etching and engraving, an excellent impression, on laid paper, two sheets joined, 435 x 580 mm., irregularly trimmed just within the platemark, central join with repaired tears, small repaired tear lower left, small area of expert restoration to centre right extremity, [Nagler, III, 779, 1; Hollstein (Binck) 261], published by Antoine Lafréry, circa 1565 One of three related plates that were included in Antoine Lafréry's Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae , portraying the jousting tournament that was held in honour of the marriage of Annibale Altemps and Ortensia Borromea. The etching shows a bird's-eye view from the Vatican Palace into the Cortile del Belvedere before its reconstruction under the papacy of Sixtus V; the construction of Michelangelo's redesigned dome for St Peter's Cathedral can be seen going on in the upper right corner. Lafréry's Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, or the "Mirror of Roman Magnificence", became the title for a collection of engravings, etchings, and woodcuts, that Lafréry published and intended for collectors to make their own selection and arrangement, normally to be individually bound. They were all related by the published title-page that was intended as the starting point for collectors, which Lafréry published in the 1570s. The identity of the engraver has proved problematic to art historians, with the traditional attribution to Jacob Bink (1485-1568/9) being rejected by Nagler; the date of the event happened after the artist had already returned to Königsberg. Nevertheless the quailty of the etcher is clearly apparent, and the present impression is a particularly well inked example.