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Drawing 2 (centre): Column base from the Temple of Vespasian
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Reference number
SM volume 115/133b
Purpose
Drawing 2 (centre): Column base from the Temple of Vespasian
Aspect
Partial section with perspectival view, and measurements
Scale
To an approximate scale of 1:10
Inscribed
classitudo. 144 (‘Width 144 [minutes]’); tria [rum]. colu [m]na [rum]. sub. capitolio. cum. canalib [us]/ 24 (‘Of the three columns beneath the Capitol, with 24 flutes’); [measurements]
Signed and dated
- c.1513/14
Datable to c.1513/14
Medium and dimensions
Pen and brown ink and grey-brown wash over black chalk and stylus lines
Hand
Bernardo della Volpaia
Notes
This drawing of an unadorned base supporting a fluted column follows the same format as the others on the page (see Drawing 1). The particular base depicted is that of the Temple of Vespasian in the Roman Forum, as is established by the caption referring to the ‘three columns below the Capitol’, and it is of the type used on the lower storey of the Pantheon (see Fols 65r/Ashby 111, 80r/Ashby 134 and 82r/Ashby 136). Other early drawings of this base include orthogonal depictions produced by Baldassare Peruzzi and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. The annotation further notes that it has twenty-four flutes, a number that again corresponds to Vitruvius’s theoretical norm. In another annotation, the Latin word for ‘width’ – crassitudo – is mistakenly written as classitudo.
OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Baldassare Peruzzi] Florence, GDSU, 533 Ar (Bartoli 1914–22, 6, p. 50; Wurm 1983, pl. 75); [Antonio da Sangallo the Younger] Florence, GDSU, 1140 Av (Bartoli 1914–22, 6, p. 89; Frommel–Schelbert 2022, 1, p. 110)
OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Baldassare Peruzzi] Florence, GDSU, 533 Ar (Bartoli 1914–22, 6, p. 50; Wurm 1983, pl. 75); [Antonio da Sangallo the Younger] Florence, GDSU, 1140 Av (Bartoli 1914–22, 6, p. 89; Frommel–Schelbert 2022, 1, p. 110)
Literature
Ashby 1904, p. 66
Census, ID 46860
Census, ID 46860
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