Antique View of the Temple of Clitumnus near Spoleto, Italy, circa 1850

This is a view of the Temple of Clitumnus near Spoleto, an original antique steel engraving, uncolored, circa 1850. The caption reads CLITUMNUS-TEMPEL, bey Spoleto in Italien., German for the Temple of Clitumnus near Spoleto in Italy.

The small temple with its pediment and four columns stands on a terrace halfway up the wooded hillside, with towers and houses on the heights above. Women in local dress stand on the slope in front of it among a few sheep, and a stone bridge with a figure crosses at the right beside a tall house. In the foreground a man wades in the stream with a long fishing rod, a timber shed stands at the lower left and broad leaved plants grow at the lower right.

A small script signature at the lower edge of the image is too faint to transcribe, and no other credit appears. Below the caption the plate carries the imprint Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts zu Hildburghausen. at the lower left, meaning published by the Bibliographisches Institut at Hildburghausen, and Eigenthum d. Verleger. at the lower right, property of the publishers. A roman plate number is engraved at the top right.

The sheet comes from a dealer's album rather than from a bound set. Its imprint is that of Meyer's Universum, a serial collection of engraved views with descriptive text, published by Joseph Meyer's Bibliographisches Institut at Hildburghausen from 1833, its plates engraved on steel. The small temple by the springs of the Clitunno was long taken for a Roman shrine of the river god Clitumnus and is now held to be an early Christian building.

Handling soiling along the left edge. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Corners and edges are not shown by this scan. Clean, even paper tone in the margin. One larger brown mark.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.