(a) Studies of machines for pumping and lifting, methods for jointing beams; crane (left half); (b) Roman tomb “near San Sebastiano”, perspectival elevation, plan and detail of one window; (c) vase, half elevation (right half)

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Dimensionsh x w: 41 x 66 cm

Inventory numberNMH CC 1363 recto

AcqusitionDonated 1941 by Eric Langenskiöld. Formerly in the Cronstedt collection, Fullerö

Other titlesTitel (sv): Mekaniska ritningar av vattenpumpar m.m., en romersk vas, en fönsterinramning samt plan och perspektiv av mindre tvåvånig byggnad Titel (en): (a) Studies of machines for pumping and lifting, methods for jointing beams; crane (left half); (b) Roman tomb “near San Sebastiano”, perspectival elevation, plan and detail of one window; (c) vase, half elevation (right half) Tidigare: Mechanical Drawings of Water Pumps etc., a Roman Vase, a Window Surround and a plan and perspective of a small two-storey building

DescriptionRes. Katalogtext: Bortolozzi, Italian Architectural Drawings from the Cronstedt Collection, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2020 (cat. no. 44) Anon. draughtsmen, mid- to second half of the 16th century Pen and dark brown ink, light brown wash, stylus, straightedge and freehand, 41.3/41.5 × 66 cm NMH CC 1363r PAPER: folded in the middle, lower left corner damaged. A cut strip of paper glued on the verso on to the upper edge suggests that the sheet may at some point have been bound in a volume. The paper does not bear any resemblance to the other Italian drawings in the Cronstedt Collection. WATERMARK: none visible INSCRIPTIONS: Aub[...] (at upper right, apparently in French by an 18th-century hand); preso a san bastian (at lower right, inscribed by the draughtsman inside the plan of the tomb) MEASUREMENTS: Roman palmi; no scale PROVENANCE: Carl Johan Cronstedt and descendants; Eric Langenskiöld; gift to the Nationalmuseum of Stockholm 1941 BIBLIOGRAPHY: unpublished The sheet appears to be drawn by two different hands, one characterised by the use of dark brown ink and a cross-hatching technique (lifting and pumping machines on the left, vase on the right), the other by the use of light brown ink and wash (Roman tomb). Both hands may date from the middle to the second half of the 16th century. On the upper right corner of the sheet are stains of black ink and an inscription in French, possibly traces of a later ownership. The five studies of pumping and lifting machines on the left half of the sheet derive from the experiments of the Renaissance military engineer, architect and theorist Francesco di Giorgio Martini (Siena 1439 – ivi 1501). They are probably copies after his Opusculum di architectura, a book of engine drawings and plans of fortifications, which was presented to Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, c. 1477. It remained in the Ducal library in Urbino until the 18th century, prompting the dissemination of multiple copies. It is now preserved in the British Museum, London. On the right half of the sheet, the drawing (b) shows a two-storey chamber tomb, articulated on the exterior by Corinthian (on the ground floor) and Ionic (on the upper storey) pilasters. Several chamber tombs were known during the Renaissance outside Porta Latina (near San Sebastiano) but none actually matches the one represented in the Stockholm drawing. LITERATURE: (a) Ramelli 1588; Fairbairn 1998, I, 177–179 OTHER DRAWINGS:(a1) Florence, BML, Ms Ashburnham 1357, fol. 26r; Florence, IMSS, Ms Ant. 532, vol. II fol. 31r; Florence, Uffizi 4081A, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, c. 1510–1546; Florence, Uffizi, 7671Ar, anon. copyist after Francesco di Giorgio; London, BM, Opusculum, fol. 61r, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, c. 1472–1477; London, SJSM, vol. 128, fol. 52r, anon. copyist after Francesco di Giorgio, after 1556; Los Angeles, Getty, Codex, fol. 5r; Modena, BE, Ms alpha G.4.21, fol. 127r; Paris, BN, Ms Magliabecchiano II.III.314, fol. 27r; Turin, BR, Ms 383r, unnumbered folio. Prints: Strada 1617–18, 56. (a2) London, BM, Opusculum, fol.11v. (a3) London, BM, Opusculum, fol. 13v. (a4) BAV, Codicetto, Ms Urb. lat. 1757, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, fol. 132v; BAV, Ms Urb. lat. 1397, fol. 39v; Florence, BML, Ms Ashburnham 1357, fol. 17r; Florence, Uffizi 4080A; Modena, BE, Ms alpha G.4.21, fol. 11v; London, BM, Opusculum, fol. 54v, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, c. 1472–1477; London, SJSM, vol. 128, fol. 70r, anon. copyist after Francesco di Giorgio; Los Angeles, Getty, Codex, fol. 11r; Paris, BN, Ms Magliabecchiano II.III.314, fol. 18r; Paris, BN, Ms Panciatichi 361, fol. 317r; Turin, BR, Ms 383, unnumbered folio; Urbino, SC, Santini Codex, fol. 16r and 31r [end]

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