12/12

About this artwork

collector's mark: Lugt 240

Art Historical Context

This delicate titled *12/12 was created by Pietro S Bartoli, an Italian printmaker active during Baroque period. Measuring 86 by 233, the narrow horizontal format suggests it may have served as a frieze or illustration within a larger series of twelve prints. Etching, the chosen medium, allowed artists of the seventeenth century to achieve remarkable precision and tonal subtlety, making it ideal for reproducing architectural details, ancient reliefs, or ornamental motifs that were widely circulated among scholars and collectors. The presence of the Lugt 240 collector’s mark indicates that thi...

About the Artist

Pietro Sante Bartoli · 1615–1700

Pietro Santi Bartoli, born in Perugia in 1635, emerged as a pivotal figure in the Roman antiquarian revival of the late seventeenth century. Relocating to Rome as a youth, he initially pursued painting, studying under the French artist Jean Lemaire—known as "Le Petit Lemaire"—and later under the esteemed Nicolas Poussin, whose classical rigor profoundly shaped his early approach. Though traces of ...