Transcribing antiquity: Peter Howell reviews the latest volumes in one of the great scholarly publishing ventures of the day: the catalogue of Cassiano dal Pozzo's 'Paper Museum'

The Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo: A Catalogue Raisonne Series A: Antiquities and Architecture

Part VII: Ancient Inscriptions Edited by William Stenhouse, 112 [pounds sterling] ISBN 1 872501 45 1

Part IX: Ancient Roman Topography and Architecture Edited by Ian Campbell Three volumes, 200 [pounds sterling] ISBN 1 872501 12 5

The Royal Collection in association with Harvey Miller Publishers

Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588-1657) settled in Rome in 1612 and entered the service of Cardinal Francesco Barberini soon after 1622. After he had accompanied the cardinal on diplomatic missions to Paris and Madrid, he and his younger brother Carlo Antonio (1606-89) started to form a collection of paintings, medals, books, drawings and scientific instruments. However, what made Cassiano exceptional was his idea of employing artists to make a 'Museo Cartaceo', or 'Paper Museum'. This was in two parts, one covering the ancient world, the other the natural world. The Museum was never published, but was much used by other scholars.

After Cassiano's death, Carlo Antonio added to the Museum and partly rearranged it. His grandson sold the library, including the Paper Museum, in 1703 to Pope Clement XI, who sold it on to his nephew Cardinal Alessandro Albani. The drawings were in large part reorganised and amalgamated with other drawings belonging to the family. In 1762 most of Albani's collection was bought by George III, through the agency of James Adam. After its arrival at Buckingham House, much was again reorganised. Two volumes ended up in the British Museum. Six volumes which did not go to the King are in Sir John Soane's Museum. Eight volumes of botanical drawings went to Paris, and two mycological albums to Kew. In 1823 most of George III's library was given to the British Museum, where further drawings and prints were separated from the main collection. Even the drawings which remained in the Royal Collection were not safe, as a large amount of natural history material was sold after World War I.

Interest was rearoused in the late nineteenth century. The first catalogue was that of the so-called 'Codex Coner' in the Soane Museum, published by Thomas Ashby in 1904. Further cataloguing was undertaken in the 1960s and 1970s, and in the mid 1980s it was decided to produce a 'fully illustrated catalogue raisonne of the entire Paper Museum' arranged by subject matter. 'Series A' will cover antiquities and architecture, in ten parts (five of them in two or three volumes). Parts I (Ancient Mosaics and Wall Paintings) and H (Early Christian and Medieval Antiquities) have already been published, and now we have two more.

The process of publication is far from simple. Its components are scattered in various repositories, and the location of some drawings is not even known. The three volumes comprising Part IX are not comprehensive; five albums in the Soane Museum are not included, because they were published in 1998 by Lynda Fairbairn in her catalogue Italian Renaissance Drawings from the Collection of Sir John Soane's Museum. Although the 'Codex Coner' certainly belonged to Dal Pozzo, only the additions he made to it are published here because the codex was published by Ashby. As for the remaining drawings, it is often not easy to decide whether or not they came from the Dal Pozzo collection (and with the prints it is even harder). One cannot help guessing that the editors, faced with such daunting problems, may often have regretted the decision to make such a difficult attempt. On the other hand, the enormous scholarly effort that has gone into it has been in many ways beneficial.

In her preface, the series editor, Amanda Claridge, discusses the evidence for the arrangement of the Dal Pozzo corpus, explaining that the drawings have not been catalogued in the order in which they are found in the existing albums, with the twofold intention of making the material easy to consult, and revealing the internal history of the collection. In his preface, the late Francis Haskell, former joint general editor, states that it would be impossible to adopt the principle used in other catalogues of the Royal Collection--arrangement by artist--and that the drawings are therefore catalogued by subject-matter. However, Ian Campbell's catalogue is in fact mostly 'grouped according to the hands and/or sources, and in chronological order'. William Stenhouse arranges his drawings (the great bulk of which are in the British Museum) on much the same principle.

In his long and valuable preface, Campbell discusses the development of architectural drawing after the antique before 1600, the Dal Pozzo holdings in architecture and topography, and 'ancient topography and architecture in the Paper Museum and the present catalogue'. In his catalogue every drawing is illustrated, usually in colour, and there are generous comparative illustrations. Generally the illustrations are of high quality, but the chalk sketches on the drawings illustrated on pp. 886, 890 and 893 are almost invisible. Lengthy and detailed commentaries are accompanied by invaluable bibliographies for each item.