Select a Product
Buy Now
Buy Now
Buy Now
Buy Now
Buy Now
Buy Now
Buy Now
Buy Now
Buy Now
Buy Now
zoom
In March 2009, Cameron and his wife, Suzanne, spent several days in Rome to celebrate their 10-year anniversary. This was also a chance to observe in detail the Coliseum, which Cameron had already selected as the next subject in his series of letterpress posters.
Over the course of the next 12 months, the artwork was handcrafted character by character, totaling roughly 250 hours of work from start to finish. Characters from the Goudy Trajan and Bembo Pro typefaces form the Coliseum (or Colosseum), also known as today as Colosseo (Italian) and originally known as Amphitheatrum Flavium (Latin).
Additionally, glyphs have been recreated based on the work of master Italian calligrapher M. Giovambattista Palatino, as featured in Libro di M. Giovambattista Palatino Cittadino Romano, published in Rome around 1550 AD.
Each poster is printed on Somerset Velvet Black or Crane Lettra Pearl and letterpressed by Bryce Knudson of Bjørn Press in Provo, Utah, United States.
Published more than 460 years ago, Libro di M. Giovambattista Palatino Cittadino Romano is a wonderfully inspiring resource about the typography work of Giambattista (or Giovambattista or Giovanni Battista) Palatino, the master Italian calligrapher.
Several of the glyphs featured in the book were recreated by Cameron as vectors and then incorprated into the Colosseo.
Bembo Pro is based on the old-style serif designed by Venetian Francesco Griffo in 1495. Goudy Trajan is based on the drawings by Frederic W. Goudy from his rendition of the letters inscribed on Trajan's column.
Lastly, Palatino's glyphs are inherently Italian. Watch this time-lapse video showing Cameron recreating one of these glyphs.
Highlights from Cameron and Suzanne’s trip to Rome. Watch the original on Vimeo.