To an approximate scale of 1:13

• c.1513/14
  Datable to c.1513/14

Pen and brown ink over traces of black chalk, overlaid with traces of a purple-brown, oil-based substance

Bernardo della Volpaia

This depiction of the keystone, which has ‘S’-shaped volutes on its sides with rosettes at their two centres, again lacks a caption but it belongs to the Arch of Titus (cf. Desgodetz 1682, p. 191), although it again omits the statuette decorating the face, which in this case represents the deity Honor. The drawing differs from its neighbour in showing the keystone just from the side without any indication of the front, which may well mean it was based on a different source. Later depictions of the keystone, such as the one published by Sebastiano Serlio in Book Three of his treatise (1540) and a drawing now in Vienna, show it similarly from the side and but with accompanying details of the front – again minus the attached figurine.

The right side of the volute has been strengthened with an oily medium (also seen in Drawing 1), which is a later addition in a different hand. An offset of this line is visible on the verso of Fol. 89/Ashby 148, which suggests that it was added before the codex was dismantled in the seventeenth century and transformed into an album.

OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: Serlio 1619, fol.100r; [Anonymous Italian E] Vienna, Albertina, inv. Egger no. 49v (Egger 1903, p. 24; Valori 1985, p. 141)

OTHER DRAWINGS IN CODEX CONER OF SAME SUBJECT: Fol. 35r/Ashby 56; Fol. 56r/Ashby 95; Fol. 57r/Ashby 97; Fol. 80r/Ashby 134; Fol. 82v/Ashby 137

Ashby 1904, p. 71
Census, ID 49472

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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