Aernout van Buchel

These were included in Buchel’s Iter Italicum, which forms a part of his Commentarius rerum quotidianarum (Diary of daily things), which covers the years 1560 through 1599.

[1] One example is his drawing of the Sarcophagus of Constantia, which resembles an illustration from Bartolomeo Marliani’s travel guide Antiquae Romae topographia, first published in 1538.

Marliani’s illustration is based in turn on an etching and engraving by Ambrosius Brambilla, published by Claudio Duchetti in 1582 in the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae (Mirror of Roman Magnificence).

In response to the demolishing of buildings and destruction of works of art after the Protestant Reformation, van Buchel started writing and drawing threatened inscriptions, tombstones, arms boards and other noteworthy items with the aim of preserving their memory before they were lost to the destruction.

He put together a number of manuscripts that, together, form a treasure of immeasurable worth for research into lost buildings and inventories.