Giovanni Mazzaferro. Rare Books and a Great Discovery: a Specimen of Vitruvius' 'De Architectura' Annotated by Cosimo Bartoli

Translation by Francesco Mazzaferro
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Giovanni Mazzaferro
Rare Books and a Great Discovery: a Specimen of Vitruvius' De Architectura Annotated by Cosimo Bartoli

The frontispiece of the book

[N.B. On Vitruvius see in this blog also: Francesca Salatin, An Introduction to Fra Giocondo's Vitruvius (1511); Vitruvius, On Architecture, Edited by Pierre Gros. Translation and Commentary by Antonio Corso and Elisa Romano. Essays by Maria Losito, Turin, Einaudi, 1997; Giovanni Mazzaferro, Rare Books and a Great Discovery: a Specimen of Vitruvius' De Architectura Annotated by Cosimo Bartoli; El Greco. The miracle of naturalness. The artistic thought of El Greco through the margin notes to Vitruvius and Vasari. Edited by Fernando Marías and José Riello, Rome, Castelvecchi, 2017; The Annotations by Guillaume Philandrier on Vitruvius' De Architectura. Books I to IV. Edited by Frédérique Lemerle, Paris, Piccard, 2000; Marco Vitruvio Pollione's Architecture, translated and commented by the Marquis Berardo Galiani. Foreword by Alessandro Pierattini (unabriged reprint of Naples edition, 1790), Rome, Editrice Librerie Dedalo, 2005; Claude Perrault, Les Dix Livres d’Architecture de Vitruve, Corrigez et traduitz nouvellement en françois avec des notes et des figures, Paris, Jean Baptiste Coignard, 1673; Vitruvius, Ten Books on Architecture. The Corsini Incunabulum with the annotations and autograph drawings of Giovanni Battista da Sangallo. Edited by Ingrid D. Rowland, Edizioni dell’Elefante, 2003; Massimo Mussini, Francesco di Giorgio e Vitruvio. Le traduzioni del 'De architectura' nei codici Zichy, Spencer 129 e Magliabechiano II.I.141, Leo S. Olschki, 2003; Francesco di Giorgio Martini, La traduzione del De Architectura di Vitruvio. A cura di Marco Biffi, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, 2002; Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Il "Vitruvio Magliabechiano". A cura di Gustina Scaglia, Gonnelli editore, 1985.]

Umberto Pregliasco, owner of the homonymous antiquarian library in Turin and of PrPh Rare Books in New York, made my day, by authorising me to inform the readers of this blog that, in his US bookstore, he holds a specimen of Vitruvius’ De Architectura annotated by Cosimo Bartoli, which was only recently discovered.

The issue is an octavo dated 1513, printed by Filippo Giunta. According to the classification by Laura Marcucci in her famous Regesto cronologico e critico (Chronological and critical register) of Vitruvius’ editions, it is a Giocondina seconda (Giocondina second version) [1]. It is obvious, however, that the extraordinary importance of this specimen is that it was entirely annotated by Cosimo Bartoli (1503-1572), whose interest for architecture is known thanks to his translation, in his young age, of Albrecht Durer’s Institutiones Geometricae [2] and, above all, to the renowned translation of De re aedificatoria by Leon Battista Alberti (1550) [3].

I am displaying hereafter the information I have received from Mr. Pregliasco, who kindly also provided me with a picture of the title page of the work. Some considerations from mine follow.

Note on the specimen

“The autography of Bartoli’s notes is proven with certainty by comparison with the bulky autograph translation by Bartoli conserved in St. Petersburg (See: Fara, G.M Durer, Institutiones geometricae – Bartoli, I Geometrici Elementi di A. Durero, Torino, Nino Aragno 2008) and with lengthy passages of the long manuscript held in Arezzo at the Vasari House, Vasari Papers, 31. For example, at the page 105rv: «autograph document by Bartoli, it is referred to the pictorial decoration of the Jupiter Hall in Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, for which Bartoli himself, in another writing included in 31, cc. 25r.-26v., committed to provide Vasari with the relevant iconographic subject».

It is a special copy of the October 1513 edition, annotated throughout by the Florentine mathematician, humanist, and diplomat Cosimo Bartoli (1503-1572), the well-known translator into Italian of Alberti’s De re aedificatoria. On the margins of almost one hundred leaves Bartoli noted words signposting particular passages or definitions, wrote brief comments, added corrections, textual emendations and improvements. It is the case, for example, of the lengthy note on the lower margin of fol. C1, in which Bartoli amended the text edited by Giocondo basing himself on the De asse, the treatise on ancient coins and measures by Guillaume Budé [4]. A note in Italian on the rear flyleaf is related to the instruments used for solving geometrical and physical measurements. Similar issues were discussed by L.B. Alberti in the Ludi mathematici, whose translation was included in the Opuscoli morali (1568) [5].

The volume bears on the title-page [note of the editor: see picture on the top] ‘Di M. Cos: Bartolj n° 164’and another ownership inscription deleted in ink, [note of the editor: probably belonging to the previous owner] and small illegible stamp [note of the editor: I would like to notice, moreover, that also a pen-drawn coat-of-arms is included in the title-page, figuring a clothed forearm holding a blooming branch]. It is a fine, unsophisticated copy, somewhat foxed, bound in 16th century limp vellum, smooth spine, with inked title”.

A few considerations on Cosimo Bartoli as an expert of architecture and translator

A preliminary caveat is obviously needed: I did not examine, neither directly nor indirectly, this specimen nor did I see the margin notes, with the exception of those in the front-page of the work. Nevertheless, the hints (to be confirmed) on the authenticity of Bartoli’s notes seem really well funded.

Cosimo Bartoli’s role in the creation of a technical lexicon on architecture in Italy was studied in a seminal essay by Giovanni Nencioni in 1995 [6]; further studies were due to Giovanni Maria Fara, in occasion of the publication of Bartoli’s translation of Durer’s Institutiones geometricae [7] and to Marco Biffi, as part of the proceedings of an international conference held in Mantua and Florence in November 2009 [8].

Bartoli’s activity was rightly linked to the creation in 1541 of the so-called Accademia Fiorentina (the heir of the Accademia degli Umidi), whose curriculum was directly controlled by Cosimo I de’ Medici, the Duke of Florence and later on Grand Duke of Tuscany since 1569. The purpose was to promote the translation of scientific texts of the antique world, with a view to establish a Florentine standard in an area of lexicon which was still being defined. Bartoli supported enthusiastically this endeavour. The issue on which scholars have dwelled since the times of Nencioni is whether he inspired it, or was inspired by it. The discovery of the youth translation of the Institutiones geometricae (1537), which in the third book contained a section dedicated to solid bodies (a veritable treatise on architecture in embryo), led Giovanni Maria Fara to take the view that Bartoli’s principles on language were set before the creation of the Accademia Fiorentina, and may have even inspired it someway. Fara’s thesis was widely recognised as convincing.

In this respect, up to now, the direct study of Vitruvius’ De Architectura di Vitruvio by Bartoli has remained someway peripheral. I believe that the main challenge in the next years will be to grasp its circumstances, also searching for the elements to date the margin notes. In this sense, I would like to identify preliminarily a few possibilities: a) Bartoli might have read and studied Vitruvius in his youth, perhaps even before his translation of Durer; this would of course first of all confirm his educational strength; b) Bartoli might have felt the need to read Vitruvius in preparation of the translation of De re aedificatoria by Alberti, not to so much and not only in order to clarify possible obscure passages of Alberti’s text, but mainly to understand the mechanisms of Leon Battista’s 'translation', with a clearly philological intent.

In both cases, it goes without saying that the discovery of the specimen now preserved in New York is crucial.

The destiny of a specimen

It will remain the duty of scholars to examine Bartoli’s margin notes and compare them with his translation of Alberti’s De re aedificatoria. On my part, and as a simple passionate enthusiast, I would like to express some wishes: first of all, I hope the specimen will not end up buried in some anonymous private collection, depriving historians of language and architecture to examine it; second, I also hope it will find its right place in an Italian public library, at best in the locations where Bartoli lived and worked, i.e. in Florence and (a few years later) in Venice.

NOTES

[1] Laura Marcucci, Regesto cronologico e critico in Studi di architettura, September 1978, N. 8. Hereafter are the notes by Ms Marcucci: “Besides the addition of Frontino’s text and the very different format [note of the editor: compared to the Giocondina first version, issued in folio by Fra’Giocondo and printed by Giovanni de Tridino alias Tacuino in 1511], probably due to reasons of handling, this second giocondina issue does not include any other substantial variants but the rather important one of the xylographic pictures, which are derived by the previous one, but are rougher than those; it is probable that the Venetian printer did not transferred his woods to his Florentine competitor, but it is also evident that the different format between the two editions determined the variation. The work is dedicated to Giuliano de’ Medici” (p. 35).

[2] Durer, Institutiones geometricae – Bartoli, I Geometrici Elementi di A. Durero, edited by Giovanni Maria Fara, Torino, Nino Aragno Publisher, 2008

[3] L’architettura di Leonbatista Alberti tradotta in lingua fiorentina da Cosimo Bartoli, Florence, Lorenzo Torrentino, 1550. For a modern translation of the Latin manuscript see: Leon Battista Alberti, L’architettura [De re aedificatoria], Latin text and translation by Giovanni Orlandi. Introduction and notes by Paolo Portoghesi. 2 Volumes, Milan, Il Polifilo, 1966.

[4] Guillaume Budé, De asse et partibus ejus Libri quinque…, Venice, Heirs of Aldo Manuzio and Andrea Torresano, 1522.

[5] Opuscoli morali di Leon Batista Alberti… tradotti e parte corretti da Cosimo Bartoli, Venice, Francesco Franceschi, 1568.

[6] Giovanni Nencioni, Sulla formazione di un lessico nazionale dell’architettura in Bollettino d’Informazioni del Centro di Ricerche Informatiche per i Beni Culturali, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, V.2 (1995), pages 7-33.

[7] Durer, Institutiones geometricae – Bartoli, I Geometrici Elementi di A. Durero quoted, pages 114-122.

[8] Marco Biffi, Il lessico tecnico di Cosimo Bartoli in Cosimo Bartoli (1503-1572). Atti del Convegno internazionale, Mantova, 18-19 novembre – Firenze, 20 Novembre 2009. Edited by Francesco Paolo Fiore and Daniela Lamberini, Firenze, Leo S. Olschki, 2011.