The Forum in the XVIth Century

From a drawing by Martin Heemskerk, now in the Berlin Museum

"The names of three greatest Italian masters of the fifteenth century - Filippo Brunellesco, the creator of the dome of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore; Donatello (Donato Bardi), the inimitable sculptor of the S. George on the facade of the church of Or. S. Michele; and Lorenzo Ghiberti, the designer and caster of those bronze doors of the Baptistery which Michaelangelo considered worthy of being the doors of paradise...Brunellesco and Donatello, during their visit to Rome in 1407, spent all their time and leisure in measuring ancient buildings and in excavating ruins; so much that they were nicknamed by the populace of Rome 'quelli del tesoro' (searchers for hidden treasures)."

Ancient Rome
in the light of recent excavations

Author: Rodolfo Lanciani
Editor:Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston and New York
Published: 1890


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