Lauro Engraving
Lauro's engraving of the Baths of Diocletian (Wellesley Special Collections).
A replica of the Baths of Diocletian as they survive today, from a vantage point opposite to Lauro's.
Giacomo Lauro's seventeenth-century engraving of the Baths of Diocletian provides a complete view of the bathing complex from above at a steep angle. The viewer almost gets the experience of looking down into a diorama like the one on display at the Baths today. Lauro's Baths do not appear exactly as they would have in Roman times: there are some additions, omissions, and distortions of relative size. However, the distribution of his 1641 book Spelendore dell'antica e moderna Roma with this depiction of the Baths would have helped the Baths' reputation as a monument worth noticing.
______
Giacomo Lauro, Spelendore dell'antica e moderna Roma (Roma: Nella Stamparia d'Andrea Fei, 1641).