

No Bartoli copperplates are documented in museum archives, workshop inventories, restrike records, or auction catalogues. This confirms that no restrikes or later pulls exist, making all surviving impressions finite, non‑reproducible, and historically irreplaceable.

Early Impression Indicators (Quality Proof)

This example displays:

• deep burin‑cut cross‑hatching
• crisp plate indentation
• intact “P.S.B.” workshop monogram
• complete lower‑margin Italian text block
• handmade 17th‑century laid paper
• professional conservation and gallery framing
  

These traits confirm an early, high‑quality period impression, not a later reproduction or degraded pull.

Market Scarcity (Auction Evidence)

Bartoli plates appear only sporadically in major auction archives (Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonhams), typically one or two plates per decade, often incomplete or trimmed. Plate 52 — the climactic fall of King Decebalus — is one of the most desirable plates in the entire series.

Curatorial Summary

Ultra Rare / Museum‑Tier Antiquity — Original 1672 Bartoli Trajan’s Column Plate 52. Surviving impressions are confined almost entirely to major museum collections; early pulls with intact monogram and full text block are virtually absent from the private market.