Sebastiano Serlio

In 1525, Isabella d’Este’s son, Federico, commissioned architect Giulio Romano to build him a pleasure palace at the family’s stables at the south end of Mantua. Giulio took the mantle of Mannerism from the late Andrea Mantegna and created a masterwork of iconographically rich trompe l’oeil frescoes on the interior surfaces. Two of the corner rooms are particularly significant, the lyrical room of Amor and Psyche, and the Room of the Fall of the Giants, which depicts a massive architectural collapse. The palace’s outer walls manifested a bizarre articulation — including falling triglyphs and rising keystones — that scholars have debated the meaning of for years. This essay shows the complex interconnections within the complex, the city, and the Roman classical heritage, by which these façades form a manifesto, in which Giulio Romano confronts the meaning of architectural language as well as the role of the architect as intermediary between Form and Matter.

O antigo mosteiro cisterciense de N.ª Senhora do Desterro, apesar das vicissitudes que sofreu e da obscuridade em que permaneceu a história da sua construção permanece, ainda hoje, como um marco arquitectónico fundamental na imagem da cidade de Lisboa. Em boa parte poupado pelo Terramoto, os estragos a que foi sujeito desde o final do séc. XIX ao início do XX, devem-se sobretudo à acção humana. Décadas de incúria e delapidações sucessivas, conduziram a uma descaracterização progressiva a que não foi também alheia a própria transformação em hospital, traduzida em alterações profundas de adaptação pouco adequadas ao edifício.
Contudo, bem longe da imagem que vulgarmente dele se transmite, o antigo Mosteiro do Desterro constitui, apesar do estado fragmentário a que chegou aos nossos dias, um raro testemunho da nossa mais qualificada arquitectura tardo-clássica, fazendo parte dos grandes complexos monástico-conventuais construídos no período filipino (1580-1640).
O presente artigo pretende, além de comprovar a autoria do arquitecto Baltazar Álvares, dar a conhecer, a partir das fontes documentais, o processo construtivo do mosteiro e alguns aspectos desconhecidos do seu projecto. Nomeadamente, as influências da traça erudita da fachada (derivada de um desenho de Rafael para a Villa Madama incluído no tratado de Serlio) e as características peculiares dos espaços monásticos, como os claustros, impostas pela topografia acidentada do terreno.

The analysis of two Renaissance drawings offers the occasion for a discussion of light in ecclesiastical architecture.
The first exemple considers the well-known drawing – drafted on parchment by Giovanni di Gherardo Gherardi da Prato in competition with Filippo Brunelleschi for the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore – which constitutes both the first fifteenth-century graphic testimony concerning the natural illumination of the church’s interior, and the only drawing contemporary to its construction that has survived and is datable to 1425.
The second drawing is a “studio dal vero” by Baldassarre Peruzzi of Santo Stefano Rotondo in Rome, dating from the beginning of the sixteenth-century. It offers a perspective view of the interior of the monument, portraying a system of artificial lights as evinced by the sharp double-shadows on the pavement, and which remind one of the contemporary studies of Leonardo da Vinci. Because of the importance it attributes to light, this drawing is an unicum among those depicting ancient structures all along  the Renaissance. It is precisely with the depiction of light, with the irregularity of its reflections and of its shadows, that this study gives the impression of a captivating and suggestive space, actualizing ancient architecture as if it were visible to the present. And it is also thanks to the pictorial sensibility of Peruzzi, who knew how to combine a philologic spirit with an unsurpassed expressive naturalism in the Renaissance’s corpus of architectural drawings

Form and function of light in architecture between Antiquity and the Fifteenth Century, through the analysis of the texts of Pausanias, Vitruvius, Pliny the Elder, Julian of Ascalon, Isidore of Seville, Pius II Piccolomini, Leon Battista Alberti and Antonio Manetti.

Breve ensayo revisionista que subraya el valor del tratado de Sebastiano Serlio y su impacto en Europa y en el México virreinal.

Brief essay that underlines the impact of Sebastiano Serlio's architectural treatise, both in Europe and in viceregal Mexico.

Giulio Pietrobelli, Alvise Cornaro’s “suntuosissime et accomodate fabriche”. A study on the decoration of the Odeo Cornaro in Padua

This paper presents the results of a research dedicated to the decoration of the rooms of the Odeo Cornaro, of which the author identifies several models, providing a chronological sequence of its execution. The artists involved in this campaign took inspiration from the decoration of Palazzo Te in Mantova, and from artists such as Amico Aspertini, Parmigianino, and Giovanni Antonio Pordenone. The stucco decoration thus reveals a more up-to-date interpretation of motives in comparison to painting and offers important clarifications on the variety and richness of information circulating in Padua, particularly with regard to the unprecedented experimentalism of Alvise Cornaro’s patronage. In this sense, the most significant personality is the stucco decorator Tiziano Aspetti, known as Minio (Padua, 1511 / 1512-1552), who widely uses the motives learned with Silvio Cosini and Jacopo Sansovino, while at the same time experimenting with the inventions of Giorgio Vasari at the time of the apparato for La Talanta, staged in Venice in 1542.

Focusing on sixteenth-century engravings of architectural details, this article reevaluates the role of print in Renaissance architectural culture.  By demonstrating the fluidity between drawings, prints, and treatises, this article challenges the paradigm that print was a fixed medium that transformed architectural practice and codified a canon of five Orders.  Instead, it posits that architectural engravings, especially those found outside of treatises, were fundamentally unstable objects that promoted ornamental variety, expanded the definition of antiquity, and subverted the narrowly defined Orders propagated by Sebastiano Serlio.  Moreover, rather than standardizing architecture, these prints, like drawings, were often a starting point for invention and were easily transformed by architects.  In sum, this article argues that print, despite being the product of mechanical reproduction, never imposed order on Renaissance architecture by the nature of its medium.

The aim of this essay is to accomplish a new critical review of the foreign career of Filippo Terzi, the bolognese architect and military engineer invited to work in Portugal in 1576. Dedicated mainly to military engineering and to the reorganization of the Atlantic coastline defenses after the integration of the Portuguese Kingdom in the Iberian monarchy, his career traditionally includes some interventions in the field of civil and religious architecture. In this area however, we maintain that his role, as shown by the analysis of official documentation along with recently identified data, was mainly that of technical supervision of the most important projects sponsored by the Crown, maybe with the exception of the Royal Palace in Lisbon (Ribeira Palace) which he himself planned. The other major works in non-military buildings belong to Baltazar Álvares, that King Sebastian sent to Italy to study architecture from 1575 to 1578.
Nonetheless, professionally very versatile, Filippo Terzi made drawings for the Convent of Christ’s aqueduct in Tomar, the bridge over the Mondego in Coimbra, and its pier, and also solved the problems with the roof designs of two major churches in Lisbon, using flat wooden ceilings, a solution of great technical boldness given the width of both internal spaces. He was also responsible for the formation of a new generation of Portuguese architects, through its official teaching in the architecture’s class of the Royal Palace, established in 1594, of which he was the first director.
Taking into account previous historiographical contributions but also new information, the authors analyze the professional activity of Filippo Terzi and the catalogue of works currently attributed to him, both in the field of civil and religious architecture (Ricardo Lucas Branco) and military and civil engineering (Miguel Soromenho).

O Colégio jesuíta de S.to Antão-o-Novo foi um dos maiores empreendimentos arquitectónicos da centúria de Seiscentos, tendo o seu risco conhecido várias alterações no período filipino, no sentido de um classicismo monumental italianizante, próximo do modelo de S. Vicente de Fora. Com o patrocínio de D. Filipa de Sá, a igreja foi erguida entre 1612 e 1658, embora partes do exterior ficassem por terminar até ao séc. XVIII. Este artigo procura atestar a autoria projectual de Baltazar Álvares e esclarecer a direcção da obra que ficou a cargo de um dos seus discípulos, Diogo Marques Lucas. As questões associadas ao estatuto profissional dos arquitectos, a par do domínio das regras clássicas da arquitectura do tempo, são aspectos que transparecem da documentação inédita encontrada sobre a fase final da construção da igreja no séc. XVII, quando os contactos informados com centros artísticos externos eram já menos frequentes.

The jesuit college of Santo Antão-o-Novo was one of the largest architectural projects of the 17th century in Portugal. Its design was the object of several amendments during the Philippine period (1580-1640), bringing it closer to the kind of Italian monumental classicism exemplified by the monastery of São Vicente de Fora. Under the patronage of D. Filipa de Sá, the church was built between 1612 and 1658, though parts of the exterior were only concluded in the 18th century. This paper aims to assert Baltazar Álvares’ authorship of the project, while shedding some light on the building works supervision entrusted to one of his disciples, Diogo Marques Lucas. The paper will also consider the professional status of architects and their knowledge of the standards of classical architecture at the time. This analysis will be based on recently uncovered documentation about the final phase of the church’s building works, in the 17th century, at a time when informed contacts with foreign artistic centres had become less frequent.

Le immagini riprodotte nel volume sono tratte dalle Cinquecentine, conservate, in gran parte, nella Biblioteca Universitaria di Pisa (vedi il sito):
http://amicibup.wordpress.com/

Nella prima metà del Cinquecento, in concomitanza con la rinascita edilizia della Roma farnesiana, si assiste a un crescente interesse del grande pubblico per i monumenti dell'antichità. Vengono tradotti i testi antiquari degli umanisti, come quelli di Biondo Flavio, e i tipografi commissionano i volgarizzamenti di opere più specificatamente dedicate alle testimonianze architettoniche di Andrea Fulvio e di Bartolomeno Marliani, seguite dai libri delle antichità stesi in volgare e da eruditi e da artisti (Andrea Palladio). Queste guide di Roma ritrovano i modelli nella scrittura squisitamente tecnica delle traduzioni di Vitruvio e, in particolare, dell'opera di Sebastiano Serlio che propone un nuovo genere di trattato architettonico contenente elementi testuali e linguistici innovativi: il disegno affiancato dal commento illustrativo essenziale espresso in moduli sintattici non complessi. Oltre a segnare l'acclimazione di soggetti classici eruditi in volgare, la grande fortuna delle guide di Roma contribuisce alla diffusione nella lingua d'uso non solo dei vocaboli aulici ma anche della nuova testualità di scritto d'arte e del lessico specifico di tecniche artistiche (architettura in primis).

El tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio, proyectado por Donato Bramante a comienzos del siglo XVI en Roma, y con el que se contribuyó a fijar el lenguaje de la Renovatio Urbis del epicentro del catolicismo y, de modo general, del Renacimiento pleno, se analiza como elocuente ejemplo de las mudanzas que afectan a una obra arquitectónica y su imagen, en las que se suceden intenciones que son olvidadas y en ocasiones prevalecen otras de apropiación.

After “major” Bolognese painters, it is now the moment of “minor” ones, namely those responsible of a limited number of works. The first part includes artists born in Quattrocento, as Antonio da Crevalcore, Ercole Banci, Guido Aspertini, Giovanni Antonio Aspertini, Giovanni Antonio Chiodarolo, Giovanni Maria Chiodarolo, Giovanni Battista Costa (Maestro del San Sebastiano Vaselli), Jacopo Filippo Tealdi (Maestro del Pane), Cesare Tamaroccio, Domenico del Francia, Giovanni Borghese, and Antonio Maineri. The beginning of the essay refers to a few addenda to “major” painters, namely Giulio & Giacomo Francia, Prospero Fontana, Lorenzo Sabatini, and Orazio Samacchini.

Proprietà artistica e letteraria riservata per tutti i Paesi Ogni riproduzione, anche parziale, è vietata Deroga a quanto sopra potrà essere fatta secondo le seguenti modalità di legge: Fotocopie per uso personale del lettore possono essere effettuate nei limiti del 15% di ciascun volume dietro pagamento alla SIAE del compenso previsto dall'art. 68, commi 3, 4, 5 e 6 della legge 22 aprile 1941 n. 633. Le riproduzioni per uso differente da quello personale potranno avvenire solo a seguito di specifica autorizzazione rilasciata dall'editore. Prima edizione maggio 2009 In sovraccoperta Giovanni Antonio Landi, Prospetto del Palazzo Magnani in strada S. Donato, in Raccolta di alcune facciate di Palazzi e Cortili de più ragguardevoli di Bologna (metà del XVIII secolo), tav. 18. BCA, Gabinetto disegni e stampe, cart. Gozzadini n. 29. Dopo un ampio numero di pubblicazioni, volute e finanziate dalla nostra Banca, prima come Credito Romagnolo, poi come Rolo e ora come UniCredit, per celebrare i fasti artistici contenuti nel Palazzo Magnani, sede oggi della Presidenza e della Direzione Nazionale, questo volume racconta la storia edilizia del palazzo, le vicende del senatore Lorenzo Magnani, le trasformazioni operate all'interno dagli artisti che vi operarono, attraverso una scrupolosa indagine archivistica e stilistica. Negli ultimi decenni il nostro istituto si è sempre adoperato per la conservazione dell'edificio e delle opere ivi conservate: in primis il magnifico fregio nella Sala Grande con le Storie di Romolo e Remo dei Carracci. Nel panorama delle residenze patrizie bolognesi, Palazzo Magnani costituisce una delle testimonianze più alte dell'arte del secondo Cinquecento. La sua storia viene oggi nuovamente restituita agli studi e agli amanti dell'arte che ogni anno affluiscono numerosi in visita alle sue sale e alle sue collezioni. ARISTIDE CANOSANI Il 17 febbraio 2009, mentre le bozze revisionate di questo libro erano in corso di stampa, è improvvisamente mancato Richard James Tuttle, maestro di tutti noi e amico carissimo. Aveva aderito a questo lavoro di ricerca collettiva con la generosità e l'acume scientifico che lo distinguevano. Gli studi su Bologna nel Rinascimento perdono il più importante interprete del nostro tempo.

[«Il latino e i volgari italiani negli scritti di architettura dal Medioevo al Rinascimento»]

In the Italian Renaissance there was a great variety of the architectural texts and besides the treatises of the architects (for exemple, Leon Battista Alberti e Francesco di Giorgio) there were the translations of latin treatises and “books on antiquities” full of information about Roman monuments either ancient or medieval. Moreover, thanks to the contracts made with artists, and the bills of payment prepared by the commissioners of works (from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance), specific details can be gleaned about arts and techniques, and about materials and tools used in building works — these papers present a wide use of a terminology, which charaterize the regional speakings, sign of the informal register of language the architectures and their handworkers used. All these texts are precious materials to carry out historical and linguistic research, which allow on the one hand to evaluate the architectural terminology formed during the course of the XVth and XVIth century, thanks to translations and examination of “De architectura” by Vitruvio and the “De re aedificatoria” by Leon Battista Alberti, on the other, to prepare a technique-scientific text amenable to popularisation. The article focuses on the analysis of the texts written or translated (“volgarizzati”) by italian artists and writers of XVth and XVIth century (Leon Battista Alberti, Sebastiano Serlio, Cesare Cesariano, Cosimo Bartoli, Daniele Barbaro, Giorgio Vasari, Bernardino Baldi) with the aim of describing the textual and lexical aspects of the papers in latin and vernacular, where both languages are in strong interaction.

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I «segreti» dell’«ars aedificatoria», come tutti i modi di operare dei rappresentanti di varie arti, costituivano un patrimonio gelosamente custodito dalle corporazioni e dalle botteghe artigiane fin dall’epoca dei Comuni, e le istruzioni delle pratiche artistiche si tramandavano a voce fra gli addetti ai lavori, maestri e apprendisti. Per questo hanno un notevole interesse i contratti stipulati con gli artisti e le note di spesa redatte per conto dei committenti, dai quali si ricavano non soltanto le notizie su tecniche, materiali e strumenti impiegati nei lavori edilizi, ma anche una precisa terminologia settoriale. Nel saggio si presentano i risultati dell’indagine condotta sui testi sia latini sia volgari, redatti nei secoli XIV-XV in Toscana e nell’Italia settentrionale, ponendo in evidenza i linguaggi tecnici circoscritti agli usi locali di architetti e delle loro maestranze, come muratori, tagliapietre, carpentieri, scalpellini e altri. I documenti presi in esame, tratti dagli archivi e pubblicati negli ultimi due secoli, sono gli atti notarili, per lo più i capitolati di lavori, e i registri delle «fabriche» pubbliche e private corredati da resoconti finanziari ("Annali della fabbrica del Duomo di Milano", i documenti dell’Opera del Duomo di Firenze, le testimonianze archivistiche sugli artisti a Ferrara), che illustrano dettagliatamente i progetti di opere edilizie, dalle costruzioni di chiese, ospedali, palazzi alle ristrutturazioni di case e alle rifiniture scultoree, testimoniando una significativa varietà geolinguistica del lessico architettonico. La nomenclatura tecnica delle scritture approntate nei singoli volgari si mantiene ben salda e nelle loro redazioni latine e nei documenti latini differenti, ricchi di termini settoriali che, non di rado, costituiscono le prime testimonianze d’uso dei vocaboli, le cui attestazioni note in volgare sono posteriori. Questa polisemia del vocabolario degli architetti provenienti da varie regioni si riflette nella letteratura artistica rinascimentale, che, dopo il "De re aedificatoria", composto da Leon Battista Alberti nel latino umanistico intessuto di neologismi tecnici trasposti in latino, non di rado, dai volgari settentrionali, esplode nella prima metà del secolo XVI sia con le edizioni e i volgarizzamenti commentati del "De architectura" di Vitruvio sia con i primi trattati (a partire dalle "Regole generali di architettura" di Sebastiano Serlio del 1537) e con i libri delle antichità. La loro veste linguistica documenta la tensione fra l’esigenza avvertita di una nuova terminologia tecnica comune e il sostrato della lingua d’uso degli scriventi. Per esempio, oltre al ricorso ai lombardismi o venetismi nei testi di Cesariano, Daniele Barbaro e altri, si rileva che, nelle parti sull’architettura aggiunte nella seconda edizione delle "Vite" (1568), l’aretino Vasari accoglie i tecnicismi attestati nei documenti medievali milanesi e ferraresi qui esaminati.

The first page of the "Third book" (Venice, 1540) of Sebastiano Serlio describes the effect of natural light inside of the Pantheon. It provides also a wider exploration of the reception of antiquity about lighting system in the architectural practice and theory in Sixteenth century. The essay revolves also on the failed attempt by Giacomo Della Porta in 1591, upon request of Innocenzo IX, to alter the internal brightness of the Pantheon, closing the ‘giant eye’ with a lantern and opening three great windows in the vault. The plan is described in a document autograph by Della Porta, published by Donelly in 1986. Bettini proposes a graphical reconstruction of the project based on that document. The essay faces finally the problem set by the Pantheon to Renaissance architects: how to bring light to the chapels around the cella. A problem crucial for the development of central plan churches, as it is argued examining some projects by Baldassare Peruzzi and Michelangelo for S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini.

El presente estudio ofrece una nueva cronología e historia de la construcción de la iglesia de San Francisco de Quito a través de documentos históricos inéditos que demuestran, contrariamente a lo postulado en la historiografía tradicional, la iglesia actual no fue construida en el siglo XVI. El estudio ilustra los participantes y el proceso de la construcción, empleando documentos, planos e imágenes. Se abarcan temas de autoría, particularmente las identidades de los diseñadores y constructores, y ofrece una reconsideración del legado historiográfico del imponente templo franciscano a la vista de nueva documentación. //

This study presents a new chronology and history of the construction of the Church of San Francisco in Quito, employing unpublished archival documents in order to demonstrate that, counter to the traditional historiography, the present church was not built in the sixteenth century. It addresses the people and processes of construction by employing documents, plans and images, investigates questions of authorship, particularly the identities of the designers and builders, and reconsiders the historiographical legacy of the imposing Franciscan church in light of this new documentation.

O presente artigo incide sobre os antecedentes da fundação do Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Nova de Coimbra, caracterizado pela tratadística arquitectónica e militar da época da Restauração, partindo da pesquisa documental propomos contextualizar a sua edificação.
O Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Nova, embora sendo uma obra de vulto da Restauração, encontra-se parcamente estudado. Esta obra promove a propagandística político-religiosa do Culto da Rainha Santa Isabel de Portugal, que a Casa de Bragança perpétua após os Habsburgo. Numa altura em que as obras do Reino eram condicionadas pelas despesas da guerra, sendo que as de maior relevância eram de carácter militar e erigidas nas áreas geográficas mais sensíveis da defesa territorial. O progressivo assoreamento do velho convento, aliado à necessidade de afirmação política da nova dinastia, impulsionam D. João IV a ordenar que se lance a primeira pedra da construção do novo Mosteiro de Santa Clara de Coimbra (1649), na qual determina que em língua latina se refira à Rainha Santa Isabel como sua Avó e Senhora.
Na documentação relativa à construção do Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Nova verifica-se que plantas originais e infra-estruturas, são da autoria de Frei João Turriano. (Silva 2000) Frei Turriano é filho de Leonardo Torriani, um dos mais notáveis engenheiros militares da corte de Filipe I de Portugal, descendente de uma família que já tinha adquirido fama no panorama internacional ao serviço do Imperador Carlos V. Em 1598, após a morte de Filipe Terzi, Leonardo é nomeado Engenheiro-mor do Reino, projectou e deu pareceres sobre as fortificações na defesa da Barra do Tejo, entre as quais o Forte de São Lourenço da Cabeça Seca, no qual foi sucedido após a sua morte pelos seus filhos, Diogo e João Turriano. (Boiça and Barros 2004)
Não obstante ao regime de observância, seguindo a longa tradição de herança de cargos públicos, Fr. Torriano recebe de D. João IV o cargo de Engenheiro-mor do Reino. Durante treze anos traça diversas casas religiosas. O conhecimento arquitectónico de Fr. Turriano pode verificar-se no estudo do catálogo da sua biblioteca, herdada de seu pai, e onde se destacam diversos tratados arquitectónicos, como de Andrea Palladio e Sebastiano Serlio, os quais estudou e anotou com minúcia. De facto verifica-se uma correlação entre estes e a solução adoptada no cenóbio Isabelino de Coimbra. (Abreu 2003)
O Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Nova é a última obra de vulto de arquitectura de Frei Turriano, “Esta imponente massa arquitectónica, que segue o modelo profano dos palácio-bloco do final da centúria antecedente, é obra importante de síntese entre o modelo «chão» da arquitectura religiosa e certos pressupostos eruditos da arquitectura aristocrática de sinal Herreriano, que pela sua expressiva ambiguidade de novo nos recorda o peso da engenharia militar em tais empresas.” (Serrão 2003)

Following the work of Daniele Francesconi (1799), the "Letter to Leo X" by Raphael and Castiglione has frequently been interpreted as the description of a project designed both to draw a map of the ancient city and to protect the monuments. However, it is now necessary to acknowledge that the "Letter", in its construction as well as in its expression, does not evoke these objectives; its stated purpose is to explain the constitution of a corpus of drawings representing the ancient monuments in terms of plan, elevation and section; this corpus was intended to help architects understand Roman architecture and to reestablish its level in terms of quality. However, in a second time, it is possible that Raphael refocused his project for the humanists of the papal court, who wished for a visual representation of those monuments, and thus for a representation of ancient Rome itself.
Dall’intervento di Daniele Francesconi (1799) in poi, si suole interpretare la "Lettera a Leone X" di Raffaello e Castiglione come la descrizione di un progetto pensato sia per disegnare una mappa della città antica che per proteggere i monumenti. Ora siamo costretti a notare che la "Lettera", nella sua costruzione come nella sua espressione, non evoca tali obiettivi; il suo scopo dichiarato è quello di spiegare come è stato costituito un corpus di disegni dei monumenti antichi restaurati, rappresentati in pianta, prospetto e sezione; questo corpus aveva come scopo di aiutare gli architetti a comprendere l'architettura romana e a ritrovare il suo livello di qualità. In un secondo tempo, tuttavia, è possibile che Raffaello abbia riorientato il suo progetto verso gli umanisti della corte papale, che volevano rappresentarsi visivamente a che cosa assomigliavano quei monumenti, e quindi l'antica Roma.

In the last decade, many investigations and studies have appeared on Renaissance style architectural episodes in Calabria and yet, nevertheless, something always appears to be missing. It might be identified, however, if we look beyond the borders of Calabria, towards the predominant cities towards which the long toe of Italy was drawn for both political and commercial reasons. As the title suggests, and without taking anything from the contribution of the local 15th-16th cent. schools and the original work of architects and stonemasons, it is necessary to look at the principal sources of Calabrian Renaissance architecture (Neapolitan and Roman sources). These sources were reviewed and 'naturalized' through the filters of building tradition, materials, style and time-honoured local habits. Above all, it is fundamental to look 'nearby', towards closer sources, even if identification is paradoxically difficult due to the poor knowledge of Neapolitan Renaissance architecture, especially if we think about the great quantity of research which has always focused on Florence, Rome and Venice.

In 1540, immediately after the publication of Sebastiano Serlio’s "Terzo Libro", Torello Saraina published his "De Origine et amplitudine civitatis Veronae", the first treatise ever written on the history of Verona.

Rather than the text, what exerted a profound influence on the architects of the time were the plates with the reconstructions of the local Roman monuments: these were made by the painter Giovanni Caroto, after having collected drawings by others. In a 1546 manuscript and then in a 1560 new edition of the plates, Caroto kept working on the interpretation of the ancient ruins, making some corrections and providing new hypotheses on their former aspect, in the attempt to celebrate the greatness of ancient Verona.

This work, in parallel to that of Francesco da Castello, Michele Sanmicheli and Andrea Palladio, eventually resulted in the creation of a very personal idea of antiquity, not necessarily corresponding to the archaeological evidence.

PANEL: The Antiquarian Drawing as a Site of Creative Invention I
organized by Cammy Brothers (Northeastern University, Boston)
Kathleen Christian (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)

In "Masters of the Trade: Native Artisans, Guilds, and the Construction of Colonial Quito," Susan Verdi Webster questions the received wisdom about the nature of indigenous participation in colonial Latin American architecture by examining the city of Quito. Her findings transform the traditional image of educated Spanish overseers directing native manual laborers. Systematic study of archival records demonstrates for the first time that numerous native masters and professionals were active--indeed dominant--in the building trades of Quito during the busiest period of the city's construction (circa 1580-1720). An exploration of the training, architectural work, and social status of these indigenous professionals illuminates their identities and contributions.

Intorno alla metà del ‘500, Camillo Trevisan (1515-1564), celebre avvocato del ceto cittadinesco veneziano, accolto nell’Accademia Veneziana (1557-1561) e amico di poeti e letterati, si fece costruire a Murano una «casa [...] per sua delicia» (condizione di decima della sorella Marietta, 1582).
Rispetto alle dimore suburbane che costellavano l’isola, ca’ Trevisan spiccava per l’architettura imponente e singolare dell’edificio principale, per la sua estesa decorazione pittorica e a stucco (di cui restano lacerti sempre più labili all’interno) e per il perduto giardino retrostante, sovrastato da un portico coperto da un pergolato, racchiuso ai lati da una nicchia con fontana e da una grotta con giochi d’acqua – una novità, pare, per Venezia. L’opera rustica, per lo più mescolata all’ordine architettonico, e il dorico in varie declinazioni erano colti motivi architettonici che attraversavano il complesso, dal basamento dipinto della facciata sulla fondamenta, all’androne, alla sala ovata trasversale, alla loggia contigua serrata da avancorpi, al successivo fabbricato con portico e fontane.
Alla decorazione dipinta lavorarono specialisti, ricordati da Vasari (Vite, ed. 1568) o successivamente identificati da intendenti e studiosi: Paolo Veronese, Giovan Battista Zelotti, Battista e Marco del Moro, Prospero Bresciano, Bernardino India. Ad Alessandro Vittoria furono affidati almeno un camino con telamone e cariatide (disperso) e gli stucchi. A quasi un secolo di distanza dai lavori, Ridolfi (Maraviglie dell’arte, 1648) riportò la voce che il «palagio» fosse stato costruito «co’ modelli di Monsignor Daniel Barbaro». Nel ‘700 si affermò il nome di Palladio.
Nonostante l’architettura del complesso non sia stata ancora discussa in dettaglio, negli studi moderni sono state proposte diverse attribuzioni – Giovan Antonio Rusconi, Gian Giacomo dei Grigi, Michele Sanmicheli, Bartolomeo Ammannati – o, in alternativa, è stato ravvisato l’intervento di un dilettante. In questo seminario saggerò l’ipotesi che il palazzo-villa di Camillo Trevisan non sia stato l’opera di un architetto di professione, autore di un progetto dettagliato e responsabile della sua esecuzione, ma l’esito dell’apporto di diversi personaggi, intendenti e dilettanti di architettura.

The architect Sebastiano Serlio linked the act-of-drawing to the act-of-knowing through the theory of ‘linee occulte’ (hidden lines) which connected the material world to the neo-platonic one. This research will explore the correlation between mathematics and Serlio’s theory of ‘linee occulte’ to create architectural meaning. In addition, the paper investigates how ‘linee occulte’ forms the basis of the early modern act of emulation through which one showed one’s mastery and knowledge. This will be put into a contemporary context by engaging with Serlio’s drawings through 3D laser scanning, which forms the basis of the act of emulation as contemporary representation. The inquiry on ‘linee occulte’ informs how the technology and narratives of drawing establish a symbiotic whole which elevates the drawing from a tool-of-doing into an instrument-of-knowing. Engaging technologically with historic drawings questions the notions and modes of architectural representation. Such questioning leads to a refined understanding of mathematics as an architectural tool as well as an architectural instrument. I propose to combine historical interpretative methods with 3D laser scanning and CAD applications. This approach implies bringing together historical, mathematical and architectural CAD skills to examine Serlio’s ‘linee occulte’ in a contemporary context. Even though the topic of the paper is historical, it allows to look at how technological utilisations implicate contemporary architectural production and representation. I argue that contemporary emulations of historic drawings do not only serve as analytical and didactic tools but, also forms new creative and intellectual representations through a reading of Serlio’s theory. The research will not judge or justify. Rather the research tries to understand the correlation of theories, practices and technological applications in architecture. The focus on Serlio’s ‘linee occulte’ allows us to understand how theory helps elevate the digital tool into an instrument of architectural invention.

Historians have long compiled a differentiated understanding of the emergence of apartments as a separated dwelling unit, but it remains still obscure how the very conception of apartments took form in architectural discourse. The following chapter will thus investigate how Sebastiano Serlio introduced the concept of 'appartamenti' into architectural discourse in his Terzo Libro (1540). Here the concept debuts not as the cellular units we know today, but rather as a conceptual instrument for the progressive differentiation of architectural multiplicities. It offers a detailed reconstruction of Serlio's formtaking notion through an analytic of partitioning concepts. Pedagogies of partitioning have long presented a central concern for architectural formation at the intersection of compositional practices, rhetorical mnemotechniques, and modern ordering conceptions. A central focus will thus lie on reviewing the etymological operativity of partition processes from a differential perspective ; the agential character of 'partitione' in Alberti ; the measure of 'partimenti' in Di Giorgio ; and finally, Serlio's didactic diagram of 'appartamenti', that will be discussed in its function for the progressive differentiation of architectural arrangements. This differential reading exposes not only the singularly non-unitary and anti-representational agenda of Serlio's design didactics. It also explains how apartments afford an organizational capacity in the first place, through which they came to attain their crucial function within modern ordering conceptions as the later art of distribution.

A presente tese de Doutoramento aborda o fenómeno de implementação da figura do Arquitecto e suas repercussões na prática arquitectónica em Portugal no período cronológico 1521-1557. Trata, pois, do momento de viragem das concepções artísticas tardo-góticas para as renascentistas, em que o tratado latino De Architectura de Vitrúvio (séc. I a. C.), em reavaliação pelo movimento cultural nascido na Itália do Quattrocento designado por Vitruvianismo, afectou a confecção dos conceitos modernos de Arquitectura e de Arquitecto.

The years when ‘Liber Septimus’ was in circulation, written by Sebastiano
Serlio and posthumously published in 1575 in Vienna, correspond to the
postseismic period of reconstruction in Ferrara. Pirro Ligorio directly investigates
the damages caused by the earthquake of 1570, describing a city
destroyed by collapsing, badly built, old medieval constructions, weakly put
together and with no substance. Sebastiano Serlio’s technical solutions and
practical rules – illustrated in the Seventh Book with examples where the
language of medieval architecture is updated with ‘modern’ solutions – perhaps
find in Ferrara one of their first cases of practical application, thanks
to the presence of architects like Aleotti, a faithful connoisseur of Serlio’s
writings (as well as Vignola’s), and to the treaty’s recognised value as an
operational tool. It was a treaty that ‘ha restituito l’Architettura, e fattala
facile ad ogniuno,’ as Jacopo Strada would later introduce it to readers in
editio princeps. The aim of this contribution is to investigate the relations
between Serlio’s theoretical and practical postulations and the reconstruction
and restoration that began in Ferrara in the 1570s, both in the field of
architectural heritage, and the field of basic building. The latter is a specific
object of study for the author, who devotes an important part of Book VII to
it. The contribution will develop various topics, in order: The city of Ferrara
before the earthquake of 1570: a typical medieval city; Exempla of modern
architecture in Ferrara: the sixteenth century palaces of the Herculean Addition;
Serlio’s Regola and architectural language in Ferrara: churches and
palaces at the end of the sixteenth century; Serlio’s Regola and construction
language in Ferrara: basic building at the end of the sixteenth century; Conclusions:
the importance of Serlio’s treaty in the reconstruction of Ferrara.

In early 1543 the lost play, I Vecchi, a multi-authored drama by the Affumati, was staged in the convent of Servi di Maria in Bologna. The reconstruction of that performance is based on a careful study of the little-known contract between Prospero Fontana and the Affumati as well as on rereadings of Matteo Pasi’s important manuscript, Cronaca, and of Ercole Bottrigari’s Mascara. From these documents, the artistic and artisan competence of Fontana as a man of the theatre also emerges. While Fontana’s collaboration with Giorgio Vasari for the Florentine festivals in 1565 is well documented, the proposal being made here – to connect Fontana’s scenography for  I Vecchi to Vasari’s for the Aretian Talanta  in Venice in 1542 – is innovative.

Nei primi mesi del 1543 venne allestita nel bolognese convento dei Servi di Maria la perduta commedia I vecchi, drammaturgia a più mani degli Affumati. La ricostruzione di quello spettacolo è fondata sull’analisi del poco noto contratto tra il pittore Prospero Fontana e l’accademia felsinea, nonché sulla rilettura della Cronaca manoscritta di Matteo Pasi e della Mascara di Ercole Bottrigari. Dai citati documenti emerge la sapienza artistico-artigianale di Fontana uomo di teatro. Se è nota la sua collaborazione con Giorgio Vasari per le feste fiorentine del 1565, è nuova l’ipotesi di lavoro di mettere in rapporto la scenografia da lui realizzata per i Vecchi con quella impalcata a Venezia dal Vasari per la recita della Talanta aretiniana del 1542.

Here we propose a discussion about the "mandorla" or "vesica piscis". It is a type of 2-dimensional lens, that is, a geometric shape formed by the intersection of two circles with the same radius, intersecting in such a way that the centre of each circle lies on the perimeter of the other. The aim of the discussion is that of understanding when such a geometric shape became a symbol and when this symbol received a specific name. We will find that the name "mandorla" was used long before the term "vesica piscis", which is the Latin translation of the German "fischblosen" (fish-bladder) used by Albrecht Dürer in his book on geometry. Therefore, the name invented by Dürer was not used by the painter for a sacred form. However, after the middle of the nineteenth century the term "vesica piscis" exploded in literature. Its use was criticized and, at the same time, it was stressed that the proper term for the symbol is "mandorla".  Nonetheless, the "vesica piscis" continues to be largely used in the sacred geometry, which ascribes symbolic and sacred meanings to certain geometric shapes and proportions. In the proposed discussion, we will also show that, recently, the 2-dimensional lenticular symbol has been related to the Pythagorean philosophy. It is told that the followers of this philosophy had the habit of using an apple for symbolic communications. Sliced across, the core of the apple is displaying a pentagram, but sliced lengthwise it forms two intersecting circles, that is a "mandorla". Then, the investigation about terms and related uses of this specific geometric shape is the core of the matter of our discussion or, let us tell, the "core of the apple", in a Pythagorean-like approach to find how a German "fischblosen" evolved into a sacred symbol, thanks to a translation into Latin.

A igreja do Menino-Deus é uma das maiores jóias arquitectónicas que o Terramoto poupou e constitui um marco fundamental na arquitectura barroca portuguesa. A sua autoria ainda não foi documentalmente provada, mas o projecto é consensualmente atribuído ao arquitecto régio João Antunes. A maioria dos historiadores que lhe atribuem a obra (nos quais me incluo) concordam existir fortes razões para essa autoria: foi discípulo do Pe. Francisco Tinoco da Silva, notável geómetra, que detinha os cargos de Arquitecto do Palácio Real da Ribeira, e de Mestre da Aula de Arquitectura do Paço. Foi certamente sob a sua protecção que venceu o concurso para a igreja de Sta. Engrácia (1681) pois João Antunes era ainda somente mestre-pedreiro. Revelou aí desde logo, como no Menino-Deus mais tarde, um notável domínio da geometria, sendo o paralelo entre as duas igrejas (ambas de planta não latina) evidente na linguagem arquitectónica e na exploração do espaço, inovadores na produção arquitectónica do tempo, apesar de mostrarem até que ponto a leitura dos tratados de Serlio e Vignola perduraram em Portugal.

The recent rediscovery of an early seventeenth-century mural painting hidden beneath an eighteenth-century painting on canvas on the nave crossing arch of the Church of Santo Domingo provides striking visual evidence of individual and corporate identities and shifting devotional contexts at the Dominican monastery. Complementing and clarifying the visual evidence in the paintings, recently recovered archival documents confirm the identities, roles, and activities of the major protagonists in the Dominican artistic and building campaigns of the early seventeenth century.

El reciente redescubrimiento de una pintura mural que data de los principios del siglo XVII sobre el arco oeste del crucero de la iglesia de Santo Domingo, la cual había sido ocultada por un lienzo pintado a principios del siglo XVIII, ofrece importante evidencia visual en cuanto a identidades individuales y corporativas, y subraya una transformación de devociones en el convento dominico. Complementando y clarificando la evidencia visual, la nuevamente recuperada documentación en los archivos permite confirmar las identidades, los roles y las actividades de los protagonistas principales en las campañas artísticas e arquitectónicas de los dominicos a principios del siglo XVII.

Séminaire 2018 : 3e séance. Nous examinons d'abord l'emploi des temps narratifs en français, avec de nombreux exemples. Ensuite, nous montrons que le personnage qui raconte l'histoire, tantôt veut s'en distancer, tantôt veut en être ; l'autobiographie est un cas de cette dialectique.  Nous parcourons, avec de nouveaux exemples, opéra et théâtre, cinéma et arts figuratifs, pour y observer une tension analogue entre centre et périphérie, posture du sujet auteur devant son objet récit.