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The geography and buildings of Jerusalem
and the Holy Land were of profound interest to those who
went there on pilgrimage, and to the whole of Christendom generally.
Under Ottoman rule in the sixteenth century, most holy places were
inaccessible to Europeans, making trustworthy accounts and pictures
of them all the more valuable. Bernardino Amico’s Franciscan
order gave him access to the historic sites, and his artistry and
integrity gave his Plans and Images of the Sacred Edifices of
the Holy Land a lasting archaeological significance.
Amico spent five years (1593-97) making fine and exactly observed plans, drawings of façades, and sections of buildings in Palestine, Bethlehem, and Cairo. Returning to Rome, he engaged Antonio Tempesta to finish his drawings and engrave the plates, which were published with his descriptive text in 1610. This, the second edition of 1620, includes etchings by the famous French engraver Jacques Callot. Amico’s images were the first accurate pictures of the church at Bethlehem, the house of the Last Supper, the Way of the Cross, and the Holy Sepulchre, and provided the foundation for modern scholarly archaeological research into the historic sites of the Holy Land.
The original book imaged for this digital edition:
11 5/8 x 7 15/16 inches (295 x 202 mm)
Amico spent five years (1593-97) making fine and exactly observed plans, drawings of façades, and sections of buildings in Palestine, Bethlehem, and Cairo. Returning to Rome, he engaged Antonio Tempesta to finish his drawings and engrave the plates, which were published with his descriptive text in 1610. This, the second edition of 1620, includes etchings by the famous French engraver Jacques Callot. Amico’s images were the first accurate pictures of the church at Bethlehem, the house of the Last Supper, the Way of the Cross, and the Holy Sepulchre, and provided the foundation for modern scholarly archaeological research into the historic sites of the Holy Land.
The original book imaged for this digital edition:
11 5/8 x 7 15/16 inches (295 x 202 mm)
Sepulchre Souvenirs
In his Trattato delle Piante & Immagini de Sacri Edifizi di Terra Santa (1620), Bernardino Amico established a standard for drawing the buildings of the Holy Land to scale. This sense of scale also inspired the invention of the architectural souvenir, as Amico was the first to make scale models of cribs and sepulchres from the buildings he drew to be sold as mementos. Find out about Amico’s other motivations and examine his sense of scale more closely in the Octavo Edition of his Trattato.
In his Trattato delle Piante & Immagini de Sacri Edifizi di Terra Santa (1620), Bernardino Amico established a standard for drawing the buildings of the Holy Land to scale. This sense of scale also inspired the invention of the architectural souvenir, as Amico was the first to make scale models of cribs and sepulchres from the buildings he drew to be sold as mementos. Find out about Amico’s other motivations and examine his sense of scale more closely in the Octavo Edition of his Trattato.
Mysterious Matarea
In his second, final edition of the Trattato delle Piante & Immagini de Sacri Edifizi di Terra Santa (1620), Bernardino Amico introduced nine drawings that were not in the first edition. One of these depicts Matarea, near Cairo, a church that Amico undertook to have rebuilt in 1597. The story of this effort is replete with politics, fiscal malfeasance, jealousy, revenge, and a miracle. For all that, Amico’s drawing and description are the only remaining record of the rebuilt structure. Learn more about this venture and see the only drawing of the 1597 Matarea in the Octavo Edition of Amico’s Trattato.
In his second, final edition of the Trattato delle Piante & Immagini de Sacri Edifizi di Terra Santa (1620), Bernardino Amico introduced nine drawings that were not in the first edition. One of these depicts Matarea, near Cairo, a church that Amico undertook to have rebuilt in 1597. The story of this effort is replete with politics, fiscal malfeasance, jealousy, revenge, and a miracle. For all that, Amico’s drawing and description are the only remaining record of the rebuilt structure. Learn more about this venture and see the only drawing of the 1597 Matarea in the Octavo Edition of Amico’s Trattato.
Purloined Plates
Although the tradition of drawing the Christian holy places stretches back at least as far as the Frankish Bishop Arculf, who was in Jerusalem around A.D. 685, in addition to notable examples like that of Erhard Reuwich in 1483, the modern era in illustration properly begins with Amico’s drawings in Trattato...de Sacri Edifizi. No artist before Amico aspired to record Jerusalem and its monuments systematically and with topographical precision. Imaginary buildings, rendered in European style or with orientalizing embellishments such as onion-shaped domes, occupy a large proportion of earlier views, which usually functioned to elucidate literary texts, not as practical guides for pilgrims. Amico’s drawings exhibit a new standard of naturalism and veracity for the time. The drawings’ value was recognized immediately and the Trattato was plundered by numerous authors, most notably Franciscus Quaresmius (1622) and Olfert Dapper (1677). Rembrandt owned a copy of the second edition and borrowed from it Amico’s rendering of the Temple of Jerusalem as a domed octagonal building. When the methodological investigation of ancient remains in Jerusalem began in the middle of the nineteenth century, Amico’s drawings were especially influential, and many scholars attested his accuracy.
Although the tradition of drawing the Christian holy places stretches back at least as far as the Frankish Bishop Arculf, who was in Jerusalem around A.D. 685, in addition to notable examples like that of Erhard Reuwich in 1483, the modern era in illustration properly begins with Amico’s drawings in Trattato...de Sacri Edifizi. No artist before Amico aspired to record Jerusalem and its monuments systematically and with topographical precision. Imaginary buildings, rendered in European style or with orientalizing embellishments such as onion-shaped domes, occupy a large proportion of earlier views, which usually functioned to elucidate literary texts, not as practical guides for pilgrims. Amico’s drawings exhibit a new standard of naturalism and veracity for the time. The drawings’ value was recognized immediately and the Trattato was plundered by numerous authors, most notably Franciscus Quaresmius (1622) and Olfert Dapper (1677). Rembrandt owned a copy of the second edition and borrowed from it Amico’s rendering of the Temple of Jerusalem as a domed octagonal building. When the methodological investigation of ancient remains in Jerusalem began in the middle of the nineteenth century, Amico’s drawings were especially influential, and many scholars attested his accuracy.
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