ROME CATACOMBES PETIT Savinien (1815 1878). Reunion of 19 original drawings on vellum, preparatory to the large lithographed album by Louis PERRET, "Catacombes de Rome" (Paris, Gide et J. Baudry Éditeurs, 1851, 6 volumes). Plates executed notably for vol. I (pl. 30, 31, 45, 52), vol. II (pl. 61), vol. III (pl. 10, 26, 41, 43, 46), vol. V (pl. 7, 50). The set includes 5 watercolors and 14 pencil drawings (some with estompe). Notable subject: "Chapelle à deux salles avec luminaires" (watercolor and India ink over pencil line, on tracing paper applied to vellum). Average sheet size: 58 x 45 cm. Condition B/C (soiling, marginal foxing, accidents, traces of moisture). Set of 19 p. "Unable to enter the Prix de Rome competition, Savinien Petit owed the opportunity to discover the Eternal City to a government commission. In 1845, a commission made up of Ampère, Ingres, Mérimée and Vitet asked him to survey the catacombs to illustrate, in chromolithography, Louis Perret's "Catacombes de Rome", published in six volumes in 1851. Petit and Perret follow in the footsteps of Antonio Bosio's early work in the 16th century, continued in the 19th century by Séroux d'Agincourt and Padre Marchi (...), and precede by several 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 catalog, Nancy, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy, June 16-Sept. 20, 2004, Paris, Artlys Editions, 2004, p.30.)