Leonardo da Vinci and Architecture: (4 Leonardo Studies)

Found scattered among his numerous manuscripts, Leonardo's studies on architecture were conceived during an artistic journey of close to fifty years while their author was in the service of the most prestigious patrons. Dealing with churches, ephemeral monuments, urban reconstruction, fortifications, palaces and villas, and painted architecture—mostly ideal in nature—they are part of the architectural evolution of the late quattrocento and early cinquecento. Leonardo's drawings assimilate the ideas of the pioneers of Renaissance architecture and focus on particular aspects, such as interventions on existing structures, classical orders, staircases, and decoration. Leonardo’s analysis sheds light on dialogues with Bramante, Francesco di Giorgio, Giuliano da Sangallo, Michelangelo, Baldassare Peruzzi and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and allows us to better understand whether his contributions were innovative, or singular interpretations of the achievements of his time. This is an augmented translation of Leonardo e l'architettura (Modena: Franco Cosimo Panini, 2019).

Table of Contents:
Preface List of Figures 1 Leonardo and His Patrons  Sabine Frommel  1 A Silent Dialogue: Lorenzo the Magnificent  2 Leonardo at the Court of Lodovico Sforza  3 The “prestantissimo et delectissimo familiare architecto et ingegnero generale” of Cesare Borgia  4 Representatives of the King of France in Milan: Charles d’Amboise and Gian Giacomo Trivulzio  5 At the Court of LeoX  6 At the Court of FrancisI 2 The Painted Architecture  Sabine Frommel  1 From the Annunciation (Uffizi) to the Last Supper (Santa Maria delle Grazie)  2 Architectural Drawings for Potential Paintings and Stage Designs 3 The tiburio of Milan Cathedral  Jean Guillaume  1 The Structure of the tiburio  2 The Exterior Appearance: The Dome Preferred to the tiburio  3 A Two-Domed Structure 4 The Central-Plan Church  Jean Guillaume  1 Plan Types  2 Plans Expressed in Volumes  3 Elevations  4 A Church Façade  5 Leonardo and the Religious Architecture of the Renaissance 5 Funerary Monuments  Sabine Frommel  1 The Project for a Mausoleum  2 The Funerary Monument of Gian Giacomo Trivulzio 6 Urban Reconstruction and the Ideal City  Sabine Frommel  1 Contemporary Research on the New Form of the City: Imagined Space and the Treatise  2 Urban Reconstruction Projects in Milan: Functionality and Political Strategy  3 From the Medici to FrancisI: 1512–1519  4 A Different Method: Giuliano da Sangallo 7 Fortifications  Sabine Frommel  1 Drawings of Defensive Structures during the First Milanese Sojourn  2 Leonardo “architetto e ingenere generale” of Cesare Borgia  3 Projects since 1503: Again the Fortress of Piombino and the Second Sojourn in Milan  4 Leonardo’s Approach 8 Palaces and Villas  Sabine Frommel  1 Projects Linked to Specific Sites and Programs  2 The Country House of a Rich Landowner  3 The Villa of Charles d’Amboise  4 Villa Melzi  5 The Ideal Projects of Palaces and Villas with a Central Plan  6 The Façades 9 The Staircase with Several Ascents  Jean Guillaume 10 Architectural Language: The Use of Orders  Jean Guillaume 11 Theatrical Architecture, Festivals, and Ephemeral Constructions in Leonardo’s Work  Sara Taglialagamba  1 Mechanical Paradises  2 Entertainment: Animated Forms and “Marvelous” Works  3 In the Service of the French 12 Leonardo and Antique Architecture: A Versatile Dialogue  Sabine Frommel  1 Assimilation of the Pantheon  2 Variations on the tholos  3 Thoughts on the Villa Inspired by Antiquity  4 Adoptions of More Complex Modalities Derived from Antique Origins 13 Leonardo, His Contemporaries and His Legacy  Sabine Frommel  1 From Florence to Milan: The Expanding References  2 The Three Sojourns of Leonardo in Rome: Bramante and New Challenges  3 Filarete, Francesco di Giorgio, Leonardo da Vinci, and Baldassarre Peruzzi  4 The Florentines’ Network  5 Nachleben in the Drawing of the Codex Chlumzcanzky and in Serlio’s Treatise 14 Leonardo in France  Jean Guillaume  1 Romorantin  2 Chambord 15 Leonardo’s Singularity  Jean Guillaume 16 Leonardo the Architect?  Sabine Frommel  1 Is There a “Leonardo Method”?  2 From Inclinations to Principles Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Sabine Frommel is the chair of Renaissance art history at the École Pratique des Hautes Études-PSL (Paris, Sciences et Lettres University), since 2003. Her research addresses the great architects of the Italian Renaissance, evolution of typologies, architectural languages, and migratory processes in Europe. Jean Guillaume was professor emeritus of Renaissance art history at the Sorbonne in Paris. His research focused on Renaissance architecture in France and Italy, particularly in relation to French chateaux. Recently he was working on a monograph on the Louvre and the Tuilleries in the sixteenth century.