Giovanni Battista Falda

Giovanni Battista Falda (Valduggia 7 December 1643 – 22 August 1678 Rome) was an Italian architect, engraver and artist. He is known for his engravings of both contemporary and antique structures of Rome.[1]

Giovanni Battista Falda, "Basilica Vaticana", 1665

Biography
Falda's 1676 map of Rome

Falda was sent as a boy to Rome, to work in the studio of Bernini, and his draughtsmanship caught the eye of the publisher Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi.[2][3] He engraved for Le fontane di Roma (Fountains in Rome)[4] and for Palazzi di Roma (Palaces of Rome).[5] The former books was expanded after Falda's death with engravings by Francesco Venturini.[5] The latter was published in 1655 in collaboration with Pietro Ferrerio. He is sometimes known as 'Falda da Valduggia' because of his birthplace.

His works became particularly popular with the first waves of Grand Tour participants during the latter parts of the 17th century and Falda became a commercial success as a result. His works appealed to tourists keen to retain a detailed and accurate representation of those parts of Rome they had visited.[6]

References
  1. Metropolitan Museum of Art prints depicting Villa Aldobrandini (Villa Belvedere); Palazzo Pamphilj; Villa Mondragone; and Villa Medici in Rome; as well as a short biography.
  2. Romamor: Giovanni Battista Falda
  3. The Fountains of Rome: Selected Plates Giovanni Battista Falda, Giovanni Francesco Venturini; Dover Publications, (2014).
  4. The Fountains of Rome: Selected Plates, Giovanni Battista Falda, Giovanni Francesco Venturini; Dover Publications, (2014), with engravings of Villa Ludovisi at Frascati, The Fountain of the Triton by Bernini in Rome, and one of the fountains by Carlo Maderno in the Piazza in front of St Peter's in Rome.
  5. Ville e giardini di Roma nelle incisioni di Giovanni Battista Falda, edited Rosario Assunto, Il Polifilo, 1980.
  6. Imago Urbis: Giuseppe Vasi's Grand Tour of Rome.


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