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Folio 72 verso (Ashby 123): Doric capital from Tivoli
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Reference number
SM volume 115/123
Purpose
Folio 72 verso (Ashby 123): Doric capital from Tivoli
Aspect
Half a cross section and raking view of side, with measurements
Scale
To an approximate scale of 1:6
Inscribed
[Drawing] totum. est. m[inuti]. 55 (‘The whole [i.e. width of the abacus] is 55 minutes’); a. tibure. [h]abet. / canales. 20 (‘At Tivoli, it has 20 flutes’); [measurements]
[Mount] 123 [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 compass pricks; on laid paper (232x165mm), rounded corners at left, inlaid
[Mount] Frame lines, in pen and dark brown ink, 10mm apart; window (224x158mm)
Hand
Bernardo della Volpaia
Watermark
See recto
Notes
According to one of the annotations, this Doric capital was seen at Tivoli, but the original cannot now be traced. With its plain abacus, quadrant-shaped echinus, three annuli and neck, it is of conventional design, except that the neck is not separated by an astragal from the fluted shaft beneath as is normally the case, and so the junction is like that at the top of Trajan’s Column in Rome (see Fol. 76r/Ashby 129). As specified in the same annotation, the flutes are twenty in number, and they are also shown as meeting at arises, which is in line with Vitruvius’s recommendation for Doric columns (Book 4, chapter 3, 9). The indentation depicted at the drawing’s bottom right-hand corner is a fictional dowel hole.
The drawing is positioned at the bottom right-hand corner of the sheet, which is otherwise blank. It was presumably the intention to add further capitals of similar type to the page, but why this first drawing was placed at the bottom is unclear. It was partly copied by Michelangelo.
RELATED IMAGES: [Michelangelo] Florence, CB, 1Ar: right side (De Tolnay 1975–80, 4, p. 49; Agosti–Farinella 1987, pp. 86–87)
The drawing is positioned at the bottom right-hand corner of the sheet, which is otherwise blank. It was presumably the intention to add further capitals of similar type to the page, but why this first drawing was placed at the bottom is unclear. It was partly copied by Michelangelo.
RELATED IMAGES: [Michelangelo] Florence, CB, 1Ar: right side (De Tolnay 1975–80, 4, p. 49; Agosti–Farinella 1987, pp. 86–87)
Literature
Ashby 1904, p. 61
Census, ID 45623
Census, ID 45623
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