Cades Impronte dell' Instituto
In 1829 the Italian engraver Tommaso Cades (1772 or 1775 – after 1850) was commissioned to create gem impressions for the newly founded German Institute in Rome. The Institute eventually purchased his life’s work, a set of impressions which comprised 78 ‘volumes’ (libri) with impressions pasted in boxes resembling books. As in other Daktyliothecae (Tassie and Lippert) the impressions are presented by subject, divided into a mythological and a historical section. Cades supplied a manuscript catalogue for these, now in the German Institute in Rome. The first 53 volumes were considered mainly ancient gems, later volumes are dedicated to contemporary engravers. Photographs were taken by the Institute of the 53 volumes, followed by other important collections. The Beazley Archive’s set of albumen prints mounted on cardboard in four big folio boxes are digitized here and can be browsed.
These impressions are not to be confused with Cades’ earlier project under the auspices of the Instituto di Corrispondenza Archaeologica, which published only gems which had newly become available with brief catalogue entries in various editions of the Bolletino dell’ Instituto.
At the end of the series various other important collections are presented: Beverley (119-124), Nott (125-137), Kestner (137-143) and a "Collezione anonima" (149-152), identified by Helge Knüppel as impressions by Federico Dolce, part of his "Descrizioni di dugento gemme antiche".