Columna Cochlis M. Aurelio Antonio Augusto Dicata eius rebus gestis in Germanicâ, atque Sarmaticâ expeditione insignis, ex S. C. Romae ad viam Flaminiam erecta, ac utriusque belli imaginibus anaglyphice insculpta
This is an engraved folio of the Column of Marcus Aurelius, published in Rome in 1704 by Pietro Santo Bartoli with commentary by Giovanni Pietro Bellori, reproducing the carved reliefs as prints for antiquarians and artists. The plates show horizontal bands of Roman soldiers, standing officials, horses and combat scenes, with fine hatched shading that suggests stone carving; a designer might take their dense, continuous narrative friezes as a model for banded panoramic compositions and crowded group layouts.
