To an approximate scale of 1:1000

[Drawing] .SECVNDA. AИPHITEATRI. (‘second level of the amphitheatre’); 2. [early seventeenth-century hand]
[Mount] 4 [x2]

• c.1513/14
  Datable to c.1513/14

[Drawing] Pen and brown ink and grey-brown wash over stylus lines and compass pricks; on laid paper (231x164mm), stitching holes along left edge, rounded corners at right, inlaid (window on verso of mount)
[Mount] Frame lines, in pen and dark brown ink, 10mm apart

Bernardo della Volpaia

[Drawing] None [Mount] Fleur-de-lys in circle surmounted with crown (variant 1; cut by bottom edge of window)

This plan, labelled in mock-ancient capitals, is a horizontal slice through the building at the second level, and it shows the substructures of the upper levels of the cavea seating. Given the type of drawing it is, it omits the seating of the lower levels together with any indication of the arena, leaving this for the next drawing in the sequence. However, one minor exception is the depiction of a continuous seat around the innermost area of the plan, which is interrupted by openings indicating where the audience would emerge onto the terraces from within.

The drawing is divided into halves, the upper portion showing the substructure for the seating, and a lower one much the same but with the addition of the staircases. Most of the stairways are radial and run either towards or away from the arena, the direction of ascent indicated by a short dash at the bottom of each (see Fol. 2r/Ashby 2): those running towards the arena have fewer steps and stop at the point they emerge into the cavea, whereas those moving away from it rise to the outer corridors of the next level up. There are also four stairways that run parallel with the exterior (two shown in the lower half), which are close to the entrances on the long axis and symmetrically disposed in relation to them. The presence of steps through the continuous seat in the lower half of the drawing makes it possible to relate the drawing to the next one in the sequence showing all the seating (Fol. 3v/Ashby 5), suggesting that careful thought was given to how the drawings would be read in conjunction with each other.

The drawing is remarkably accurate in its shape and internal composition, corresponding closely with Cresy and Taylor’s survey from the nineteenth century (1821–22, 2, plate 116). It indicates not only that each quadrant had an identical sequence of openings and stairways, but also that the sequence was rhythmically irregular. The pattern is here described by using identifying letters (O = open passage but no stairs; C = stairs ascending towards the cavea; E = stairs ascending towards the exterior; T = transverse stairs i.e. running parallel with the seating, TO = transverse stairs that are shown as cutting across and bridging an open passage). It begins at and includes the bay on the cross axis and continuing downwards, and runs in an extremely irregular sequence (O, O, C, E, O, O, O, C, O, E, O, C, O, E, O, T, TO, E, O, O). In this respect it is far more accurate than other early plans that record this level. The earlier of Giuliano da Sangallo’s Codex Barberini plans (fol. 12v) shows the equivalent level of the Colosseum at its bottom left, in more orderly groupings that ignore the transverse stairways and do not distinguish between inwards-ascending (C) and outwards-ascending (E) flights (O, O, C/E, C/E, O, C/E, C/E, O, C/E, C/E, C/E, O, C/E, C/E, C/E, O, C/E, C/E, C/E, O). The Codex Escurialensis plan is slightly different but equally inaccurate (O, O, C/E, O, C/E, O, C/E, O, C/E, C/E, C/E, O, C/E, C/E, C/E, O, C/E, C/E, C/E, O). Later sixteenth-century representations are also less accurate, such as Sebastiano Serlio’s treatment of the equivalent zone (first published in 1540) which improves on the Codex Barberini and Codex Escurialensis but places stairways in some of the wedges that are actually open (O, O, C/E, C/E, C/E, C/E, O, C/E, C/E, C/E, O, C/E, O, O, O, T, TO, C/E, O, O).


OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Giuliano da Sangallo] Rome, BAV, Barb. lat. 4424 (Codex Barberini), fol. 12v (Hülsen 1910, 1, p. 22; Borsi 1985, p. 256); [Anon.] El Escorial, Real Monasterio, 28-II-12 (Codex Escurialensis), fol. 70r (Egger 1905–06, p. 160); Serlio 1619, 3, fols 78v–79r

OTHER DRAWINGS IN CODEX CONER OF SAME SUBJECT: Fol. 2r/Ashby 2; Fol. 2v/Ashby 3; 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

Ashby 1904, p. 13
Günther 1988, p. 337
Census, ID 50687

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