Object Image

The Excavation of an Obelisk from the Campo Marzo

Jean Barbault

This obelisk had been unearthed in 1748 when small houses behind Palazzo di Montecitorio were torn down in order to construct a new building for the Augustinian monks of S. Maria del Popolo. The obelisk was found broken into five major pieces.

This plate shows a pulley system used to move the blocks. The block on the far left has a dedicatory inscription by Emperor Augustus. To the right of the plate is Palazzo della Vignaccia, in the courtyard of which the obelisk was temporarily relocated.

Credit: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1962

c. 1749
Etching
25.2 x 35.1cm
62.661.36
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019

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