To an approximate scale of 1:12

• c.1515
  Datable to c.1515

Pen and brown ink over black chalk

Bernardo della Volpaia

Then located in the church of San Marco where it was used as the episcopal throne, the chariot was given to Pope Clement XIV in 1771, before being restored to its current form with two horses by Francesco Antonio Franzoni in 1788 (Erika Simon in Helbig 1963–72, 1, pp. 401–03). Originally, it may have belonged to a quadriga (four-horse chariot) which was located in the nearby Forum of Augustus (Strocka 2009).

The drawing is a flattened-out depiction of just over half of the U-shaped carriage’s exterior, which is taller at the front but then diminishes in height to a pair of corners (now restored) at the back, one indicated here on the right. It records the exterior with some care, mapping the numerous acanthus swirls and noting, for example, that the central acanthus bulb (shown here on the left) overlaps the moulding at the base, that the stalk above is not fully symmetrical, and that it is topped with poppies and ears of wheat. It also documents the condition of the rail at the top, which had a pair of segments running free of the sides below to form handles, then lost but now restored. Compositionally, however, it has certain shortcomings, such as in the positioning of the large acanthus swirl at the centre of the drawing, which should be a little higher up.

The chariot is documented in other drawings from around this time, notably one in the Codex Escurialensis recording the chariot as being in San Marco, as well as two by Amico Aspertini, all likewise adopting the format of a flattened-out depiction of half the exterior. The Escurialensis rendition, like the Coner version, is of the right-hand side, which may suggest that this had become the standard way for the chariot to be represented. Compared with the Coner drawing, however, it is compositionally even more accurate but rather finicky in execution, and it omits the framing base moulding and upper rail, which makes the Coner drawing a more convincing record of the actual object. Despite its careful execution, however, it dates from the second phase of the codex’s production.

OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Anon.] El Escorial, Real Monasterio, 28-II-12 (Codex Escurialensis), fol. 11v (Egger 1905–06, p. 72); [Amico Aspertini] Parma, Bibl. Palatina, Ms. Parm. 1535, fol 25r (Faietti–Nesselrath 1995, p. 56); [Amico Aspertini] Schloss Wolfegg, Codex Wolfegg, fol. 22r (Schweikhart 1986, p. 64)

Ashby 1904, p. 73
Ashby 1913, p. 210
Census, ID 45508

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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