The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci Part 61

751.

The pavilion in the garden of the d.u.c.h.ess of Milan.

The plan of the pavilion which is in the middle of the labyrinth of the Duke of Milan.

[Footnote: This pa.s.sage was first published by AMORETTI in Memorie Storiche Cap. X: Una sua opera da riportarsi a quest' anno fu il bagno fatto per la d.u.c.h.essa Beatrice nel parco o giardino del Castello. Lionardo non solo ne disegno il piccolo edifizio a foggia di padiglione, nel cod. segnato Q. 3, dandone anche separatamente la pianta; ma sotto vi scrisse: Padiglione del giardino della d.u.c.h.essa; e sotto la pianta: Fondamento del padiglione ch'e nel mezzo del labirinto del duca di Milano; nessuna data e presso il padiglione, disegnato nella pagina 12, ma poco sopra fra molti circoli intrecciati vedesi = 10 Luglio 1492 = e nella pagina 2 presso ad alcuni disegni di legumi qualcheduno ha letto Settembre 1482 in vece di 1492, come dovea scriverevi, e probabilmente scrisse Lionardo.

The original text however hardly bears the interpretation put upon it by AMORETTI. He is mistaken as to the mark on the MS. as well as in his statements as to the date, for the MS. in question has no date; the date he gives occurs, on the contrary, in another note-book. Finally, it appears to me quite an open question whether Leonardo was the architect who carried out the construction of the dome-like Pavilion here shown in section, or of the ground plan of the Pavilion drawn by the side of it. Must we, in fact, suppose that "il duca di Milano" here mentioned was, as has been generally a.s.sumed, Ludovico il Moro? He did not hold this t.i.tle from the Emperor before 1494; till that date he was only called Governatore and Leonardo in speaking of him, mentions him generally as "il Moro" even after 1494. On January 18, 1491, he married Beatrice d'Este the daughter of Ercole I, Duke of Ferrara. She died on the 2nd January 1497, and for the reasons I have given it seems improbable that it should be this princess who is here spoken of as the "d.u.c.h.essa di Milano". From the style of the handwriting it appears to me to be beyond all doubt that the MS. B, from which this pa.s.sage is taken, is older than the dated MSS. of 1492 and 1493. In that case the Duke of Milan here mentioned would be Gian Galeazzo (1469-1494) and the d.u.c.h.ess would be his wife Isabella of Aragon, to whom he was married on the second February 1489. J. P. R.]

752.

The earth that is dug out from the cellars must be raised on one side so high as to make a terrace garden as high as the level of the hall; but between the earth of the terrace and the wall of the house, leave an interval in order that the damp may not spoil the princ.i.p.al walls.

_IV. Ecclesiastical Architecture.

A. General Observations._

753.

A building should always be detached on all sides so that its form may be seen.

[Footnote: The original text is reproduced on Pl. XCII, No. 1 to the left hand at the bottom.]

754.

Here there cannot and ought not to be any campanile; on the contrary it must stand apart like that of the Cathedral and of San Giovanni at Florence, and of the Cathedral at Pisa, where the campanile is quite detached as well as the dome. Thus each can display its own perfection. If however you wish to join it to the church, make the lantern serve for the campanile as in the church at Chiaravalle.

[Footnote: This text is written by the side of the plan given on Pl.

XCI. No. 2.]

[Footnote 12: The Abbey of Chiaravalle, a few miles from Milan, has a central tower on the intersection of the cross in the style of that of the Certosa of Pavia, but the style is mediaeval (A. D. 1330). Leonardo seems here to mean, that in a building, in which the circular form is strongly conspicuous, the campanile must either be separated, or rise from the centre of the building and therefore take the form of a lantern.]

755.

It never looks well to see the roofs of a church; they should rather be flat and the water should run off by gutters made in the frieze.

[Footnote: This text is to the left of the domed church reproduced on Pl. Lx.x.xVII, No. 2.]

_B. The theory of Dome Architecture.

This subject has been more extensively treated by Leonardo in drawings than in writing. Still we may fairly a.s.sume that it was his purpose, ultimately to embody the results of his investigation in a_ "Trattato delle Cupole." _The amount of materials is remarkably extensive. MS. B is particularly rich in plans and elevations of churches with one or more domes-from the simplest form to the most complicated that can be imagined. Considering the evident connexion between a great number of these sketches, as well as the impossibility of seeing in them designs or preparatory sketches for any building intended to be erected, the conclusion is obvious that they were not designed for any particular monument, but were theoretical and ideal researches, made in order to obtain a clear understanding of the laws which must govern the construction of a great central dome, with smaller ones grouped round it; and with or without the addition of spires, so that each of these parts by itself and in its juxtaposition to the other parts should produce the grandest possible effect.

In these sketches Leonardo seems to have exhausted every imaginable combination. [Footnote 1: In MS. B, 32b (see Pl. C III, No. 2) we find eight geometrical patterns, each drawn in a square; and in MS. C.A., fol. 87 to 98 form a whole series of patterns done with the same intention.] The results of some of these problems are perhaps not quite satisfactory; still they cannot be considered to give evidence of a want of taste or of any other defect in Leonardo s architectural capacity. They were no doubt intended exclusively for his own instruction, and, before all, as it seems, to ill.u.s.trate the features or consequences resulting from a given principle._

I have already, in another place, [Footnote 1: Les Projets Primitifs pour la Basilique de St. Pierre de Rome, par Bramante, Raphael etc.,Vol. I, p. 2.] _pointed out the law of construction for buildings crowned by a large dome: namely, that such a dome, to produce the greatest effect possible, should rise either from the centre of a Greek cross, or from the centre of a structure of which the plan has some symmetrical affinity to a circle, this circle being at the same time the centre of the whole plan of the building.

Leonardo's sketches show that he was fully aware, as was to be expected, of this truth. Few of them exhibit the form of a Latin cross, and when this is met with, it generally gives evidence of the determination to a.s.sign as prominent a part as possible to the dome in the general effect of the building.

While it is evident, on the one hand, that the greater number of these domes had no particular purpose, not being designed for execution, on the other hand several reasons may be found for Leonardo's perseverance in his studies of the subject.

Besides the theoretical interest of the question for Leonardo and his_ Trattato and besides the taste for domes prevailing at that time, it seems likely that the intended erection of some building of the first importance like the Duomos of Pavia and Como, the church of Sta. Maria delle Grazie at Milan, and the construction of a Dome or central Tower (Tiburio) _on the cathedral of Milan, may have stimulated Leonardo to undertake a general and thorough investigation of the subject; whilst Leonardo's intercourse with Bramante for ten years or more, can hardly have remained without influence in this matter. In fact now that some of this great Architect's studies for S. Peter's at Rome have at last become known, he must be considered henceforth as the greatest master of Dome-Architecture that ever existed. His influence, direct or indirect even on a genius like Leonardo seems the more likely, since Leonardo's sketches reveal a style most similar to that of Bramante, whose name indeed, occurs twice in Leonardo's ma.n.u.script notes. It must not be forgotten that Leonardo was a Florentine; the characteristic form of the two princ.i.p.al domes of Florence, Sta. Maria del Fiore and the Battisterio, constantly appear as leading features in his sketches.

The church of San Lorenzo at Milan, was at that time still intact. The dome is to this day one of the most wonderful cupolas ever constructed, and with its two smaller domes might well attract the attention and study of a never resting genius such as Leonardo. A whole cla.s.s of these sketches betray in fact the direct influence of the church of S. Lorenzo, and this also seems to have suggested the plan of Bramante's dome of St. Peter's at Rome.

In the following pages the various sketches for the construction of domes have been cla.s.sified and discussed from a general point of view. On two sheets: Pl. Lx.x.xIV (C.A. 354b; 118a) and Pl. Lx.x.xV, Nos. 1-11 (Ash. II, 6b) we see various dissimilar types, grouped together; thus these two sheets may be regarded as a sort of nomenclature of the different types, on which we shall now have to treat._

_1. Churches formed on the plan of a Greek cross.

Group I.

Domes rising from a circular base.

The simplest type of central building is a circular edifice.

Pl. Lx.x.xIV, No. 9. Plan of a circular building surrounded by a colonnade.

Pl. Lx.x.xIV, No. 8. Elevation of the former, with a conical roof.

Pl. XC. No. 5. A dodecagon, as most nearly approaching the circle.

Pl. Lx.x.xVI, No. 1, 2, 3. Four round chapels are added at the extremities of the two princ.i.p.al axes;-compare this plan with fig. 1 on p. 44 and fig. 3 on p. 47 (W. P. 5b) where the outer wall is octagonal.

Group II.

Domes rising from a square base.

The plan is a square surrounded by a colonnade, and the dome seems to be octagonal.

Pl. Lx.x.xIV. The square plan below the circular building No. 8, and its elevation to the left, above the plan: here the ground-plan is square, the upper storey octagonal. A further development of this type is shown in two sketches C. A. 3a (not reproduced here), and in

Pl. Lx.x.xVI, No. 5 (which possibly belongs to No. 7 on Pl. Lx.x.xIV).

Pl, Lx.x.xV, No. 4, and p. 45, Fig. 3, a Greek cross, repeated p. 45, Fig. 3, is another development of the square central plan.

The remainder of these studies show two different systems; in the first the dome rises from a square plan,-in the second from an octagonal base._

_Group III.

Domes rising from a square base and four pillars. [Footnote 1: The ancient chapel San Satiro, via del Falcone, Milan, is a specimen of this type.]_

a) First type. _A Dome resting on four pillars in the centre of a square edifice, with an apse in the middle, of each of the four sides. We have eleven variations of this type.

aa) Pl. Lx.x.xVIII, No. 3.

bb) Pl. Lx.x.x, No. 5.

cc) Pl. Lx.x.xV, Nos. 2, 3, 5.

dd) Pl. Lx.x.xIV, No. 1 and 4 beneath.

ee) Pl. Lx.x.xV, Nos. 1, 7, 10, 11._