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Drawing 1: Tabernacle inside the Pantheon with triangular pediment
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Reference number
SM volume 115/63a
Purpose
Drawing 1: Tabernacle inside the Pantheon with triangular pediment
Aspect
Perspectival elevation and raking side view, with measurements
Scale
To an approximate scale of 1:80
Inscribed
Tabernacula/ panteonis. [‘Tabernacles of the Pantheon’)
Signed and dated
- c.1513/14
Datable to c.1513/14
Medium and dimensions
Pen and brown ink and grey-brown wash over stylus lines and compass pricks
Hand
Bernardo della Volpaia
Notes
The inscription ‘Tabernacles of the Pantheon’ refers to both the tabernacles depicted at the top of the sheet, which were conceived as a contrasting pair as they have different column-supported pediments. The tabernacle at the left is of one of the four in the building that have triangular pediments, which are arranged symmetrically, with one pair either side of the entrance and the other flanking the half-domed apse opposite (see Fol. 23r/Ashby 35), although this example must be one of the entrance pair since it is flanked by a pilaster and not a column. The drawing is placed on the page close to that of the other tabernacle (Drawing 2) to allow for close comparison. It chiefly focuses on the tabernacle’s composition and measurements, which are mostly concerned with heights rather than widths, these being specified in the other drawing. Much of the detailing is omitted, as is usual with elevational drawings in the codex, including the fluting of the constituent column shafts, while the column bases are depicted incorrectly as being of the Attic variety rather than the one used throughout the Pantheon’s lower level, which has two toruses separated by two scotias and paired astragals.
In common with most other early representations of the Pantheon tabernacles, the lower zone is shown with a pair of pedestals that have a gap between them rather than a continuous socle, which is how the tabernacles are now composed. This original arrangement survived until all the tabernacles were given continuous socles in the decades following the renovation of the high altar area under Pope Innocent VIII in 1491. During this period, many of them were converted into funerary monuments, including that of Raphael who died in 1520, which has a continuous socle of this kind. A tabernacle with a continuous socle was depicted early on in a drawing by Giuliano da Sangallo in his Codex Barberini, and it began to be seen more commonly in drawings and prints from after c.1520, as is attested by the illustrations in Book Three of Sebastiano Serlio’s treatise, first published in 1540, and in Andrea Palladio’s Quattro libri. A drawing of 1577 attributed to Gregor Caronica (lost during World War II but known from a photograph) bore an annotation stating specifically that ‘the socle of the altar is modern from the base of the column downwards’ (Il basamento d[ell’]altare è moderno dalla base della colonna in giù) (Nesselrath 2015b, p. 278).
As is usual in the codex, the drawing represents its subject in perspective and from a vantage point just beyond its right edge, the viewpoint being high enough to enable the tops of the pedestals to be seen. In this respect, it differs from other early perspectival drawings such as that in the Codex Barberini where the top surface of the dado is not seen. Other early drawings of the tabernacle accompanied by measurements likewise in braccia include one in Florence by an anonymous draughtsman (with pedestals), and another in Lisbon by Giovanni Francesco da Sangallo (with a continuous socle), but their dimensions are not closely related to those in the Coner depiction. The only drawing which seems to depend on the Coner drawing is the copy by Amico Aspertini.
RELATED IMAGES: [Amico Aspertini] London, BM, Aspertini Sketchbook II, fol. 42r (Bober 1957, p. 89)
OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Giuliano da Sangallo], Rome, BAV, Barb. lat. 4424 (Codex Barberini), fol. 27v (Hülsen 1910, p. 36; Borsi 1985, pp. 148–49); [Italian Draughtsman A] Florence, BNC, Inv. II I 429, fol. 8r; [Giovanni Francesco da Sangallo] Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, inv 1713; [Gregor Canonica] Collection (formerly) of Curtis O. Baer (Nesselrath 2015b, p. 278); Serlio 1619, fol. 55r; Palladio 1570, p. 82
OTHER DRAWINGS IN CODEX CONER OF SAME SUBJECT: Fol. 8r/Ashby 13; Fol. 23r/Ashby 35; Fol. 23v/Ashby 36; Fol. 24r/Ashby 37; Fol. 24v/Ashby 38; Fol. 38r/Ashby 61; Fol. 38v/Ashby 62; Fol. 40r/Ashby 65; Fol. 50v/Ashby 86; Fol. 65r/Ashby 111; Fol. 81r/Ashby 134; Fol. 83r/Ashby 136
In common with most other early representations of the Pantheon tabernacles, the lower zone is shown with a pair of pedestals that have a gap between them rather than a continuous socle, which is how the tabernacles are now composed. This original arrangement survived until all the tabernacles were given continuous socles in the decades following the renovation of the high altar area under Pope Innocent VIII in 1491. During this period, many of them were converted into funerary monuments, including that of Raphael who died in 1520, which has a continuous socle of this kind. A tabernacle with a continuous socle was depicted early on in a drawing by Giuliano da Sangallo in his Codex Barberini, and it began to be seen more commonly in drawings and prints from after c.1520, as is attested by the illustrations in Book Three of Sebastiano Serlio’s treatise, first published in 1540, and in Andrea Palladio’s Quattro libri. A drawing of 1577 attributed to Gregor Caronica (lost during World War II but known from a photograph) bore an annotation stating specifically that ‘the socle of the altar is modern from the base of the column downwards’ (Il basamento d[ell’]altare è moderno dalla base della colonna in giù) (Nesselrath 2015b, p. 278).
As is usual in the codex, the drawing represents its subject in perspective and from a vantage point just beyond its right edge, the viewpoint being high enough to enable the tops of the pedestals to be seen. In this respect, it differs from other early perspectival drawings such as that in the Codex Barberini where the top surface of the dado is not seen. Other early drawings of the tabernacle accompanied by measurements likewise in braccia include one in Florence by an anonymous draughtsman (with pedestals), and another in Lisbon by Giovanni Francesco da Sangallo (with a continuous socle), but their dimensions are not closely related to those in the Coner depiction. The only drawing which seems to depend on the Coner drawing is the copy by Amico Aspertini.
RELATED IMAGES: [Amico Aspertini] London, BM, Aspertini Sketchbook II, fol. 42r (Bober 1957, p. 89)
OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Giuliano da Sangallo], Rome, BAV, Barb. lat. 4424 (Codex Barberini), fol. 27v (Hülsen 1910, p. 36; Borsi 1985, pp. 148–49); [Italian Draughtsman A] Florence, BNC, Inv. II I 429, fol. 8r; [Giovanni Francesco da Sangallo] Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, inv 1713; [Gregor Canonica] Collection (formerly) of Curtis O. Baer (Nesselrath 2015b, p. 278); Serlio 1619, fol. 55r; Palladio 1570, p. 82
OTHER DRAWINGS IN CODEX CONER OF SAME SUBJECT: Fol. 8r/Ashby 13; Fol. 23r/Ashby 35; Fol. 23v/Ashby 36; Fol. 24r/Ashby 37; Fol. 24v/Ashby 38; Fol. 38r/Ashby 61; Fol. 38v/Ashby 62; Fol. 40r/Ashby 65; Fol. 50v/Ashby 86; Fol. 65r/Ashby 111; Fol. 81r/Ashby 134; Fol. 83r/Ashby 136
Literature
Ashby 1904, p. 37
Ashby 1913, pp. 201–02
Census, ID 44649
Ashby 1913, pp. 201–02
Census, ID 44649
Level
Drawing
Digitisation of the Codex Coner has been made possible through the generosity of the Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture Known in the Renaissance, Berlin.
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk