Not known

.S.†.in. ierusalem. (‘Santa Croce in Gerusalemme’)

• c.1515
  Datable to c.1515

Pen and brown ink and grey-brown wash over black chalk, with single vertical stylus line at centre

Bernardo della Volpaia

This Ionic capital with a richly ornamented neck and volutes no longer survives in Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, the church mentioned in the caption. It is shown from both the front and the side (Drawing 9), the two drawings also including the top of the shaft. It was recorded a little earlier by the anonymous draughtsman of the Codex Strozzi, again from both the front and side, and similarly with a part of the shaft. The Codex Strozzi drawings are more cursory and schematic than the ones in the Codex Coner, but both pairs presumably derive from a common source. Just a little later, the capital was drawn by an associate of Michelangelo, as it was also by Giovanni Francesco da Sangallo, again from the front and side, although the two views are this time treated orthogonally, as they are in a subsequent drawing in Berlin. As Ashby noted, the capital is very similar although not identical to one still extant in Santa Maria in Trastevere, which is recorded, for example, in a sketchbook in Vienna. Ionic capitals of this type, with richly ornamented necks, were well known even in the late fifteenth century, as evident from a drawing in one of the treatises written by Francesco di Giorgio. The Coner drawing, like its companion, was copied by Michelangelo.

The accompanying annotation is written in the same hand as the others in the codex, confirming that Bernardo della Volpaia was indeed the author of the drawings on this page despite their differences in style and format.

RELATED IMAGES: [Anon.] Florence, GDSU, Codex Strozzi, 1601 Av (Bartoli 1914–22, 6, p. 27); [Michelangelo] Florence, CB, 1Av: right side (De Tolnay 1975–80, 4, p. 49; Agosti–Farinella 1987, pp. 90–91)

OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Francesco di Giorgio] Florence, BNC, Codex Magliabecchiano., fol. 33r (Maltese 1967, 2, plate 219; [Circle of Michelangelo] BM 1859-6-25-548r (De Tolnay 1975–80, 4, p. 47); [Giovanni Francesco da Sangallo] Florence, GDSU, 1702 Av (Bartoli 1914–22, 6, p. 103; Frommel–Schelbert 2022, 1, p. 203); [Anon.] Berlin, Kunstbibliothek, inv. OZ 114, fol. 10 (Römische Skizzen 1988, pp. 152–56); [Anonymous E) Vienna, Albertina, inv. Egger no. 77r–v) (Egger 1903, p. 30; Valori 1985, pp. 150–51)

Ashby 1904, p. 68
Census, ID 46990

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