Sopra some cases these drawings consist of elementary graphic lines: ff

As per first approach to the study of the proportions in the architectural drawings of Leonardo, I have focused only on the sacred buildings sketched con Ms.

1. These drawings are all similar subjects (mostly variations on the theme of the central plan or of composites thereof); 4
2. they are all proposed according esatto the same mode of representation (usually verso plan accompanied by per perspective elevation);
3. they were executed around the same time.

This group is composed of pairs, each consisting of verso plan and verso perspective exterior view, and each relating puro a particular building (ff

The subject of sacred buildings is perhaps the most striking of all those treated sopra Ms. B (considered together with its complement, of course, Codex Ashburnham 2037). Available for consideration are eighty drawings, 5 ranging from plans, diagrammatic schemes, perspective elevations, sections and details, concentrated mediante folded sheets 1 esatto 4, 6, and 10 of the codex. 6 There are only eight basilicas represented, mediante six plans and two perspective views (ff. 11v, 24v, 35v, 52r, 57r). Among them are the plan of the abbazia of Beato Spirito per Florence (f. 11v) and two plans of the Holy Sepulchre of Milan (f. 52r).

The drawings sopra question that depict central-plan churches are seventy-two per number. Among them are the planimetric schemes of Brunelleschi’s Rotonda degli Angeli (f. 11v) and Santa Maria con Pertica, per Pavia (f. 55r). 15r (three plans in the right margin), 21r (two plans with corresponding elevations), 52r (per chiesa plan at lower left), 93v (two small plans at upper right and left), and others showing more complex schemes.

Verso limited group of figures consists of more elaborate drawings of larger size. They are drawn durante pen and shaded for enhanced three-dimensional rendering that makes them stand out from the sheets. 17v-18r, 18v-19r, 21r, 21v, 22r, 24r, 25v, 39v, 52r, 93v, 94r, 95v). 7 There are nineteen pairs, among them only two basilicas. The centralized schemes are primarily based on the square (eleven instances) and the octagon (six instances). The plans are almost always drawn at right and the elevations at left 8 – per sign that the latter preceded the former mediante execution (ff. 17v-18r, 18v-19r, 22r, 24r, 25v, 39v, 52r, and the pair at left on 93v of the five overall). 9 Sometimes, however, the plans are located at the bottom, on the same axes as the elevations (ff. 21r, drawing mediante the lower right; 93v, four of the five pairs present on the sheet; 94r, 95v ), 10 or shifted per bit to the left (f. 21r, drawing at upper left).

The plans are always mediante the form of geometrical ‘wire frame’ diagrams. Only at verso later time did Leonardo partially or fully ‘dress’ them with wall thicknesses: thicknesses that not only generate inconsistencies sopra the relationships between solids and voids, durante the structural plausibility of wall thicknesses, and sopra the connections between the parts, but also change the proportional relationships. 11 The rapid abandonment of this exercise, which runs contrary onesto the original graphic procedure, betrays the differences between ideation, rapid graphic notation, and complete building design. The clarity of the drawing per the temple schemes durante Ms. B – often completely or partially made freehand – con effect de-emphasizes the materiality of the buildings thus projected.

Elevations, on the other hand, are in the forms of perspective views: curves, lateral surfaces of hollow solids, and shells that suggest that the volumes and shapes, regardless of how all the internal elements of the plan can be developed structurally sicuro become articulated above ground. The exterior is only one possible form through which the plan can evolve mediante space, as verso kind of vertical extrusion. The structure of the interior, con fact, is never indicated mediante section (except in the case of f. 4r of the Codex Ashburnham 2037 = Ms. B, f. 94r) 12 nor, judging by the size of the drawings thaicupid, ever even conceived by Leonardo. On the other hand, when trying to correlate the exterior with the interior, Leonardo resorts puro broken perspectives (for example, Codex Atlanticus, f. 205v-a), views showing internal details, or transparent views. Examples of this type – and I consider here not only the sacred buildings – are also present mediante Ms. B (ff. 12r, 12v, 15r, 16v, 19r, 21v, 36r, 36v, 37r, 37v, 38v, 39r, 47r, 94r, 95r).