To an approximate scale of 1:8

Sub. arco. sinistro. (‘Below the left arch’)

• c.1513/14
  Datable to c.1513/14

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

Bernardo della Volpaia

Ashby was unable to identify the subject of this rather perplexing drawing, which shows part of an archivolt positioned directly beneath what is seemingly a cornice. The caption does not help, stating simply that the drawing depicts what could be seen ‘below the left arch’. In fact, the drawing shows two separate features from the Arch of Septimius Severus, one an archivolt and the other an impost, which come from two different parts of the monument, but are joined together in a way that gives them the appearance of belonging to the same composition. The archivolt is actually that of the transverse archways which internally connect the side archways with the central one and are seen in an earlier Coner drawing of the monument (Fol. 34r/Ashby 54). It is recognisable as such by having two fascias rather than three, which is the number used for the archivolts on the monument’s principal façades (cf. Desgodetz 1682, p. 215). The impost, appearing in the drawing as a cornice, is that of the façades’ side archways, and it is recognisable as such from the sequence of its mouldings, which from top to bottom are a cyma reversa, a band of bead and reel, a prominent corona, a smaller cyma reversa and a band of dentils, while beneath is a frieze with an astragal at the bottom (cf. Desgodetz 1682, ibid.). The only significant difference between the drawing and the actual impost is the omission in the frieze of the decoration, but this is a common convention among Coner drawings. Thus, both components of the drawing, the archivolt and the impost, could have been accompanied by the given caption ‘below the left arch’. As to why the impost in the drawing was positioned above rather that below the archivolt, the most likely explanation is that the drawing was based on earlier representations of the same details, which were either depicted incorrectly themselves or else were conceived as two separate details but placed on their paper sheet so closely together that they were misinterpreted as a single drawing.

The same details from the Arch of Septimius Severus are found on a page in Giuliano da Sangallo’s Codex Barberini, although the imposts and archivolts of the arch’s exterior and interior are here positioned correctly in relation to each other. A later sheet of details by the young Andrea Palladio, however, which is almost certainly based on earlier drawings, shows the impost and the archivolt in a manner that is seemingly related very closely to their representations in the Codex Coner, suggesting that the drawings that Palladio copied may have also provided a source, directly or indirectly, for the Coner representations. Each is presented, just like in the Coner drawing, as a section combined with a view to its left, the archivolt similarly with just a very short portion of its curving front, and the impost likewise lacking its decorated frieze but having the astragal beneath and the alignment of the wall surface down below both indicated.

As revealed in a pentimento, the archivolt when originally drawn did not continue so far to the left. It was subsequently extended and the original profile erased, thus making the final combination of the two components appear more logical. The drawing was copied, albeit in simplified form, by Michelangelo.

RELATED IMAGES: [Michelangelo], CB, 3Av: right side (De Tolnay 1975–80, 4, p. 50; Agosti–Farinella 1987, pp. 114–15); [Andrea Palladio] Vicenza, Museo Civico, D 2v (Zorzi 1959, pp. 56–57; Puppi 1989, p. 105)

OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Giuliano da Sangallo] Rome, BAV, Barb. lat. 4424 (Codex Barberini), fol. 22r (Hülsen 1910, p. 31; Borsi 1985, pp. 129–32)

OTHER DRAWINGS IN CODEX CONER OF SAME SUBJECT: Fol. 34r/Ashby 54; Fol. 56r/Ashby 95; Fol. 89r/Ashby 147

Ashby 1904, p. 54
Census, ID 47339

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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