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Folio 50 verso (Ashby 86): Entablature from the lower storey inside the Pantheon
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Reference number
SM volume 115/86
Purpose
Folio 50 verso (Ashby 86): Entablature from the lower storey inside the Pantheon
Aspect
Cross section and raking view of front, with measurements
Scale
To an approximate scale of 1:16
Inscribed
[Drawing] prima. C[orona]. eclesiae. S. ma/riae. ritondae. (‘The first cornice of the church of Santa Maria Rotunda’); [measurements]
[Mount] 86 [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 stylus lines; on laid paper (232x165mm) rounded corners at left, inlaid
[Mount] Frame lines, in pen and dark brown ink, 10mm apart; window (224x159mm)
Hand
Bernardo della Volpaia
Watermark
See recto
Notes
As the caption indicates, this drawing is of the entablature of the main Corinthian order that runs around the lower storey of the interior of the Pantheon. The earliest representation of its subject to survive, it provides – as is usual in the codex – a profile of the various mouldings together with an oblique view of the elevation drawn in perspective, only here it is rather a short portion comprising just two modillions, one recorded in more detail than the other. Although carefully depicted, there are certain minor errors of decorative detail: the modillion depicted in the greater detail lacks the four-petalled flower ornamenting the side of the scroll at its front or the curl of the leaf beneath it, while there are too many elements in the ornamentation of the cyma reversa moulding above them (cf. Desgodetz 1682, p. 43).
The entablature is the subject of several surviving drawings produced subsequently, some dissimilar such as the profile/elevational depictions of it by Antonio and Giovanni Francesco da Sangallo, but others of a much more comparable character. One produced before 1519 in the Fogg Museum is of equivalent format although reversed in orientation and showing more of the entablature, and also being much less detailed in ignoring all the surface decoration. However, another later drawing by a French draftsman in the Goldschmidt Scrapbook dating from around 1560/65, is so similar that some direct or indirect knowledge of the Coner drawing can be inferred. It is of the same orientation and shows the same amount of entablature, and especially telling is the treatment of the surface decoration, which accords with the Coner depiction in showing just half of the run of egg-and-dart decoration and the surface decoration of just one modillion, and even making the same mistakes of omitting the rosette at the front end of the modillion’s scroll, not depicting the curl of the leaf beneath, and giving the cyma reversa moulding above an ornamentation that has too many elements. It differs, however, in providing dimensions that are in French feet rather than braccia, and in treating the profile not as a plain section but divided it up to indicate the sequence of mouldings, as if the mouldings turned a corner but allowing their heights to be recorded. Another very closely related drawing is a youthful one by Palladio dating probably from the 1540s, which, although reversed, is again of the same format and shows the same amount of entablature, and it too makes the mistake of not including a flower in the front end of the modillion scroll; but this is again a hybrid depiction in that modillions are added to the section to indicate their size and spacing. The likelihood here would be that the Palladio and Coner drawings have a shared ancestry, and that the Palladio drawing relied not only on conventions of representation that were previously widespread, but on a specific prototype that was closely related to the Coner drawing.
The drawing is one of only two lone entablatures in the compilation that are allocated an entire sheet, the other being that of the Temple of Castor and Pollux (Fol. 50r/Ashby 85) which was originally on the facing page. Its placement also makes sense in that it comes in a sequence of ancient cornices and entablatures that are not just associated with the Corinthian order but also have modillions in their cornices, which would be why it was separated in the end from the page which records Corinthian entablatures in the Pantheon that lack modillions (Fol. 65r/Ashby 111).
OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Circle of Antonio Labacco] Cambridge (Mass.), Fogg Museum, Inv. 1932.271, fol. 16r (Burns 1984, p. 414); [Antonio da Sangallo the Younger] Florence, GDSU, 85 Av (Bartoli 1914–22, 6, p. 83; Frommel–Adams 2000, p. 101); [Giovanni Francesco da Sangallo] Florence, GDSU, 1387 Ar (Bartoli 1914–22, 6, p. 99; Frommel–Adams 2000, pp. 247–48); [Andrea Palladio] Vicenza, Museo Civico, inv. D 8v (Zorzi 1958, p. 77; Puppi 1989, p. 100); [Anon. French draughtsman] New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Goldschmidt Scrapbook, fol. 90r (D’Orgeix 2001, p. 198; Yerkes 2013, pp. 99 and 117)
OTHER DRAWINGS IN CODEX CONER OF SAME SUBJECT: Fol. 8r/Ashby 13; Fol. 23r/Ashby 35; Fol. 23v/Ashby 36; Fol. 24r/Ashby 37; Fol. 24v/Ashby 38; Fol. 38r/Ashby 61; Fol. 38v/Ashby 62; Fol. 39r/Ashby 63; Fol. 40r/Ashby 65; Fol. 65r/Ashby 111; Fol. 81r/Ashby 134; Fol. 83r/Ashby 136
The entablature is the subject of several surviving drawings produced subsequently, some dissimilar such as the profile/elevational depictions of it by Antonio and Giovanni Francesco da Sangallo, but others of a much more comparable character. One produced before 1519 in the Fogg Museum is of equivalent format although reversed in orientation and showing more of the entablature, and also being much less detailed in ignoring all the surface decoration. However, another later drawing by a French draftsman in the Goldschmidt Scrapbook dating from around 1560/65, is so similar that some direct or indirect knowledge of the Coner drawing can be inferred. It is of the same orientation and shows the same amount of entablature, and especially telling is the treatment of the surface decoration, which accords with the Coner depiction in showing just half of the run of egg-and-dart decoration and the surface decoration of just one modillion, and even making the same mistakes of omitting the rosette at the front end of the modillion’s scroll, not depicting the curl of the leaf beneath, and giving the cyma reversa moulding above an ornamentation that has too many elements. It differs, however, in providing dimensions that are in French feet rather than braccia, and in treating the profile not as a plain section but divided it up to indicate the sequence of mouldings, as if the mouldings turned a corner but allowing their heights to be recorded. Another very closely related drawing is a youthful one by Palladio dating probably from the 1540s, which, although reversed, is again of the same format and shows the same amount of entablature, and it too makes the mistake of not including a flower in the front end of the modillion scroll; but this is again a hybrid depiction in that modillions are added to the section to indicate their size and spacing. The likelihood here would be that the Palladio and Coner drawings have a shared ancestry, and that the Palladio drawing relied not only on conventions of representation that were previously widespread, but on a specific prototype that was closely related to the Coner drawing.
The drawing is one of only two lone entablatures in the compilation that are allocated an entire sheet, the other being that of the Temple of Castor and Pollux (Fol. 50r/Ashby 85) which was originally on the facing page. Its placement also makes sense in that it comes in a sequence of ancient cornices and entablatures that are not just associated with the Corinthian order but also have modillions in their cornices, which would be why it was separated in the end from the page which records Corinthian entablatures in the Pantheon that lack modillions (Fol. 65r/Ashby 111).
OTHER IMAGES MENTIONED: [Circle of Antonio Labacco] Cambridge (Mass.), Fogg Museum, Inv. 1932.271, fol. 16r (Burns 1984, p. 414); [Antonio da Sangallo the Younger] Florence, GDSU, 85 Av (Bartoli 1914–22, 6, p. 83; Frommel–Adams 2000, p. 101); [Giovanni Francesco da Sangallo] Florence, GDSU, 1387 Ar (Bartoli 1914–22, 6, p. 99; Frommel–Adams 2000, pp. 247–48); [Andrea Palladio] Vicenza, Museo Civico, inv. D 8v (Zorzi 1958, p. 77; Puppi 1989, p. 100); [Anon. French draughtsman] New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Goldschmidt Scrapbook, fol. 90r (D’Orgeix 2001, p. 198; Yerkes 2013, pp. 99 and 117)
OTHER DRAWINGS IN CODEX CONER OF SAME SUBJECT: Fol. 8r/Ashby 13; Fol. 23r/Ashby 35; Fol. 23v/Ashby 36; Fol. 24r/Ashby 37; Fol. 24v/Ashby 38; Fol. 38r/Ashby 61; Fol. 38v/Ashby 62; Fol. 39r/Ashby 63; Fol. 40r/Ashby 65; Fol. 65r/Ashby 111; Fol. 81r/Ashby 134; Fol. 83r/Ashby 136
Literature
Ashby 1904, p. 45
Census, ID 45126
Census, ID 45126
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