1805 Tommaso Piroli Engraving of Sappho – Antiquités d’Herculanum, Plate XXIV

Original early 19th-century copperplate engraving by Tommaso Piroli (1752–1824), published in Paris in 1805 in Antiquités d’Herculanum, Tome IV: Bronzes, by Francesco and Pietro Piranesi.

Plate XXIV records an ancient bronze bust traditionally identified as Sappho of Mytilene, the celebrated Greek poet. The accompanying original text states that the bronze was discovered at Resina (Herculaneum) in 1758.

Piroli’s Antiquités d’Herculanum was produced to document antiquities excavated at Herculaneum and the surrounding Vesuvian sites; the plates were executed by Piroli and issued in the Paris edition by the Piranesi brothers.

Date: 1805
Engraver: Tommaso Piroli
Subject: Sappho of Mytilene
Plate: XXIV
Medium: Copperplate engraving / etching
Publication: Antiquités d’Herculanum, Tome IV: Bronzes
Published: Paris, F. & P. Piranesi, 1805

17” x 13”