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Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: light brown beech wood, handmade

Painter's canvas
Size: 100 x 75 cm (39.4 x 29.5 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine-grain painter's canvas
Frame: light brown beech wood and wood pulp, handmade

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The artwork

Pietro Ruga produced a detailed map of Rome, embellished on either side with 16 vignettes showing important places and buildings of the city, including the Pantheon of Agrippa, Trajan's Column, the Pyramid of Cestius and the Colosseum. In the lower right corner is a legend indicating the city's 14 districts. The map bears a distinctive label from M. Piale's English library, located in Piazza di Spagna in Rome.

An interesting detail is that this map belonged to Nicolas Charles Oudinot, 1st Count Oudinot, 1st Duke of Reggio (1767-1848), a Marshal of France. Oudinot was known for his tenacity in battle, so much so that he was wounded no fewer than 34 times during his military career.

Born without a noble rank that would have allowed him a rapid rise, Oudinot enlisted in the army, and his life changed with the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1792. He was elected lieutenant colonel of the third battalion of the Meuse volunteers. After distinguishing himself in Belgium, he was promoted to general in June 1794 after the Battle of Kaiserslautern.

He fought on several fronts, including the German and Swiss ones, as a divisional general and as chief of staff to André Masséna. At the Battle of Monzambano he distinguished himself so greatly that Napoleon himself presented him with a sword of honour, and he later became a member of the Legion of Honour.

Napoleon rewarded him further with a Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, and during the Napoleonic Wars Oudinot continued to distinguish himself. He was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies, commanded a company of grenadiers and fought in battles from Vienna to Poland. In 1808 he was appointed governor of Erfurt and a count of the French Empire. After the Battle of Wagram in 1809 he was made a Marshal of France, the country's highest military distinction.

Oudinot continued to serve as an administrator in Holland and in the Russian campaign. After Napoleon's fall he remained loyal to the Bourbon Restoration and the king, receiving the title of peer of the realm. He took part in the French invasion of Spain in 1823 and then devoted himself to political and administrative posts until his death, which occurred while he was governor of Les Invalides, the veterans' hospital in Paris.