Description

Engraved title page of the book "De Roma Sotterranea" ("Rome Underground"), by Antoine Bosio. With three rows of scenes in an architectural facade setting: at top, a helmeted figure holding a cross and a globus cruciger (a symbol of Christian royal authority), flanked by two scenes of men being tortured to death; below, from left to right, a man bearing a torch climbing down into a passage carved in the floor; men bearing what appear to be dead bodies and torches in a small room with painted ceilings and arches, and a man praying at a small bare altar; two men, one with a torch, placing a body into a crevice in the wall, as two figures watch from the shadows in the background. Below, various swords, axes, torches etc. flanking a central scene depicting several Biblical stories, including Jonah being spat up by the whale. Printed below: "In Roma appresso Guglielmo Facciotti MDCXXXII con licenza de Superiori. e privilegio."