eruDiziOne classica e PrOsPeTTiVa lOcale. le illusTraziOni ViTruViane Di GiOVan anTOniO ruscOni

Abstract

Della Architettura by Giovan Antonio Rusconi offers a
unique look in to the field of Vitruvian treatise. As a result of
the specific author’s professional background many are the woodcuts
that portray the world of construction with outstanding precision
and acumen. In the international Vitruvian literature,
Rusconi’s Vitruvius is expression of a very local perspective.
The ability to understand the images is drastically limited by a
poor and generic text, due to an unfortunate editorial story. In
fact, on March 29, 1553, Giolito de’Ferrari had been granted
by the Grand Duke of Tuscany a printing privilege for a new
translation of Vitruvius work, with figures, edited by Antonio
Rusconi. Unfortunately the translation - probably accompanied
by a commentary – has never been printed. Of this extensive
work, only a selection of the 300 images initially planned was
printed by Giolito, after Rusconi’s death in 1579. Images are
accompanied by an editorial text, often ambiguous and certainly
far from the initial intentions of the author. In this paper, I aim
to analyze some of the most significant illustrations for their
contribution to the knowledge of work tools and sixteenth-century
construction techniques, focusing on the Venetian context,
comparing them with other iconographic and textual elements,
and with the construction itself.