To an approximate scale of 1:3

reperta.no[n] lunge. a. teatro/ mineruae (‘Discovered not far from the Theatre of Minerva’); [measurements]

• c.1513/14
  Datable to c.1513/14

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

Bernardo della Volpaia

The stated location of this fragment puzzled Ashby who initially suggested that the ‘Theatre of Minerva’ was a reference to the protruding exedra of the Forum of Augustus that abuts the Temple of Minerva in the Forum of Nerva. Later, however, he connected it with the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva and suggested that the caption may have been a misinterpretation of an annotation on an earlier drawing (Ashby 1913). The cornice may have come from the ancient Iseum that once stood near S. Maria sopra Minerva as is also suggested by two drawings of similar cornices in the Uffizi (GDSU, 1538 Av and 1634 A), but neither of them corresponds in its specified measurements, despite its general similarity in composition.

The cornice is of fairly standard Corinthian design except for the corona being decorated with foliate decoration and the cyma above being ornamented with a Lesbian leaf decoration. The drawing’s hybrid format is the one usually followed for Coner depictions of cornices.

OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [‘Pseudo-Giocondo’] Florence, GDSU, 1538 Av (Bartoli 1914–1922, 6, p. 19); [Anon.] Florence, GDSU, 1634 A (Bartoli 1914–22, 6, p. 62)

Ashby 1904, p. 53
Ashby 1913, p. 207
Census, ID 45499

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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