Drawings of machines for architecture from the Early Quattrocento Italy

Drawings of machines for architecture from the Early Quattrocento Italy

Among the many drawings in Buonaccorso Ghiberti’s Zibaldone there are also some concerning pulleys and other devices similar to the one designed in the same years by Francesco di Giorgio and Giuliano da Sangallo; so that it could be suggested that they all reference well-known models. Specifically, the drawings in the Zibaldone seem to be related to Brunelleschi’s cranes and some of their variations. These cranes’ structure and components, the Archimedes screw in particular, are studied to speculate which were the building sites Brunelleschi may have used them in. Although the hoisting apparatus and their design should be dated to the first half of Quattrocento, the Zibaldone was written and drawn in the second half of the following century; still the article does’t manage to find an explanation to this discrepancy.

1966

in The journal of the society of architectural historians, n. 25, pagg. 90-113

Article

English

Francesco Calamai, 19/10/2020