The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina in the Plans of Spanish Architects Retired in Rome
abstract
In the 18th century, at a time in which the taste for the Graeco-Roman past prevailed in the European arts as aesthetic solution and a new way of expression, numerous architects, included architects from Spain, travelled to Italy and especially to Rome in order to study ancient monuments. Their sketches reflect the archaeological interest of the 18th and 19th century in antiquity and they constitute an important graphic documentation of the state of conservation of the classical buildings at that time. This paper deals with the scientific approach of Spanish architects in those centuries to a single monument, the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina located in the Roman Forum. As a science whose practical implications require a perfect understanding of the models being studied, architecture deals with the analysis of antiquity with a precision which has no precedent in the mentality of antiquarians of the time, as demonstrated by the examples of the representation of the architectural plans of the Temple consecrated to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and his wife Faustina the Elder.
Keywords: Roman Forum • 18th and 19th Centuries • Spanish Architects • Temple of Antoninus and Faustina • Juan de Villanueva • Isidro González Velázquez