To an approximate scale of 1:7

Sub. una. colu [m]nar [um]. chapitolij et dicitur. capitulum. tuscianu [m] (‘Under one of the columns of the Capitol and it is said [to be] a Tuscan capital’)

• c.1513/14
  Datable to c.1513/14

Pen and brown ink and grey-brown wash over stylus lines, traces of black chalk and compass pricks

Bernardo della Volpaia

Being described in the caption as ‘under’ one of the columns on the Capitol may suggest that this capital, which can no longer be found, had been reused as a column base, a common practice in the medieval period. The location is unlikely to have been in the church of the Santa Maria in Aracoeli as churches are normally identified in the codex as findspots, so it could possibly have been either Palazzo Senatorio or Palazzo dei Conservatori.

The capital is Doric, with fluting on the echinus and two annuli in the form of continuous astragals but no neck, and the shaft (with its mispositioned dowel hole) is treated in the Doric manner with flutes that have arises rather than fillets between them. The unusual fluting of the echinus is similar to that on the Doric capitals of the Basilica Aemilia (Fol. 46r/Ashby 77), while the two annuli in the form of beads find counterparts in the Doric capitals of the tomb near the Ponte Nomentano (Fol. 45r/Ashby 75), as well as in two capitals with unfluted shafts drawn on another page (Fol. 72r/Ashby 122). The caption explaining that the capital was regarded as ‘Tuscan’ tallies with an annotation mentioning ‘Tuscan’ work on the tomb drawing, and it must refer to contemporary debate about the form of this order, and, probably, the design of ‘Tuscan’ capitals (see e.g. Günther 1988, pp. 183–87).

The drawing is of same format as those above, but, like the one below, it is larger and also executed in lighter ink, suggesting that it may well have been added to the page at a slightly later time. It was transformed into a frontal depiction when copied by Michelangelo.

RELATED IMAGES: [Michelangelo] London, BM, 1859-6-25-560/1v (De Tolnay 1975–80, 4, pp. 47–48; Agosti–Farinella 1987, pp. 94–95)

Ashby 1904, p. 60
Census, ID 45873

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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