(b Rome, 1668; d Rome, 16 Nov 1729). Italian architect, urban planner and engraver. He studied architecture in the studio of Carlo Fontana and assisted in the construction of Fontana’s chapel of St Fabian (c. 1706) in S Sebastiano fuori le Mura in Rome. From at least 1684 he produced sets of architectural engravings (see fig.). Many of these were published by Giovanni Giacomo de’ Rossi and his son Domenico de’ Rossi ( fl 1684–1721), including 52 engravings for Quarto libro del nuovo teatro di palazzi di Roma (Rome, 1699; see fig.); some of the original plates are housed in the Calcografia Nazionale in Rome. Domenico de’ Rossi’s Studio d’architettura civile (1702–21) provides an architectural record of the city of Rome in 286 plates engraved by Specchi.

• Specchi, Alessandro
  • patrons and collectors
    • Albani: (1) Clement XI
    • Carolis, Livio de
  • works
    • Fuga, Ferdinando, §1: Training and early career in Rome, before 1748
    • Spada: (2) Virgilio Spada
    • Veduta, §1(i): Venice
    • Veduta, §1(ii): Rome