L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures ...
Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée, published in Paris in 1719 by Florentin Delaulne and others, is a scholarly archaeology survey of classical antiquities aimed at antiquarians and learned readers. Its plates are engraved reproductions of ancient Roman relief sculpture, showing crowded battle and military scenes with tightly packed figures, shields, and soldiers in dense, carved-looking compositions. A designer might take from them the dense, frieze-like layout of many figures and the sculptural, shadowed engraving style.
