2-728-212 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius, 1548. Beatrizet created this engraving as part of a project recording the artworks and architecture of Rome. Conceived by the publishers Antonio Salamanca and Antonio Lafreri, the prints came to be known as the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae , or Mirror of Roman Magnificence . Tourists and collectors could buy the prints individually or purchase them in larger groups and bind them into an album. Preserved in Rome throughout the Middle Ages, this ancient statue of emperor Marcus Aurelius was moved in 1538 to the Capitoline Hill, where it became a central feature of a new piazza designed by Michelangelo.