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Folio 19 recto (Ashby 31): New St Peter’s, chancel and crossing
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Reference number
SM volume 115/31
Purpose
Folio 19 recto (Ashby 31): New St Peter’s, chancel and crossing
Aspect
Plan, with measurements
Scale
To an approximate scale of 1:790
Inscribed
[Drawing] .S. PETRI./ ROMAE (‘Of St Peter’s in Rome’); [measurements]
[Verso] 24 [early seventeenth-century hand]
[Mount] 31 [x2]
Signed and dated
- c.1513/14
Datable to c.1513/14
Medium and dimensions
[Drawing] Pen and brown ink and grey-brown wash over stylus lines and compass pricks; on laid paper (166x232mm), rounded corners at top, inlaid (sheet rotated clockwise through 90° with respect to original foliation, window on verso of mount)
[Verso] Blank
[Mount] Frame lines, in pen and dark brown ink, 10mm apart
[Verso of mount] Window (161x224mm)
Hand
Bernardo della Volpaia
Watermark
[Drawing] Anchor in circle topped with six-pointed star (variant 4; cut at bottom edge of window) [Mount] Fleur-de-lys in circle surmounted with crown (variant 2)
Notes
The drawing would appear to record a particular moment in the construction of New St Peter’s, documenting those parts of the building that were already being built or at least were anticipated in accordance with the requirements of symmetry. It shows the state of the new building at around the time of the death of Bramante on 11 April 1514 (Bruschi 1987, pp. 276–77), although it probably records it a little earlier, in the aftermath of the accession of Pope Leo X in March 1513. It certainly assumes great historical significance in providing a unique record of how far Bramante’s design had evolved by the end of his life, and of the extent to which his plans had been realised.
At the drawing’s centre are the four enormous piers of the crossing, envisaged from the start of construction (1506) but much enlarged subsequently. Towards the top (geographical west; liturgical east) is the chancel of Nicholas V, which had been begun in the mid-fifteenth century but was largely completed under Bramante from 1505, despite it not according with his preference for three arms at the church’s rear all of the same design. It is recorded at two different levels, the left side showing the plan at the height of the windows and the right side showing it at ground level. The transept arms are shown as unfinished, but the articulation of the ends of their incomplete outer piers rather suggests that they would have terminated in apses with ambulatories running around them. In front of the crossing (geographical east; liturgical west), a further pair of additional piers, this time symmetrical, allows for the possibility of a nave extending frontally flanked by side spaces, although none of this is shown. Much of what is recorded, however, corresponds with the revised plan for the building produced probably by Bramante himself (GDSU, 20 Ar), which may well date from c.1510 and not long before the Coner drawing was executed (Hemsoll 2019b, pp. 139–40); and this includes ambulatories and an extended frontal arm, and also charts the position of the Nicholas V choir even though this is overlaid by a longer arm with an ambulatory to match the transept arms. Other features, however, have no parallels in the Uffizi drawing, in particular the spaces on either side of the Nicholas V choir extending upwards from the transept arms. Ashby correctly concluded, and Frommel reaffirmed, that the left-hand one of these would have formed part of the sacristy which, in a later drawing by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger showing a built fragment of it (GDSU, 44 A), was identified as having been designed by Fra’ Giocondo, a figure given a supervisory role at St Peter’s in November 1513. Yet it is also the case that these projecting features are virtually identical in composition to the vestibules planned by Bramante for the centrally planned scheme recorded in his famous Parchment Plan (GDSU, 1 Ar), often dated to c.1505 although perhaps later. This being so, it is possible that the corner towers seen in the Parchment Plan next to these spaces were still being considered. Also noteworthy are the square staircases in the two rear crossing piers, which are unlike the circular stairs in the two frontal piers and inconsistent with the circular stairs shown inside the rear piers in later plans. Square staircases also feature in longitudinal schemes produced around this time by Giuliano da Sangallo (GDSU, 7 Ar and 9 Ar; the first noted by Ashby), and so they may represent an idea that was being contemplated before being discarded.
The Coner plan supplies much information about how Bramante recast the exterior of Nicholas V’s chancel (see especially Bruschi 1987), which is again confirmed by the Giuliano da Sangallo drawings. The exterior is dressed with pairs of giant Doric pilasters (see Fol. 43r/Ashby 71) arranged in an idiosyncratic way in being separated by niches near the ends but abutting one another closer to the crossing. The interior has narrower (Corinthian) pilasters, paired ones at the apse’s end with single ones at its opening, and a spaced pair to the chancel’s front. A passage in the wall thickness, seen in one of the Sangallo plans (GDSU, 7 Ar) and also featured in the left-hand half of the Coner drawing, links the various embrasures, and – as also shown in the Sangallo drawing – runs all the way from the square staircase inside the crossing pier to the apse at the far end. This detail, in particular, points to the strong possibility that the three drawings were very closely related, as does the fact that certain measurements given in braccia, such as the choir’s internal width (40¼ braccia) are common to both the Coner drawing and GDSU 7Ar, even if some of the other Coner measurements may be mistaken or mistranscribed (see Frommel 1994).
Those portions of the building recorded in the Coner drawing went on to help define subsequent recastings of the building’s design. The scheme, for example, associated with Raphael and depicted in contemporary drawings such as those in the Codex Mellon (see Frommel 1984), and subsequently by Sebastiano Serlio in Book Three of his treatise first published in 1540, conforms closely with the Giuliano da Sangallo project previously discussed, which means that it mostly incorporates the layout documented in the Coner plan – except for the westward-projecting vestibules which were replaced by cruciform areas connected to the Nicholas V choir, and linked to a rear ambulatory with corner towers positioned at the extremities. The frontal piers, again like in the Sangallo plan, were supplemented by further piers in front of them to form a nave, and the resulting sequences were matched to side walls accommodating rows of chapels. A plan by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (GDSU, 252 Ar) follows the same basic format, although again with variations at the building’s rear and to the layout of the nave. It was only after the decision, taken before Antonio developed his final scheme of 1539 (eventually published as prints in the Speculum romanae magnificentiae) to dispense with the Nicholas V choir (which was finally demolished in 1585), that viable plans were able to deviate from this established formula and adopt the more comprehensive symmetry that Bramante had originally intended.
OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Bramante], Florence, GDSU, 1 Ar (Parchment Plan) (Bruschi 1969, pp. 885–94); [Bramante], Florence, GDSU, 20 Ar (Bruschi 1969, pp. 898–902); [Giuliano da Sangallo], Florence, GDSU, 7 Ar (Borsi 1985, pp. 435–38; Millon-Lampugnani 1994, p. 614); [Domenico Aimo (Il Varignana), attr.] New York, Morgan Library, Codex Melon, fol. 72v; Serlio 1619, 3, fol. 65r; [Antonio da Sangallo the Younger], Florence, GDSU, 44 Ar (Millon–Lampugnani 1994, pp. 627–28; Frommel–Adams 2000, pp. 76-77) [Antonio da Sangallo the Younger], Florence, GDSU, 252 Ar Frommel–Adams 2000, pp. 121-22); [After Antonio da Sangallo the Younger] in Speculum romanae magnificentiae (Hülsen 1921, p. 144)
OTHER DRAWINGS IN CODEX CONER OF SAME SUBJECT: Fol. 10r/Ashby 17; Fol. 43r/Ashby 71. For St Peter’s Tegurio, see also Fol. 47r/ Ashby 79 and Fol. 68r/Ashby 116
At the drawing’s centre are the four enormous piers of the crossing, envisaged from the start of construction (1506) but much enlarged subsequently. Towards the top (geographical west; liturgical east) is the chancel of Nicholas V, which had been begun in the mid-fifteenth century but was largely completed under Bramante from 1505, despite it not according with his preference for three arms at the church’s rear all of the same design. It is recorded at two different levels, the left side showing the plan at the height of the windows and the right side showing it at ground level. The transept arms are shown as unfinished, but the articulation of the ends of their incomplete outer piers rather suggests that they would have terminated in apses with ambulatories running around them. In front of the crossing (geographical east; liturgical west), a further pair of additional piers, this time symmetrical, allows for the possibility of a nave extending frontally flanked by side spaces, although none of this is shown. Much of what is recorded, however, corresponds with the revised plan for the building produced probably by Bramante himself (GDSU, 20 Ar), which may well date from c.1510 and not long before the Coner drawing was executed (Hemsoll 2019b, pp. 139–40); and this includes ambulatories and an extended frontal arm, and also charts the position of the Nicholas V choir even though this is overlaid by a longer arm with an ambulatory to match the transept arms. Other features, however, have no parallels in the Uffizi drawing, in particular the spaces on either side of the Nicholas V choir extending upwards from the transept arms. Ashby correctly concluded, and Frommel reaffirmed, that the left-hand one of these would have formed part of the sacristy which, in a later drawing by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger showing a built fragment of it (GDSU, 44 A), was identified as having been designed by Fra’ Giocondo, a figure given a supervisory role at St Peter’s in November 1513. Yet it is also the case that these projecting features are virtually identical in composition to the vestibules planned by Bramante for the centrally planned scheme recorded in his famous Parchment Plan (GDSU, 1 Ar), often dated to c.1505 although perhaps later. This being so, it is possible that the corner towers seen in the Parchment Plan next to these spaces were still being considered. Also noteworthy are the square staircases in the two rear crossing piers, which are unlike the circular stairs in the two frontal piers and inconsistent with the circular stairs shown inside the rear piers in later plans. Square staircases also feature in longitudinal schemes produced around this time by Giuliano da Sangallo (GDSU, 7 Ar and 9 Ar; the first noted by Ashby), and so they may represent an idea that was being contemplated before being discarded.
The Coner plan supplies much information about how Bramante recast the exterior of Nicholas V’s chancel (see especially Bruschi 1987), which is again confirmed by the Giuliano da Sangallo drawings. The exterior is dressed with pairs of giant Doric pilasters (see Fol. 43r/Ashby 71) arranged in an idiosyncratic way in being separated by niches near the ends but abutting one another closer to the crossing. The interior has narrower (Corinthian) pilasters, paired ones at the apse’s end with single ones at its opening, and a spaced pair to the chancel’s front. A passage in the wall thickness, seen in one of the Sangallo plans (GDSU, 7 Ar) and also featured in the left-hand half of the Coner drawing, links the various embrasures, and – as also shown in the Sangallo drawing – runs all the way from the square staircase inside the crossing pier to the apse at the far end. This detail, in particular, points to the strong possibility that the three drawings were very closely related, as does the fact that certain measurements given in braccia, such as the choir’s internal width (40¼ braccia) are common to both the Coner drawing and GDSU 7Ar, even if some of the other Coner measurements may be mistaken or mistranscribed (see Frommel 1994).
Those portions of the building recorded in the Coner drawing went on to help define subsequent recastings of the building’s design. The scheme, for example, associated with Raphael and depicted in contemporary drawings such as those in the Codex Mellon (see Frommel 1984), and subsequently by Sebastiano Serlio in Book Three of his treatise first published in 1540, conforms closely with the Giuliano da Sangallo project previously discussed, which means that it mostly incorporates the layout documented in the Coner plan – except for the westward-projecting vestibules which were replaced by cruciform areas connected to the Nicholas V choir, and linked to a rear ambulatory with corner towers positioned at the extremities. The frontal piers, again like in the Sangallo plan, were supplemented by further piers in front of them to form a nave, and the resulting sequences were matched to side walls accommodating rows of chapels. A plan by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (GDSU, 252 Ar) follows the same basic format, although again with variations at the building’s rear and to the layout of the nave. It was only after the decision, taken before Antonio developed his final scheme of 1539 (eventually published as prints in the Speculum romanae magnificentiae) to dispense with the Nicholas V choir (which was finally demolished in 1585), that viable plans were able to deviate from this established formula and adopt the more comprehensive symmetry that Bramante had originally intended.
OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Bramante], Florence, GDSU, 1 Ar (Parchment Plan) (Bruschi 1969, pp. 885–94); [Bramante], Florence, GDSU, 20 Ar (Bruschi 1969, pp. 898–902); [Giuliano da Sangallo], Florence, GDSU, 7 Ar (Borsi 1985, pp. 435–38; Millon-Lampugnani 1994, p. 614); [Domenico Aimo (Il Varignana), attr.] New York, Morgan Library, Codex Melon, fol. 72v; Serlio 1619, 3, fol. 65r; [Antonio da Sangallo the Younger], Florence, GDSU, 44 Ar (Millon–Lampugnani 1994, pp. 627–28; Frommel–Adams 2000, pp. 76-77) [Antonio da Sangallo the Younger], Florence, GDSU, 252 Ar Frommel–Adams 2000, pp. 121-22); [After Antonio da Sangallo the Younger] in Speculum romanae magnificentiae (Hülsen 1921, p. 144)
OTHER DRAWINGS IN CODEX CONER OF SAME SUBJECT: Fol. 10r/Ashby 17; Fol. 43r/Ashby 71. For St Peter’s Tegurio, see also Fol. 47r/ Ashby 79 and Fol. 68r/Ashby 116
Literature
Ashby 1904, p. 28
Günther 1988, p. 337
Frommel 1994b
Günther 1988, p. 337
Frommel 1994b
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