Vasi’s Method or the “Visual Poetics of Place”

The ironic epigram attributed to Picasso that “an artist must lie to tell the truth” admirably captures the manner in which Vasi executed his vedute and introduces us to his unique poetic vision. Vasi’s objective was to render places in Rome so that they were intelligible to the mind but also appealing to the eye, resulting in images that could inspire reflection or prompt anticipation and elicit the desired response from the knowledgeable observer, “I recognize that place.” As such his approach had a dual function. First it provided an accurate visual record which rendered its buildings, piazze, bridges, fountains and other features with a high degree of verisimilitude. Secondly he recreated the general disposition of a given place in such a manner that it was immediately recognizable even though he might take liberties with certain aspects of that same view. Vasi’s prints in their totality represent a carefully considered body of work that is visually engaging and highly memorable. His poetic vision, which varies within a highly structured framework of visual conventions and inventions, allows him to evoke places in Rome often more effectively than photography or scientifically constructed perspective.

In general, the visual liberties taken by Vasi’s decrease directly with the increase of real space between viewer and subject. Outside the densely built center Vasi shows his subjects with a remarkable degree of accuracy rivaling those of the camera lens. The views that occur outside or along the Aurelian walls, in the disabitato, and along the banks of the Tiber demonstrate this fact (Books I, V and X). These are the most consistent photographically accurate portrayals of the city and its buildings and spaces in the Magnificenze. The fact that these views had the benefit of unobstructed viewing space suggests that Vasi’s perspectival manipulations are the result of a carefully calculated plan to adjust the method of representation to circumstances and context and were assuredly not the result of whim or even less, inept draftsmanship. When Vasi moves into the dense urban center his methods change accordingly. In this tightly bound context streets and piazze are widened, viewing points of the same scene change from point to point for better viewing and buildings and other features are moved or deleted as necessary. Books II and III dedicated to piazze and major churches (which have major piazze also associated with them) use this technique but it is in Books IV, VI, VII, VIII and IX where this principle is most consistently and conspicuously employed. It is a truism that with sufficient distance and unobstructed viewing space, Vasi felt there was no need to manipulate his perspective and just as predictably we can count on Vasi to employ his bag of perspectival tricks to make the compacted urban scenes comprehensible and believable.

The overwhelming majority of Vasi’s views are taken at or near street level with a preference for the qualified elevated view, which one assumes to be taken from the first floor or piano nobile level. Typically there are no views from rooftops or bird’s eye views. Vasi kept his feet on the ground and only rarely would assume an extreme elevated position (there are only 7 instances of this type in the Magnificenze). Another exception to this rule is the four Patriarchal Church prints which all involve an imagined elevated point of view but stop short of what is traditionally referred to as a volo d’uccello (bird's eye) as the views do not quite rise high enough to render a discernible plan.