Print Specifics:
- Type of print: Steel engraving - Original antique print
- Year of printing: not indicated in the print - actual 1850
- Publisher: Firmin Didot Freres, Paris.
- Condition: 1 (1. Excellent - 2. Very good - 3. Good - 4. Fair)
- Dimensions: 9 x 12 inches, (23 x 30 cm), including blank margins (borders) around the image.
- Paper weight: 2 (1. Thick - 2. Heavier - 3. Medium heavy - 4. Slightly heavier - 5. Thin)
- Reverse side: Blank
- Note: Green color around the print in the photo is a contrasting background on which the print was photographed.
Narrative:
- TIVOLI, the ancient Tibur, stands on a hill covered with
groves of olive trees. The town boasts a high antiquity, and still
possesses a considerable population. The situation is beautiful:
sheltered on one side by Monte Catili and a semicircular range of Sabine
mountains, it commands on the other an extensive view over the Campagna,
bounded by the sea, Rome, Monte Soracte, and the pyramidal hills of Monticelli,
and Monte Rotonda, the ancient Eretrum. The pride and ornament of Tivoli
was the beautiful cascade which fell from the Anio near the temple of Vesta.
This cascade was destroyed a few years since in consequence of the river
having risen much beyond its usual height. The injury was repaired
by an artificial dam, constructed during the pontificate of Leo XII.; but,
as may be well supposed, this contrivance has not restored the cascade
to its natural and pristine beauty. Before its destruction by the
devastating flood, the river, having meandered from its source through
the valleys of Sabina, glided gently through Tivoli, till, coming to the
brink of a rock, it precipitated itself in one mass down the steep, and
then boiling for an instant in its narrow channel, rushed headlong through
a chasm into a cavern below.
The banks of the channel rise to the height of two hundred
feet, their sides being partially covered with shrubs and verdure, and
on the summit of one of them stands the celebrated building called the
Temple of the Sibyl, but which has been with more reason attributed to
Vesta. The temple, like all those dedicated to this goddess, is of
a circular form, and of the Corinthian order. It was built in the
reign of Augustus, and has been universally admired, more on account of
the beauty of its proportions and the situation in which it is placed than
for its size. The cell of the temple was originally surrounded with
eighteen columns, ten of which, with their entablature, still remain.
The Earl of Bristol is reported to have offered a considerable sum for
this ruin, with the view of removing it to England and re-erecting it in
his park. This intention was fortunately frustrated by a prohibition
of the Papal Government, grounded on a declaration that ruins were public
property. Mr. Havell has had a delightful subject to deal with, and one
which has afforded him ample scope to display very considerable taste and
skill. The still quiet of the air and the clear light of day are beautifully
expressed ; indeed there are few artists who can produce the effect of
sunshine and the stillness of scenery equal to Mr. Havell.
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