Valadier, Giuseppe (1762-1839)
In this magnificently illustrated manuscript of unusual content, the Italian architect and town planner Giuseppe Valadier (1762-1839) describes the casting of the Campanone, the largest bell in St. Peter's Basilica, in a text featuring 14 watercolored pen and ink drawings. The Vatican had commissioned the bell from the foundry of his father, Luigi Valadier, who passed away in 1785, before the work on the bell was completed. The son Giuseppe completed the commission and in 1786 prepared a manuscript about this work, pairing each drawing with a written explanation in the form of a legend. First Valadier shows the foundry building (2v-7r); then, in an almost photographic wealth of detail and in vivid colors, he shows the process of producing the bell including the technique of the false bell and the casting in bronze (8v-21r). Finally the finished bell (22v-23r) is transported through the streets of Rome on a wooden sled (24v-25r) and is blessed by Pope Pius VI (26v-27r). – The manuscript was purchased in Bern in 1948.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
- Valadier, Giuseppe (Author)
This manuscript by the Italian architect and town planner Guiseppe Valadier (1762-1839) vividly illustrates various aspects of architecture and technology. The manuscript contains 127 panels of pen and ink drawings in vivid colors that were created before 1828 (Tav. CI to Tav. CCXXXV, many panels are missing). Partly the panels are grouped thematically by material (e.g., wood (fol. 1r-8r), iron (fol. 9r-24r), copper (fol. 25r-31r), bronze (fol. 32r-58r)), partly by construction themes (e.g., construction of walls fol. 103r-117r). These drawings served as models for part of the total of about 320 panels presented in the two volumes of panels of Valadier's work „L'architettura pratica dettata nella scuola e cattedra dell'insigne Accademia di San Luca“, printed in Rome in 1828-33 and based on lectures he had given at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. The numbering of the panels in the manuscript corresponds to that in the printed work. — The manuscript was purchased in Italy in 1956.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
- Valadier, Giuseppe (Author)