The Graphic Collection of the Ticinese Architects Pietro Bianchi and Augusto Guidini

Angela Windholz (Biblioteca dell’Accademia di architettura di Mendrisio - Università della Svizzera Italiana)

Bartolomeo Pinelli (attributed), Caricature of Abate Carlo Fea, Etching, third state, detail of a cartoon formerly twice as large about the excavations of the Arena of the Colosseum (after 1813), Biblioteca dell'Accademia di architettura, Mendrisio – Università della Svizzera italiana — Bartolomeo Pinelli (attributed), *Caricature of Abate Carlo Fea*, Etching, third state, detail of a cartoon formerly twice as large about the excavations of the Arena of the Colosseum (after 1813), Biblioteca dell'Accademia di architettura, Mendrisio – Università della Svizzera italiana

Bartolomeo Pinelli (attributed), *Caricature of Abate Carlo Fea*, Etching, third state, detail of a cartoon formerly twice as large about the excavations of the Arena of the Colosseum (after 1813), Biblioteca dell'Accademia di architettura, Mendrisio – Università della Svizzera italiana

In the course of the “Curatorial Research Fellowship” at the Bibliotheca Hertziana, work began on processing the graphic collection of Pietro Bianchi (Lugano 1787 – Naples 1849).This heterogeneous compendium of historical prints comprising 600 sheets came into the possession of the Biblioteca dell’Accademia di Mendrisio as a bequest from the architect Augusto Guidini (Barbengo 1853 – Milano 1928). First created by Pietro Bianchi, the collection containing works from different periods was then expanded by Guidini. The previous analysis of the holdings found unsigned or cropped works by S. Badalocchio, P. Barelli (Legni Soliani), F. Bartolozzi, J. W. Bauer, F. Berardi, B. Biscaino, J. Callot, A. Collaert, Della Bella, A. Dürer, G. B. Galestruzzo, B. Gaultier, J. F. Greuter, G. Hertel, D. Hopfer, J. Kaltner, J. Leblond, V. Levèvre, J. Lepautre, J. J. Le Veau, L. Loli, L. Mattioli, G. M. Mitelli, Palma il Giovane, N. or G. Perelle, B. Pinelli, G. B. Piranesi, F. and N. de Poilly Rembrandt, G. Reni, L. Rossini, M. Sadeler, C. Savary, E. Sirani, P. Testa, P. Troger, J. van de Velde, J. Vezzani, G. M. Viani, F. Vivares, H. Voogd, J. Wagner, A. Wierix, F. Zuccarelli, etc. More specifically, a collection of previously unknown and unpublished works, which are available in various stages of publication and which were created in connection with the excavations of the Colosseum during the Napoleonic era, was analysed in more detail. Bianchi, in particular, made a significant contribution to the discovery of the arena (1811–1814). The engravings that he commissioned for the excavations not only allow conclusions to be drawn about the progress of the archaeological finds and their publication, but also reveal the background to one of the most intense scholarly debates of the 19th century, which involved the different archaeological approaches of architects and antiquaries corresponding to the epistemes of the Enlightenment and the restoration period.