LAFRERI, Antonio. - Castello Sancto Angelo di Roma.

The print features the Castello Sant' Angelo in Rome, bound in an album, perhaps from the "Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae." Copper engraving and published by Antonio Lafreri (French, Orgelet, Franche-Comte ca. 1512–1577 Rome).

The Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae (The Mirror of Roman Magnificence) found its origin in the publishing endeavors of Antonio Salamanca and Antonio Lafreri. During their Roman publishing careers, the two foreign publishers - who worked together between 1553 and 1563 - initiated the production of prints recording artworks, architecture, and city views related to Antique and Modern Rome. The prints could be bought individually by tourists and collectors but were also purchased in larger groups, often bound together in an album.
In 1573, Lafreri commissioned a title page, where the title ‘Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae’ first appears. Lafreri envisioned an ideal arrangement of the prints in 7 different categories, but he never offered one standard, bound set of prints during his lifetime. Instead, clients composed their selection from the corpus to be bound or collected a group of prints over time. When Lafreri died, two-thirds of the existing copper plates went to the Duchetti family (Claudio and Stefano), while another third was distributed among several publishers.

The Duchetti appears to have standardized production, offering their clients a more or less uniform version of the Speculum. The popularity of the prints also inspired other publishers in Rome to make copies, however, and to add new prints to the corpus" (The Met, New York).