Arch of Titus and Arch of Severus in Elevation, Montfaucon, 1722

This is an original antique copper engraving, uncolored, a double page folding plate from the fourth volume of Montfaucon's Antiquity Explained, and Represented in Sculptures. Two triumphal arches of Rome are drawn in elevation. At the lower left is a single arch with paired columns, a frieze of small figures in procession and a panel of lettering on the attic. At the right is a larger arch with three openings, relief panels above the side arches, carved figures on the column pedestals and a long inscription on the attic. On top of it stand a chariot with two figures drawn by a team of horses, two soldiers on foot with shields, and two horsemen, one at each end. At the upper left are smaller details: an arch in section, a trophy of arms with two captives, a plan of a pier, a carved panel and a spandrel with a winged figure.

The captions at the foot read "Arch of Titus" under the smaller arch and "Arch of Severus" under the larger, and "M. Mignard." sits under the carved panel at the upper left. The Arch of Titus and the Arch of Severus (Septimius Severus) stand in Rome. The attic of the smaller arch opens SENATVS POPVLVSQVE.ROMANVS DIVO.TITO and closes VESPASIANO.AVGVSTO. The inscription of the larger arch opens IMP. CAES. LVCIO. SEPTIMIO. M. FIL. SEVERO. PIO. PERTINACI. AVG. and ends S.P.Q.R. Small figure numbers 1 to 4 mark the parts. The corners are lettered "Vol. IV." at foot left, "Plate 36." at foot right and "Page 107" at top right.

Bernard de Montfaucon (1655 to 1741) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar. His L'Antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures appeared in Paris in 1719; this English translation by David Humphreys was printed in London by J. Tonson and J. Watts in 1722. Volume four deals with war, and this plate belongs to its treatment of triumphs and triumphal arches.

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