ROME - CATACOMBES - PETIT Savinien (1815 † 1878). Reunion of 13 original drawings on vellum, preparatory to Louis Perret's large lithographed album, "Catacombs of Rome" (Paris, Gide and J. Baudry Éditeurs, 1851, 6 volumes). Plates executed notably for volumes I (pl. 34 bis, 60, 72, 74, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81 and 82) and IV (Pl. 22). The set includes 12 pencil drawings (some with stump), and 1 watercolour, Indian ink and wash on pencil stroke. Noteworthy subject: "St. Helena. Longitudinal section on line AB of the cemetery of St. Helena" (watercolour). Average sheet size: 60 x 45 cm (sheets). Condition B/C (freckles, dirt and traces of moisture). Set of 13 p. "For lack of being able to compete for the Prix de Rome, Savinien Petit owes a commission from the State the opportunity to discover the Eternal City. In 1845, a commission composed of Ampère, Ingres, Mérimée and Vitet asked him to survey the catacombs in order to illustrate, in chromolithography, Louis Perret's work "Catacombs of Rome", published in six volumes in 1851. Petit and Perret were thus in line with the first works begun by Antonio Bosio in the 16th century, continued in the 19th century by Séroux d'Agincourt, or Padre Marchi (...), and preceded by a few years the publication of G.B. de Rossi (1822-1894), "Roma sotterranea cristiana" (1864-1877). » (Collective, "Savinien Petit: Le sentiment de la ligne, 1818-1878", exhibition catalogue, Nancy, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy, 16 June - 20 Sept. 2004, Paris, Artlys Editions, 2004, p.30).