The so-called Temple of Minerva 'the physician' was a popular subject for painters and had been featured at length in the fourth volume of Andrea Palladio's influential I quattro libri dell'architettura (The Four Books of Architecture) (originally publishe, 1570; first complete English edition published in London by Giacomo Leoni, 1716-1720). One of the most famous and frequently reproduced monuments in 18th century Rome, it had actually been a nymphaeum, or hall for ceremonial receptions, built for the Emperor P. Licinius Gallienus (235-268 AD). Today the building faces the Via Giolitti, between the Via Labicana and the Aurelian Walls. Its distinctive decagonal dome collapsed in 1828.
