| This dissertation examines the function, characteristics, and influence of one of the most beautiful surviving Renaissance architectural sketchbooks called the Codex Coner, now preserved at the Sir John Soane's Museum in London, England. The draftsman has been identified as a Florentine carpenter: Bernardo della Volpaia (c.1475--1521). The Codex was complied in Rome in the mid 1510s, a crucial moment in the history of European architecture marked by ambitious new building projects and great efforts in the visual documentation and reconstruction of Rome's glorious past. Consequently, the Codex features both ancient and contemporary Roman monuments.;The consistency of the Codex Coner in terms of graphic style and subject arrangement is unmatched, and the scope of its contents far exceeds that of other sketchbooks of its kind. The importance of the Codex lies also in its relationships to such renowned Renaissance architects as Bramante (1444--1514), Raphael (1483--1520), and Michelangelo (1475--1564). Since its publication in 1904, the genesis of the Codex Coner has presented a number of perplexing questions. In particular, the professional background of its draftsman, who was not a practicing architect, invites an investigation of the sketchbook's intended function and audience. These and other aspects of the Codex offer a special opportunity to broaden our vision of the complexity and variety of Renaissance culture. My dissertation, organized thematically, provides a synthetic analysis of the intrinsic quality of the sketchbook and its many connections with contemporary architectural theory and practice. Comparative discussions of the Codex and other architectural drawings and sketchbooks created between the late Quattrocento and the early Cinquecento help to illuminate the Codex's historical meaning. Additional comparisons to illustrated architectural treatises, printed books, and contemporary antiquarian studies serve to provide a broad contextual view of the Codex. By challenging certain prevailing misconceptions, this dissertation also attempts to construct some new perspectives from which a visual object like the Codex Coner may be viewed. Sketchbooks are familiar working tools of artists and architects, in the Renaissance as well as now. My dissertation views the Codex Coner broadly against the history of architectural representation, not as an isolated phenomenon, but rather as part of a historical continuum that remains central to the profession in our own day. |
