Abstract

The present essay represents the attempt to propose a synoptic reading of the artistic correspondence from or for Rome in a given year, 1785. The reading of a corpus of letters, united by chronological data, allows to capture speci(c aspects of the Roman artistic laboratory in that moment. For a first survey about 300 written letters written, or addressed, by artists in the three years 1784-1786, focusing attention on the dynamics and discussions around the new artistic production, the judgment of the Roman public, the commissions and the experience of young artists to their arrival in Rome.