To an approximate scale of 1:6

circu [m]. ara [m]. S. petri (‘Around the altar of St Peter’s’); [measurements]

• 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

The annotation establishes that this detail belongs to the long-demolished structure, known as the Tegurio, which Bramante designed in 1513/14 to protect the altar of St Peter’s during the new church‘s construction, and which is also the subject of another Coner drawing (Fol. 47r/Ashby 79). It is presumably a design for the impost of the structure’s arches rather than the cornice of the attic, which was executed only later (Shearman 1974, pp. 571–72). It may have been executed with an ovolo moulding beneath the corona, as shown in the Codex Mellon, rather than a cavetto as shown here. The drawing’s profile was copied by Michelangelo, and it was later copied too by Francesco Borromini.

RELATED IMAGES: [Michelangelo] Florence, CB, 1Av: left side (De Tolnay 1975–80, 4, p. 49; Agosti–Farinella 1987, pp. 88–89); [Francesco Borromini] Berlin, Kunstbibliothek, HdZ 3826, inv. Thelen 1 (Thelen 1967, 1, p. 11)

OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Domenico Aimo (Il Varignana), attr.] New York, Morgan Library, Codex Mellon, fol. 6v

OTHER DRAWINGS IN CODEX CONER OF SAME SUBJECT: Fol. 47r/Ashby 79

Ashby 1904, p. 56
Günther 1988, p. 337

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