Loggie di Rafaele nel Vaticano

A title-frontispiece, a general folding profile (3 sheets mounted) of the gallery, 16 double-page folding plates numbered A-B and I to XIV representing 2 doors and 14 pilasters (part I) - 13 double-page folding plates representing ceilings and vaults (part II) - 12 double-page folding plates representing pilasters (part III). All these plates are engraved by Volpato after Raphael, and colored.

A masterpiece of Western ornamental art, Raphael's collection of Lodges includes the architectural study of ceilings, vaults, pilasters, columns and doors in the manner of Roman antiquity decor. For this, Raphael was inspired by sculptures, precious marbles, engraved stones, nature with its flowers, animals... paintings, including the "grotesques", those paintings found underground in Nero's Domus Aurea... for the decorative side, without forgetting the religious side since the vaults are decorated with episodes from the Old and New Testaments. From the moment of their completion in 1519, the Lodges aroused unanimous enthusiasm. In 1772, the excellent engravers Giovanni Volpato (1733-1803) and Giovanni Ottaviani (1735-1808) received from Pope Clement XIII the privilege of engraving the plates representing the series of paintings of Raphael's Lodges in the Vatican.