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Drawing 1: Colosseum (ground level quadrant)
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Reference number
SM volume 115/3a
Purpose
Drawing 1: Colosseum (ground level quadrant)
Aspect
Plan, with measurements
Scale
To an approximate scale of 1:560
Inscribed
QVARTA. PARS. ANPHITEATRI. (‘quarter part of the amphitheatre’); media. pars. est. b. 71/ id. est. uacui (‘71 braccia is the half part, i.e. of the space [of the arena]’); b. 41/ uacui/media. pars. (’41 braccia, the half part of the space [of the arena]’); [various other measurements]
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 plan represents a little more than a quarter of the monument, referred to in the caption (written in mock-ancient capitals), and this allows the distinctive entrance passageways on the long and short sides to be included in full. Being larger in scale than the preceding drawing, it makes up for the lack of detail there by now showing the pilaster articulation of the two outer annular corridors, the internal system of staircases, and slightly more of the structure around the edge of the oval arena (but maintaining the policy of not indicating elements that were buried and thus not visible), together with a wide range of measurements.
The building is shown as accommodating multiple sets of stairs that run in two oval bands at the centre of the cavea’s substructure separated by an annular corridor, one of the four encircling the arena. The complexity of the staircase system is made easier to read by having the foot of each set of stairs marked with a short dash. From this, it is clear that the stairs in the narrower band all rise from the centrally located annular corridor, while those in the wider band rise in different directions, some towards and some away from the arena. The staircases in the wider band are of two different types. One starts at an outer annular corridor ascending towards the arena, which rises at a gentle incline to a half landing where it turns back on itself at the point indicated with an arch (shown as a curve on the plan) and then continues up to the next level, opening onto the outer annular corridor immediately above. The depiction is not entirely successful as it omits the rear wall on the half landing giving the appearance that it is possible to exit the stairs at this level, which is not the case, since it is halfway between storeys. The other type rises far more steeply from the centrally located corridor, moving away from the arena, and reaching the next level at an outer annular corridor without the need to turn back on itself.
The drawing bears an interesting relationship with the rather earlier plan by Giuliano da Sangallo in the Codex Barberini (see also Cat. Fol. 2r/Ashby 2). This provides similar information about the directions in which the staircases rise, although indicated by means of letters rather than dashes, and it may have also prompted the idea of the quarter plan, since – despite showing the whole layout – it is divided into four quarters, each providing different information. It may have even suggested the depiction of an arch as a curve in plan, an antiquated convention followed by fifteenth-century draughtsmen (such as Filarete), but also employed later by Sebastiano Serlio for his Colosseum plan published in 1540. In addition, it may have given rise to the error of showing the half landings of the staircases that double back on themselves as open, since, although the bottom right-hand quarter of the plan shows them correctly (as do the similar plans in the Codex Escurialensis and Codex Mellon), the bottom left-hand quarter shows them as open (because it is one level higher up), which may suggest that the mistake came about as a result of information being conflated. The Coner drawing, however, could not have been produced on the basis of the Barberini plan alone. It was certainly informed by the survey of 1513 (see Cat. Fol. 2r/Ashby 2), as is attested to by the far greater understanding of the building’s geometry, which indicates that it was produced according to a procedure of deriving information from more than one source.
The annotated measurements accord with a system whereby those on the cross-axis entrance give mostly radial dimensions, whereas those on the long-axis entrance provide circumferential ones. Enough of them have been given to provide a coherent coverage, but they have been kept to a minimum so as to avoid cluttering up the image with duplicated information. The measurements of the arena are specified as being for ‘half’ of it (media pars), which is consistent with the drawing representing half the structure in each direction.
RELATED IMAGES: [Giuliano da Sangallo] Rome, BAV, Barb. lat. 4424 (Codex Barberini), fol. 12v (Hülsen 1910, 1, p. 22; Borsi 1985, p. 256); [Giuliano da Sangallo] Siena, BCS, Ms. S.IV.8 (Taccuino Senese), fol. 7r (Borsi 1985, p. 255); [Anon.] El Escorial, Real Monasterio, 28-II-12 (Codex Escurialensis), fol. 70r (Egger 1905–06, p. 160)
OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Domenico Aimo (Il Varignana), attr.] New York, Morgan Library, Codex Mellon, fol. 41r; Serlio 1619, 3, fols 78v–78r
OTHER DRAWINGS IN CODEX CONER OF SAME SUBJECT: Fol. 2r/Ashby 2; Fol. 3r/Ashby 4; Fol. 3v/Ashby 5; Fol. 25r and flap/Ashby 39; Fol. 25 verso of flap/Ashby 39A; Fol. 25v/Ashby 40; Fol. 26r/Ashby 41; Fol. 66r/Ashby 113; Fol. 66v/Ashby 114; Fol. 83v/Ashby 137.
The building is shown as accommodating multiple sets of stairs that run in two oval bands at the centre of the cavea’s substructure separated by an annular corridor, one of the four encircling the arena. The complexity of the staircase system is made easier to read by having the foot of each set of stairs marked with a short dash. From this, it is clear that the stairs in the narrower band all rise from the centrally located annular corridor, while those in the wider band rise in different directions, some towards and some away from the arena. The staircases in the wider band are of two different types. One starts at an outer annular corridor ascending towards the arena, which rises at a gentle incline to a half landing where it turns back on itself at the point indicated with an arch (shown as a curve on the plan) and then continues up to the next level, opening onto the outer annular corridor immediately above. The depiction is not entirely successful as it omits the rear wall on the half landing giving the appearance that it is possible to exit the stairs at this level, which is not the case, since it is halfway between storeys. The other type rises far more steeply from the centrally located corridor, moving away from the arena, and reaching the next level at an outer annular corridor without the need to turn back on itself.
The drawing bears an interesting relationship with the rather earlier plan by Giuliano da Sangallo in the Codex Barberini (see also Cat. Fol. 2r/Ashby 2). This provides similar information about the directions in which the staircases rise, although indicated by means of letters rather than dashes, and it may have also prompted the idea of the quarter plan, since – despite showing the whole layout – it is divided into four quarters, each providing different information. It may have even suggested the depiction of an arch as a curve in plan, an antiquated convention followed by fifteenth-century draughtsmen (such as Filarete), but also employed later by Sebastiano Serlio for his Colosseum plan published in 1540. In addition, it may have given rise to the error of showing the half landings of the staircases that double back on themselves as open, since, although the bottom right-hand quarter of the plan shows them correctly (as do the similar plans in the Codex Escurialensis and Codex Mellon), the bottom left-hand quarter shows them as open (because it is one level higher up), which may suggest that the mistake came about as a result of information being conflated. The Coner drawing, however, could not have been produced on the basis of the Barberini plan alone. It was certainly informed by the survey of 1513 (see Cat. Fol. 2r/Ashby 2), as is attested to by the far greater understanding of the building’s geometry, which indicates that it was produced according to a procedure of deriving information from more than one source.
The annotated measurements accord with a system whereby those on the cross-axis entrance give mostly radial dimensions, whereas those on the long-axis entrance provide circumferential ones. Enough of them have been given to provide a coherent coverage, but they have been kept to a minimum so as to avoid cluttering up the image with duplicated information. The measurements of the arena are specified as being for ‘half’ of it (media pars), which is consistent with the drawing representing half the structure in each direction.
RELATED IMAGES: [Giuliano da Sangallo] Rome, BAV, Barb. lat. 4424 (Codex Barberini), fol. 12v (Hülsen 1910, 1, p. 22; Borsi 1985, p. 256); [Giuliano da Sangallo] Siena, BCS, Ms. S.IV.8 (Taccuino Senese), fol. 7r (Borsi 1985, p. 255); [Anon.] El Escorial, Real Monasterio, 28-II-12 (Codex Escurialensis), fol. 70r (Egger 1905–06, p. 160)
OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Domenico Aimo (Il Varignana), attr.] New York, Morgan Library, Codex Mellon, fol. 41r; Serlio 1619, 3, fols 78v–78r
OTHER DRAWINGS IN CODEX CONER OF SAME SUBJECT: Fol. 2r/Ashby 2; Fol. 3r/Ashby 4; Fol. 3v/Ashby 5; Fol. 25r and flap/Ashby 39; Fol. 25 verso of flap/Ashby 39A; Fol. 25v/Ashby 40; Fol. 26r/Ashby 41; Fol. 66r/Ashby 113; Fol. 66v/Ashby 114; Fol. 83v/Ashby 137.
Literature
Ashby 1904, p. 13
Günther 1988, p. 337
Census, ID 43740
Günther 1988, p. 337
Census, ID 43740
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