Representing Rome: Analyzing a Giacomo Lauro Print as a Window to the Past (original) (raw)

Representation has been a contested topic within the field of art history for decades, grappling with the authenticity and independence of representation from its subject. Bringing in the ideas of E.H. Gombrich, David Summers, and philosophers such as Descartes, the concept of representations as original works of imagination and independent creativity are explored. Using the 1625 Giacomo Lauro print entitled Claudi Et Traiani Impp Admirabum Portuv Ostien Sciogria as a case study, this essay regards the print and its history, first addressing its content and then analyzing it as a work of representation, while contending with its historical inaccuracies. Viewing the print as a map to the Roman port, the ideas of Roman supremacy and nationalism, and Lauro’s own mind, one can trace back the meanings and decode the messages embedded in the engraving. Following Summer’s ideas of representation as communication, an attempt is made at unpacking the print from its historic context into the modern day, analyzing its value as a historic record of the time and place of its creation as well as the sentiments of its creator. The print, as well as the book Splendore Dell’Antica Roma Nel Quale si Rappresenta as a whole, is analyzed as a 17th century object, factoring in its role as a text created to honor Rome and the 1625 Jubilee of Urban VIII. Also bringing in the tradition of mapmaking as a method of understanding the world in contrast with the lack of accuracy in the depiction of the Port of Augustus found in the print, these issues are faced within the spectrum of representation and understood under a 21st century lens. Invoking conversation between viewers and creators, the concept of representation as intermediary is discussed, attempting to pin down its place between the subject, the viewer, and the mental images the representation invokes.