Architecture on Paper : The Development and Function of Architectural Drawings in the Renaissance

Drawings and the practice of drawing take centre stage in an investigation of what ‘designed’ Renaissance architecture, and what led the medieval master builder to gradually develop the characteristic features of the modern architect. This article focuses on the languages of drawings that were employed and developed by Renaissance architects. Examining the variety of functions that different graphical languages had within design and building processes, the article draws upon a storied argument between two Florentine architects to illustrate the conceptual and social tensions epitomized by drawing. The final section examines architectural drawings as means of communication beyond the building site, calling particular attention to the printed drawings that became increasingly important in the sixteenth century.

All’antica life style: private thermae in Italian Renaissance architecture

The heritage of antiquity was the basis of Italian Renaissance architecture and inexhaustible source of inspiration for its masters. Among the facilities of par - ticular interest for architects and lovers of the epoch were the Roman thermae. Their parts and elements brought to life a variety of spatial solutions in architecture of tem - ples, villas and cathedrals. However the attempts to lit - erally build the thermae similar to Roman ones in time of Renessaince were rare to encounter. The most detailed description of Renessaince ther - mae was given by Giorgio Vasari in the life story “ On Le - one Leoni Aretino and other sculptors and architects” which involves the brief biography of Galeazzo Aless - si. It narrates, among others, about the thermae built by Galeazzo Alesssi on Grimaldi (later Sauli) villa in Bisagno nearby Genova (the building was not saved). According to Vasari, the thermae were octagonally planned pavilion with the round pool in its centre. The interior was worked in antique style. The article gives an insight into efforts to build the private thermae during Renaissance, prior to Villa Grimaldi’s pavilion, which testifies to customers’ looking to reconstruct all’antica lifestyle in private life particularly on the villa which, following an - cient men of latters was regarded as ‘temple of muses’.

“National” and “international” in the architecture of French Renaissance

This article is dedicated to the problem of formation of national style in the architecture of French Renaissance. The indicated problem is the topic of intense discussion within the historiography of Renaissance. Leaning the concept of J. Burckhardt, who describes Renaissance as a specifically Italian phenomenon, a number of scholars identity French Renaissance with “Italianism”. On the other hand, there is a contradictory historiographical trend that acclaims national medieval tradition that views the revival of classical antiquity as a foreign and shallow phenomenon. An attempt is made to examine the problem from the perspective Renaissance itself, relying on the reasoning and assessments expressed by the three theoreticians of architecture: Sebastian Serlio, Philibert de l'Orme, and Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau. The conclusion is made that the theoreticians of French Renaissance were not prone to contrapose the shapes borrowed from antiquity to national tradition. They perceived antiquity as the common past of the entire contemporary to them culture. They did not see any preponderance of Italian Renaissance over the national culture. The contradiction between antiquity and Gothicism was interpreted as a contradiction between the ancient and the new, rather than foreign and native. In creation of the style of Renaissance architecture they resorted to synthesizing heritage of the antiquity with national medieval tradition.

parroquiales de Samper de Calanda (Teruel) : historia y documentos

Este trabajo es una reconstrucción hipotética de la desaparecida iglesia románica medieval de Samper de Calanda (Teruel), que se basa en las fuentes documentales conservadas y en los materiales procedentes de su fábrica, reutilizados en la iglesia barroca actual. Destacan sendos dinteles de puerta insertos en las paredes norte y sur, cuyo diseño se debe al arquitecto Giacomo de Vignola, que fechamos en el siglo xvii. Palabras clave: iglesias románicas, iglesias barrocas, Giacomo Vignola, arquitectura renacentista, siglo XVII This work is a hypothetical rebuilding of the missing medieval Romanesque church of Samper de Calanda (Teruel), wich is based on preserved sources of information and material from its masonry, which have been reused in the existent church, which was built during the Baroque period. We must speak about two separate lintels in north and south walls, designed by architect Giacomo de Vignola, dated in the 17thcentury. Key words: Romanesque churches, Baroque churches, Giacomo Vignola, Renaissance architecture