Artwork

The Prima Macchina for the Chinea of 1767: A Triumphal Arch with the Farnese Hercules

The Prima Macchina for the Chinea of 1767: A Triumphal Arch with the Farnese Hercules is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Giuseppe Vasi. It dates from 1767 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.

About this work

Below, people in old-fashioned clothes walk around a garden with fountains and clouds floating in the sky.

This drawing shows a huge, fancy archway with stairs and statues. At the top, there’s a sculpture of a muscular man holding something over his head. Below, people in old-fashioned clothes walk around a garden with fountains and clouds floating in the sky. The whole scene looks like a stage set for a big event.

The text at the bottom says this was made for a special parade in Rome in 1767. It’s not a real place—it’s a design for a temporary structure, like a giant float.

Want to know more? Look up etching to see how artists like Giuseppe Vasi made prints like this.

Overview

Giuseppe Vasi’s 1767 etching, titled *Prima Macchina for the Chinea of 1767: A Triumphal Arch with the Farnese Hercules*, presents a detailed design for a temporary triumphal structure intended for the annual Chinea procession in Rome. The print records the imagined architecture, decorative program and surrounding landscape of the proposed arch.

Subject & Meaning

The central motif is a monumental arch crowned by a statue of the Farnese Hercules, a celebrated ancient sculpture of a muscular hero. Below, figures in period costume move through a garden setting with fountains and clouds, suggesting a ceremonial procession that blends mythic strength with civic celebration.

Technique & Style

Executed as a fine copperplate etching, Vasi employs precise line work to render architectural depth, ornamental detail, and atmospheric elements such as clouds and water. The composition balances linear perspective with a theatrical staging, characteristic of eighteenth‑century print design for public spectacles.

History & Provenance

Created specifically for the 1767 Chinea—a diplomatic gift from the Kingdom of Naples to the Pope—the print functioned as a visual proposal for the temporary arch that would be erected for the parade. Its survival in museum collections attests to its role as both a work of art and a historical document of Roman festal architecture.

Context

The Chinea procession, a yearly display of Neapolitan tribute, often featured elaborate temporary structures. Vasi, renowned for his vedute of Rome, contributed designs that merged classical references, such as the Farnese Hercules, with contemporary celebratory architecture, reflecting the city’s baroque penchant for grand public pageantry.

Legacy

While the actual arch no longer exists, Vasi’s etching preserves the visual language of eighteenth‑century Roman festivity and informs modern scholarship on temporary urban architecture and the interplay between print media and public ceremony.