Theatrum Italiae

Vincenz Franceschini according to Giuseppe Zocchi, View of part of the Arno embankment and Santa Trinita bridge, 1744, copperplate engraving with etching, from the album: Scelta di XXIV vedute delle principali contrade, piazze, chiese, e palazzi della citta di Firenze, Firenze 1744. Archbishopric of Olomouc

In the early modern period, Italy was one of Europe’s most important cultural centers. It was a place where one could admire ancient monuments, masterpieces of Renaissance and Baroque art, and observe the transformations of contemporary architecture. Cities such as Rome, Florence, and Venice were veritable treasure troves of visual forms and attracted travelers from all over Europe. While artists sought inspiration and studied the works of their predecessors and contemporaries, for young aristocrats, a visit to Italy was often the culmination of their education. The experience of these so-called Grand Tours significantly shaped the cultural outlook of the European elite and contributed to the spread of artistic styles and aesthetic ideas across the continent.

Graphics played an important role in shaping the image of Italy. Vedute, views of city streets, squares, and individual buildings were published not only as separate sheets, but also accompanied travelogues, itineraries, and atlases, allowing readers to symbolically (virtually) travel around Europe. For real travelers, prints became a popular souvenir, a reminder of the places they had visited, preserving a “visual memory” and at the same time helping to spread the image of Italy as the center of European culture.

This small exhibition, compiled exclusively from the archbishop’s collections stored at the castle in Kroměříž, presents a selection of topographical albums and graphic vedute depicting Italian cities at the height of their cultural and political prosperity. The exhibits include examples from the generously conceived “atlas” of Italian cities by Amsterdam publisher Joan Blaeu, views of Baroque Rome by Giovanni Battista Falda, and a representative collection of large-format vedute of Florence based on drawings by Giuseppe Zocchi.

The exhibition is also the first part of a longer-term cycle which, together with the accompanying catalog, follows on from the exhibition project Architecture in prints of the 16th–18th century from the Collections of the Archbishopric of Olomouc, held at the end of 2025 at the Archdiocesan Museum in Olomouc.

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