The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (50 page)

Group V.

Suggested by San Lorenzo at Milan.

In MS. C. A. 266 IIb, 8l2b there is a plan almost identical with
that of San Lorenzo. The diagonal sides of the irregular octagon are
not indicated.

If it could be proved that the arches which, in the actual church,
exist on these sides in the first story, were added in 1574 by
Martimo Bassi, then this plan and the following section would be
still nearer the original state of San Lorenzo than at present. A
reproduction of this slightly sketched plan has not been possible.
It may however be understood from Pl. LXXXVIII No. 3, by suppressing
the four pillars corresponding to the apses.

Pl. LXXXVII No. 1 shows the section in elevation corresponding with
the above-named plan. The recessed chapels are decorated with large
shells in the halfdomes like the arrangement in San Lorenzo, but
with proportions like those of Bramante's Sacristy of Santa Maria
presso S. Satiro.

MS. C. A. 266; a sheet containing three views of exteriors of Domes.
On the same sheet there is a plan similar to the one above-named but
with uninterrupted aisles and with the addition of round chapels in
the axes (compare Pl. XCVII No. 3 and page 44 Fig. 1), perhaps a
reminiscence of the two chapels annexed to San Lorenzo.—Leonardo
has here sketched the way of transforming this plan into a Latin
cross by means of a nave with side aisles.

Pl. XCI No. 1. Plan showing a type deprived of aisles and comprised
in a square building which is surrounded by a portico. It is
accompanied by the following text:_

756.

This edifice is inhabited [accessible] below and above, like San
Sepolcro, and it is the same above as below, except that the upper
story has the dome
c d
; and the [Footnote: The church of San
Sepolcro at Milan, founded in 1030 and repeatedly rebuilt after the
middle of the XVIth century, still stands over the crypt of the
original structure.] lower has the dome
a b
, and when you enter
into the crypt, you descend 10 steps, and when you mount into the
upper you ascend 20 steps, which, with 1/3 braccio for each, make 10
braccia, and this is the height between one floor of the church and
the other.

_Above the plan on the same sheet is a view of the exterior. By the
aid of these two figures and the description, sections of the
edifice may easily be reconstructed. But the section drawn on the
left side of the building seems not to be in keeping with the same
plan, notwithstanding the explanatory note written underneath it:
"dentro il difitio di sopra" (interior of the edifice
above)[Footnote 1:
The small inner dome corresponds to
a b
on the
plan—it rises from the lower church into the upper— above, and
larger, rises the dome
c d.
The aisles above and below thus
correspond
(e di sopra come di sotto, salvoche etc.).
The only
difference is, that in the section Leonardo has not taken the
trouble to make the form octagonal, but has merely sketched circular
lines in perspective.
J. P. R._].

_Before leaving this group, it is well to remark that the germ of it
seems already indicated by the diagonal lines in the plans Pl. LXXXV
No. 11 and No. 7. We shall find another application of the same type
to the Latin cross in Pl. XCVII No. 3.

_2. Churches formed on the plan of a Latin cross.

We find among Leonardo's studies several sketches for churches on
the plan of the Latin cross; we shall begin by describing them, and
shall add a few observations.

A. Studies after existing Monuments.

Pl. XCIV No. 2. (MS. B. 11b.) Plan of Santo Spirito at Florence, a
basilica built after the designs of Brunellesco.—Leonardo has added
the indication of a portico in front, either his own invention or
the reproduction of a now lost design.

Pl. XCV No. 2. Plan accompanied by the words: "A_ e santo sepolcro
di milano di sopra"(A _is the upper church of S. Sepolcro at Milan);
although since Leonardo's time considerably spoilt, it is still the
same in plan.

The second plan with its note: "B_ e la sua parte socto tera" (B _is
its subterranean part [the crypt]) still corresponds with the
present state of this part of the church as I have ascertained by
visiting the crypt with this plan. Excepting the addition of a few
insignificant walls, the state of this interesting part of the
church still conforms to Leonardo's sketch; but in the Vestibolo the
two columns near the entrance of the winding stairs are absent.

B. Designs or Studies.

PL. XCV No. 1. Plan of a church evidently suggested by that of San
Sepolcro at Milan. The central part has been added to on the
principle of the second type of Group III. Leonardo has placed the_
"coro"
(choir) in the centre.

_Pl. XCVI No. 2. In the plan the dome, as regards its interior,
belongs to the First Class of Group IV, and may be grouped with the
one in MS. B. 35a. The nave seems to be a development of the type
represented in Pl. XCV No. 2, B. by adding towers and two lateral
porticos[Footnote 1: Already published in Les projets primitifs Pl.
XLIII.].

On the left is a view of the exterior of the preceding plan. It is
accompanied by the following note:_

757.

This building is inhabited below and above; the way up is by the
campaniles, and in going up one has to use the platform, where the
drums of the four domes are, and this platform has a parapet in
front, and none of these domes communicate with the church, but they
are quite separate.

_Pl. XCVI No. 1 (MS. C. A. 16b; 65a). Perspective view of a church
seen from behind; this recalls the Duomo at Florence, but with two
campaniles[Footnote 2: Already published in the Saggio Pl. IX.].

Pl. XCVII No. 3 (MS. B. 52a). The central part is a development of
S. Lorenzo at Milan, such as was executed at the Duomo of Pavia.
There is sufficient analogy between the building actually executed
and this sketch to suggest a direct connection between them.
Leonardo accompanied Francesco di Giorgio[Footnote 3: See MALASPINA,
il Duomo di Pavia. Documents.] when the latter was consulted on June
21st, 1490 as to this church; the fact that the only word
accompanying the plan is:_ "sagrestia", _seems to confirm our
supposition, for the sacristies were added only in 1492, i. e. four
years after the beginning of the Cathedral, which at that time was
most likely still sufficiently unfinished to be capable of receiving
the form of the present sketch.

Pl. XCVII No. 2 shows the exterior of this design. Below is the
note:
edifitio al proposito del fodameto figurato di socto
(edifice proper for the ground plan figured below).

Here we may also mention the plan of a Latin cross drawn in MS. C.
A. fol. 266 (see p. 50).

Pl. XCIV No. 1 (MS. L. 15b). External side view of Brunellesco's
Florentine basilica San Lorenzo, seen from the North.

Pl. XCIV No. 4 (V. A. V, 1). Principal front of a nave, most likely
of a church on the plan of a Latin cross. We notice here not only
the principal features which were employed afterwards in Alberti's
front of S. Maria Novella, but even details of a more advanced
style, such as we are accustomed to meet with only after the year
1520.

In the background of Leonardo's unfinished picture of St. Jerome
(Vatican Gallery) a somewhat similar church front is indicated (see
the accompanying sketch).

[Illustration with caption: The view of the front of a temple,
apparently a dome in the centre of four corinthian porticos bearing
pediments (published by Amoretti Tav. II. B as being by Leonardo),
is taken from a drawing, now at the Ambrosian Gallery. We cannot
consider this to be by the hand of the master.]_

_C. Studies for a form of a Church most proper for preaching.

The problem as to what form of church might answer the requirements
of acoustics seems to have engaged Leonardo's very particular
attention. The designation of_ "teatro" _given to some of these
sketches, clearly shows which plan seemed to him most favourable for
hearing the preacher's voice.

Pl. XCVII, No. 1 (MS. B, 52). Rectangular edifice divided into three
naves with an apse on either side, terminated by a semicircular
theatre with rising seats, as in antique buildings. The pulpit is in
the centre. Leonardo has written on the left side of the sketch_:
"teatro da predicare" _(Theatre for preaching).

MS. B, 55a (see page 56, Fig. 1). A domed church after the type of
Pl. XCV, No. 1, shows four theatres occupying the apses and facing
the square_ "coro"
(choir), which is in the centre between the four
pillars of the dome.[Footnote 1: The note
teatro de predicar,
on
the right side is, I believe, in the handwriting of Pompeo Leoni. J.
P. R.] The rising arrangement of the seats is shown in the sketch
above. At the place marked
B
Leonardo wrote
teatri per uldire
messa
(rows of seats to hear mass), at
T teatri,
and at
C coro
_(choir).

In MS. C.A. 260, are slight sketches of two plans for rectangular
choirs and two elevations of the altar and pulpit which seem to be
in connection with these plans.

In MS. Ash II, 8a (see p. 56 and 57. Fig. 2 and 3).
"Locho dove si
predica"
(Place for preaching). A most singular plan for a
building. The interior is a portion of a sphere, the centre of which
is the summit of a column destined to serve as the preacher's
pulpit. The inside is somewhat like a modern theatre, whilst the
exterior and the galleries and stairs recall the ancient
amphitheatres.

[Illustration with caption: Page 57, Fig. 4. A plan accompanying the
two preceding drawings. If this gives the complete form Leonardo
intended for the edifice, it would have comprised only about two
thirds of the circle. Leonardo wrote in the centre_ "fondamento",
a
word he often employed for plans, and on the left side of the view
of the exterior:
locho dove si predicha
(a place for preaching
in).
]

_D. Design for a Mausoleum.

Pl. XCVIII (P. V., 182._ No. d'ordre 2386). In the midst of a hilly
landscape rises an artificial mountain in the form of a gigantic
cone, crowned by an imposing temple. At two thirds of the height a
terrace is cut out with six doorways forming entrances to galleries,
each leading to three sepulchral halls, so constructed as to contain
about five hundred funeral urns, disposed in the customary antique
style. From two opposite sides steps ascend to the terrace in a
single flight and beyond it to the temple above. A large circular
opening, like that in the Pantheon, is in the dome above what may be
the altar, or perhaps the central monument on the level of the
terrace below.

The section of a gallery given in the sketch to the right below
shows the roof to be constructed on the principle of superimposed
horizontal layers, projecting one beyond the other, and each
furnished with a sort of heel, which appears to be undercut, so as
to give the appearance of a beam from within. Granite alone would be
adequate to the dimensions here given to the key stone, as the
thickness of the layers can hardly be considered to be less than a
foot. In taking this as the basis of our calculation for the
dimensions of the whole construction, the width of the chamber would
be about 25 feet but, judging from the number of urns it
contains—and there is no reason to suppose that these urns were
larger than usual—it would seem to be no more than about 8 or 10
feet.

The construction of the vaults resembles those in the galleries of
some etruscan tumuli, for instance the Regulini Galeassi tomb at
Cervetri (lately discovered) and also that of the chamber and
passages of the pyramid of Cheops and of the treasury of Atreus at
Mycenae.

The upper cone displays not only analogies with the monuments
mentioned in the note, but also with Etruscan tumuli, such as the
Cocumella tomb at Vulci, and the Regulini Galeassi tomb_[Footnote 1:
See
FERSGUSON,
Handbook of Architecture, I,
291.]. _The whole
scheme is one of the most magnificent in the history of
Architecture.

It would be difficult to decide as to whether any monument he had
seen suggested this idea to Leonardo, but it is worth while to
enquire, if any monument, or group of monuments of an earlier date
may be supposed to have done so._[Footnote 2:
There are, in
Algiers, two Monuments, commonly called
"Le Madracen"
and
"Le
tombeau de la Chretienne,"
which somewhat resemble Leonardo's
design. They are known to have served as the Mausolea of the Kings
of Mauritania. Pomponius Mela, the geographer of the time of the
Emperor Claudius, describes them as having been
"Monumentum commune
regiae gentis."
See
Le Madracen, Rapport fait par M. le Grand
Rabbin AB. CAHEN, Constantine 1873—Memoire sur les fouilles
executees au Madras'en .. par le Colonel BRUNON, Constantine
l873.—Deux Mausolees Africains, le Madracen et le tombeau de la
Chretienne par M. J. DE LAURIERE, Tours l874.—Le tombeau de la
Chretienne, Mausolee des rois Mauritaniens par M. BERBRUGGER, Alger
1867.—
I am indebted to M. LE BLANC, of the Institut, and M. LUD,
LALANNE, Bibliothecaire of the Institut for having first pointed out
to me the resemblance between these monuments; while M. ANT. HERON
DE VlLLEFOSSE of the Louvre was kind enough to place the
abovementioned rare works at my disposal. Leonardo's observations on
the coast of Africa are given later in this work. The Herodium near
Bethlehem in Palestine
(Jebel el Fureidis,
the Frank Mountain)
was, according to the latest researches, constructed on a very
similar plan. See
Der Frankenberg, von Baurath C. SCHICK in
Jerusalem, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palastina-Vereins,
Leipzag
1880,
Vol. III, pages
88-99
and Plates IV and V.
J. P. R.]