To an approximate scale of 1:1500

.PVLCHRVM./ .VIDERE./ .PONTI./ .FICIS. (‘Belvedere of the pope’); [letters] .A. ; .B. ; .C. ; .D. ; .E. ; [measurements]

• c.1513/14
  Datable to c.1513/14

Pen and brown ink and grey-brown and brown wash over stylus lines and compass pricks

Bernardo della Volpaia

The plan and neighbouring details are of Donato Bramante’s scheme, as finally revised, for the enormous Cortile del Belvedere extension to the Vatican Palace, which probably dates from around 1510. Bramante had drawn up an initial scheme in 1503/04, soon after he had become the preferred architect of Pope Julius II (r.1503–13), for a courtyard linking the palace with the late-fifteenth-century Belvedere of Pope Innocent VIII, situated over 300m away to the north. This early project, depicted on a surviving medal (Frommel 1998, p. 23) was greatly elaborated and transformed before being set down in a now-lost wooden model (Vasari–Milanesi 1878–85, 4, p. 158). In its final iteration – as represented in the Coner plan – the scheme took the form of an enclosure set out on three main levels connected by flights of steps, with arcades and corridors to either side and an exedra at the far end (top), containing a remarkable circular flight of steps, convex at the bottom and concave at the top. On Bramante’s death in 1514, much of the complex, including the arcades and corridors on the western (left) side, had yet to be realised, and the work conducted by his successors began to depart from Bramante’s design (Ackerman 1954, pp. 52–97). The constructed eastern (right) side of the lower terrace was then refaced following a collapse in 1531, and later (after c.1550) the end elevation was given an extra storey, as seen in a topographical view by Giovanni Battista Naldini, and this was followed by the exedra being furnished with a half-domed canopy, transforming it into an enormous niche, with Bramante’s circular set of steps being replaced. In 1587–89, the scheme was irretrievably compromised by the construction of a transverse range designed to house the Vatican Library’s reading room, thus separating the lower and middle levels; and, much later, by the insertion of another transverse arm – the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican Museums (1817–22) – separating the middle and upper levels.

The Coner plan of the scheme is likely to have been based on Bramante’s wooden model, although probably through an intermediary drawing. Together with nineteen further drawings in the codex of the Cortile (distributed over eleven pages and including five others on this sheet), it constitutes the earliest and by far the most comprehensive representation of the project to survive. It also charts the intended arrangement at the Vatican Palace end (shown at bottom; redesigned after 1560), the projected position of a rectangular stairwell (built c.1535) halfway along the Cortile’s eastern (right) flank, and the positions of the Cortile delle Statue and the spiral staircase nearby (top right), which were both begun by around 1510. The plan is not, however, wholly accurate. For example, in addition to simplifying many particulars on account of its small scale, it shows the upper terrace as having fourteen rather than fifteen openings on each side. The sheer number of drawings in the codex of this work imply that it was of some major significance to Bernardo della Volpaia, who could perhaps have played some role in the scheme’s realisation.

A part of Bramante’s design for the Cortile was also recorded in a drawing in the Uffizi, possibly of 1505/07 and attributable to Antonio del Pellegrino (Frommel 1984) but more likely of later date and by a different draughtsman (Ackerman), which again indicates the intended arrangement for the near end abutting the Vatican Palace, but with an added loggia and marking the outline (in red chalk and possibly a latter addition) of the apsidal layout that superseded it. This drawing also charts the projected positions of Bramante’s unexecuted Conclave Hall and Conclave Chapel which were planned to extend outwards from the eastern (right) flank.

As is the case with Bernardo della Volpaia’s practice, the plan was carefully ruled, except for the circular steps at the end of the court and the rectangular configuration just in front of the double ramps, which, unusually, he added freehand. The key letters A–E link the plan to the accompanying details drawn at larger scale.

OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: Medal of Julius II showing proposal for the Cortile del Belvedere (Frommel 1998, pp. 21–25); [Antonio da Pellegrino or later draughtsman] Florence, GDSU, 287 Ar (Ackerman 1954, pp. 199–200; Frommel 1977); [Giovanni Battista Naldini, formerly attributed to Giovannantonio Dosio] Florence, GDSU, 2559 A (Ackerman 1954, pp. 219–20)

OTHER DRAWINGS IN CODEX CONER OF SAME SUBJECT: Fol. 15r/Ashby 25 (five other drawings on this page); Fol. 27r/Ashby 43; Fol. 27v/Ashby 44; Fol. 28r/Ashby 45; Fol. 28v/Ashby 46; Fol. 46v/Ashby 78; Fol. 53v/Ashby 92; Fol. 54r/Ashby 93; Fol. 68r/Ashby 116; Fol. 69r/ Ashby 117; Fol. 72r/Ashby 122

Ashby 1904, pp. 23–26
Ashby 1913, pp. 197–200
Ackerman 1954, pp. 193–95

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.

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