New research provides deeper understanding of centuries-old architectural illustrations

Dr David Hemsoll, Reader in Architectural History and Theory, has co-authored a study which provides a new comprehension of the ‘Codex Coner’, a collection of renaissance-era illustrations of buildings and architectural fragments from ancient Rome. Housed in the Sir John Soane’s Museum London, the Codex Coner was developed in the 16^th century and came to prominence when its contents were published in 1904 by archaeologist Thomas Ashby.

The new study argues that the drawings were produced for a preeminent scholar of the day whom it is even possible to name. It established how the drawings were produced, and that a great number of sheets are missing and were blank, the original project having been abandoned well before completion. It also demonstrates how the Codex Coner was an important moment in historical archaeology, with the drawings being far more detailed than that of other surviving examples. Some drawings even appear to have information gleaned from archaeological surveys conducted at the time.

The question of whether the Codex Coner was commissioned by a patron was raised in the study, challenging the original notion that the illustrator, Bernardo della Volpaia, developed it for personal use. Dr Hemsoll’s study posits that it was most likely paid for by Bernardo Rucellai, the uncle of Pope Leo X. Rucellai was a leading intellectual in late fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Florence who had a fascination with classical antiquity. Most critically, his name appears in the codex, contained within a letter written by Andreas Coner.

The catalogue of Codex Coner illustrations is available to view on the Sir John Soane’s Museum London website.