Vetusta Monumenta is the title of a published series of illustrated antiquarian papers on ancient buildings, sites and artefacts, mostly those of Britain, published at irregular intervals between 1718 and 1906 by the Society of Antiquaries of London. The folio-sized papers, usually written by members of the society, were first published individually, and then later in collected volumes. [1]
The full title is Vetusta monumenta quae ad Rerum Britanicarum memoriam conservandam Societas Antiquariorum Londini sumptu suo edenda curavit, but the volumes are normally simply cited as Vetusta Monumenta. There were various reprints of both individual papers and collected volumes, and the plates were often published separately from the text. According to the HOLLIS database at Harvard: "The seven volumes are dated 1747, 1789, 1796, 1815, 1835, 1883 and 1906 (for the fourth part of vol. 7). The plates for vol. 1 were published between 1718 and 1747; plates for vol. 2 were published between 1748 and 1789; plates for vol. 3 were published between 1790 and 1796; plates for vol. 4 were published between 1799 and 1815; plates for vol. 5 were published between 1816 and 1835; plates for vol. 6 were published between 1821 and 1885; plates for the four parts of vol. 7 were published between 1893 and 1906." [2]
The series began the same year that the society formalised its existence with the first minuted meeting on 1 January 1718 at the Mitre Tavern, Fleet Street; the society's main journal Archaeologia did not begin publication until 1770. Members of the society received a free copy as each part was published. [3]
The emphasis was on the large and detailed illustrations, initially high-quality engravings, which conveyed information on the subject matter in an accessible and economical way. [4] Each issue was usually developed from papers and research of the society, giving a text description accompanied by illustrated details it had commissioned. The assemblage of maps, site plans and other details was a novelty that found popular appeal.
The views in the series contained images of people and other means of conveying scale, providing the perspective of the interested visitor. These accompanied text descriptions for the sites, but provided additional information with high levels of detail and multiple or idealised viewpoints to simulate a well-informed tour. Many of the plates show the setting, inset with exploded views, cross sections and other architectural details, or objects found at the site. Other figures were interspersed with the text, or taking up several full pages. Critics have compared this approach with contemporaneous works that included the subject as an attractively sketched scene, illustrations were not yet recognised as a valuable source of information. The book used the multiple and separate details to synthesise encyclopaedic surveys that typified the approach of the natural historians and antiquaries, what Barbara Maria Stafford has described as "cross-referencing material bits of distant reality". [5]
An 1803 article on the Rosetta Stone was amongst the earliest-published research. [6] The first detailed account of the medieval French Royal Gold Cup in the British Museum was published in one of the last papers, of 1904, by Sir Charles Hercules Read. [7]
The following is an incomplete list of noted contributors, and their articles:
Notices on illustrations mention the following engravers:
George Vertue was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period.
Charles Alfred Stothard was an English antiquarian draughtsman, with a special interest in monumental effigies.
Richard Rawlinson FRS was an English clergyman and antiquarian collector of books and manuscripts, which he bequeathed to the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, and is a registered charity.
The Gentleman's Magazine was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term magazine for a periodical. Samuel Johnson's first regular employment as a writer was with The Gentleman's Magazine.
Samuel Lysons was an English antiquarian and engraver who, together with his elder brother Daniel Lysons (1762–1834), published several works on antiquarian topics. He was one of the first archaeologists to investigate Roman sites in Britain, and specialised in the study of mosaics.
James Basire, also known as James Basire Sr., was a British engraver. He is the most significant of a family of engravers, and noted for his apprenticing of the young William Blake.
John Gage Rokewode was a historian and antiquarian.
John Chamberlaine was an antiquary and acted as keeper of George III's drawings, coins and medals from 1791 until his death in 1812. He published prints of drawings in the Royal Collection by Holbein, Leonardo, Annibale Carracci and others, for which Francesco Bartolozzi (1728–1815) the engraver and etcher, was commissioned as a printmaker.
Thomas Astle FRS FRSE FSA was an English antiquary and palaeographer.
Thomas Amyot was an English antiquarian.
Jacob Schnebbelie was an English draughtsman, specialising in monuments and other historical subjects.
Thomas Walford (1752–1833) was an English antiquary.
John Bridges (1666–1724) was an English lawyer, antiquarian and topographer.
Isaac Basire was an engraver and first in a family line of prolific and well-respected engravers. Isaac Basire was known as a map engraver. His most well-known work is the frontispiece to an edition of Bailey's dictionary (1755).
John Le Keux was a British engraver.
The Holbein Gate was a monumental gateway across Whitehall in Westminster, constructed in 1531–32 in the English Gothic style. The Holbein Gate and a second less ornate gate, Westminster Gate, were constructed by Henry VIII to connect parts of the Tudor Palace of Whitehall to the east and west of the road. It was one of two substantial parts of the Palace of Whitehall to survive a catastrophic fire in January 1698, the other being Inigo Jones's classical Banqueting House. The Holbein Gate was described by Thomas Pennant as "the most beautiful gate at Whitehall". It was demolished in 1759.
Anne Rudge was a British botanical illustrator who illustrated the works of her husband, the botanist Edward Rudge and her son, the barrister and antiquary Edward John Rudge, among others. She is one of the earliest known published female botanical artists, as, unlike many other female artists in her field at that time, she signed her work.
Catherine Downes was an English antiquarian and archaeologist, who excavated a Roman villa near Warminster, Wiltshire, in 1786. Downes is a significant figure in the early history of archaeology, since she was one of the first women antiquarians to excavate a Roman site; the other was Frances Stackhouse Acton. Downes is also one of the earliest recorded women who contributed to the work of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
"Basire, James, et al.". Dictionary of National Biography . London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. citing Redgrave, Dict. | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vetusta Monumenta . |