Figure 37:

                     Alberti: De re aedificatoria (written 1450/60)

                     on models (moduli)

 

Leon Battista Alberti. De re aedificatoria libri X. Ed. by Angelo Poliziano. Florentiae: Nicolaus Laurentii Alamani 1485; reprint München: Prestel 1975.

online on the „Archimedes Project“ by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin

http://nausikaa2.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/toc/toc.x.cgi?dir=alber_reaed_004_la_1485&step=thumb

 

English translation: On the Art of Building in Ten Books. Transl. by Joseph Rykwert, Neil Leach and Robert Tavernor. Cambridge: MIT Press 1988; 7th print 1997.

 

Italian translation by Cosimo Bartoli: Della Architettura. Firenze 1550.

 

for „exemplar“ and „exemplum“ in „De re aedificatoria“ see:

Alberti on models (exemplaria, exempla): De re aedificatiora (written 1450/60)

 

 

Book Two

Chapter 1

 

pp. 38-39

 

Iulius Cæsar ædem a nemorensi a fundamentis incohatam magnoque sumptu absolutam quia non tota ad animum ei responderet totam diruisse affirmat Suetonius. Qua quidem in re etiam apud nos posteros uituperandus uenit siquid tum non satis quæ ad rem facerent præcogitauit: aut siforte quæ tum erant recte instituta potuit postea leuitatis errore odisse.

 

Iccirco uetus optime edificantium mos mihi quidem semper probabitur: ut non perscriptione modo et pictura uerum etiam modulis exemplariisque (con modegli ancora & esempi) factis asserula seu qua uis re uniuersum opus et singule cunctarum partium dimensiones de consilio instructissi morum iterum atque iterum pensitemus atque examinentur prius quam quid aliud aggrediare quod impensam aut curam exigat. In modulis (Nel fare i modegli) uero ducendis dabitur ut regionis situm & arcæ ambitum & partium numerum atque ordinem: et parietum faciem: et tectorum firmitatem: et omnium denique rerum de quibus libro superiore transegimus rationem & conformationem pulcherrime spectes atque consideres: Et licebit istic impune addere diminuere commutare innouare ac penitus peruertere quoad omnia recte conueniant & comprobentur.

Adde quod futuræ impensæ modus et summa quæ res minime negligenda est certior habebitur latitudine altitudine crassitudine numero amplitudine forma specie qualitateque rerum singularum pro earum dignitate et fabrorum manu persitatis.

Nam columnarum: capitulorum: basium: coronarum: fastigiorum: crustationum: pauimentorum: statuarumque & eiusmodi: quæ quidem aut ad constituendum: aut ad exornandum ædificium pertinent ratio et summa explicatior certiorque habebitur.

 

Hoc prætermittendum nequicquam censeo quod ualde faciat ad rem modulos fucatos (modegli lisciati) et ut ita loquar picturæ lænociniis faleratos producere non eius architecti qui rem docere studeat. Sed eius est ambitiosi qui spectantis oculos illicere et occupare animumque abrecta disquisitione partium pensandarum admouere ad se admirandum conetur. Quare modulos (i Modegli) uelim dari non exacto artificio perfinitos: tersos: illustratos: Sed nudos & simplices: in quibus inuentoris ingenium non fabri manum probes:

 

Inter pictoris atque architecti perscriptionem hoc interest quod ille prominentias ex tabula monstrare umbris et lineis et angulis comminutis elaborat: Architectus spretis umbris prominentias istic ex fundamenti descriptione ponit: Spatia uero & figuras frontis cuiusque & laterum alibi constantibus lineis atque ueris angulis docet uti qui sua uelit non apparentibus putari uisis / sed certis ratisque dimensionibus annotari. Itaque modulos (i Modegli) huiusmodi fecisse oportet: et eos ita diligentissime tecum ipso et una cum pluribus examinasse: et iterum atque iterum recognouisse ut nihil in opere uel minimum futurum sit quod non et quid et quale ipsum sit & quas sedes & quantum spatii occupaturum sit et quos ad usum futurum sit teneas.

 

 

pp. 32-34

 

… Suetonius tells us that Julius Caesar completely demolished a house on his estate at Nemi, because it did not totally meet with his approval, although he had begun it from the foundations and had it finished at vast expense. In this he deserves censure even from us, his descendants, either for his failure to take sufficient prior account of the relevant considerations, or perhaps for his fickleness, which allowed him to dislike an executed building, although it had been correctly constructed.

 

For this reason I will always commend the time-honored custom, practiced by the best builders, of preparing not only drawings and sketches but also models of wood or any other material. These will enable us to weigh up repeatedly and examine, with the advice of experts, the work as a whole and the individual dimensions of all the parts, and, before continuing any farther, to estimate the likely trouble and expense.

Having constructed these models, it will be possible to examine clearly and consider thoroughly the relationship between the site and the surrounding district, the shape of the area, the number and order of the parts of a building, the appearance of the walls, the strength of the covering, and in short the design and construction of all the elements discussed in the previous book. It will also allow one to increase or decrease the size of those elements freely, to exchange them, and to make new proposals and alterations until everything fits together well and meets with approval.

Furthermore, it will provide a surer indication of the likely costs - which is not unimportant - by allowing one to calculate the width and the height of individual elements, their thickness, number, extent, form, appearance, and quality, according to their importance and the workmanship they require.

In this way it is possible to form a clearer and more certain idea of the design and quantity of columns, capitals, bases, cornices, pediments, revetment, flooring, statues, and everything else relating to the construction of the building and its ornamentation.

 

There is a particularly relevant consideration that I feel should be mentioned here: the presentation of models that have been colored and lewdly dressed with the allurement of painting is the mark of no architect intent on conveying the facts; rather it is that of a conceited one, striving to attract and seduce the eye of the beholder, and to divert his attention from a proper examination of the parts to be considered, toward admiration of himself. Better then that the models are not accurately finished, refined, and highly decorated, but plain and simple, so that they demonstrate the ingenuity of him who conceived the idea, and not the skill of the one who fabricated the model.

 

The difference between the drawings of the painter and those of the architect is this: the former takes pains to emphasize the relief of objects in paintings with shading and diminishing lines and angles; the architect rejects shading, but takes his projections from the ground plan and, without altering the lines and by maintaining the true angles, reveals the extent and shape of each elevation and side - he is one who desires his work to be judged not by deceptive appearances but according to certain calculated standards. It is advisable then to construct models of this kind, and to inspect and reexamine them time and time again, both on your own and with others, so thoroughly that there is little or nothing within the work whose identity, nature, likely position and size, and prospective use you do not grasp.

 

…

 

Chapter 2

 

pp. 40-42

 

Modulos (i Modegli) tibi recognituro hæc inter pensandas rationes uersentur necesse est:

 

Principio ne quid aggrediare supra uires hominum: Neue quid suscipias: quod cum rerum natura protinus depugnaturum sit. Naturæ enim uis tam & si interdum mole obiecta iterpelletur: aut innixu aliquo detorqueatur eiusmodi tamen est ut siuerit ea quidem nunquam non superare ac profligare quicquid obuersetur: atque impediat: Et omnem quidem contra se expositam rerum ut ita loquar: peruicaciam diuturna et assidua oppugnandi perseuerantia tempore fecunditate labefactat atque persternit. quam multa hominum manufacta et legimus & uidemus nullam præsertim ob rem non durasse nisi quod cum natura rerum contenderint.

 

Proxime cauendum est ne quid ad te recipias in quo perficiundo ipse tibi deficias re imperfecta. Tarquinum regem Romanorum ni superi dii amplitudini urbis fauissent ni crescente imperio satis opum ad tantam incohatam magnificentiam suppeditassent quis non uituperasset quod templi fundamentis iaciundis totam futuri operis impensam profudisset?

 

Accedit quod non modo quid queas uerum & quid deceat non in postremis considerandum est. Rhodopen Thraciam meretricem illam celebrem & suorum temporum memoriam non laudo: Quæ sibi sepulchrum incredibili impensa condi iussit: Nam ea quidem & si meretricio quæstu regias adepta esset opes regio tamen digna sepulchro nequicquam fuit.

... Quod & si in priuatis monumentis modestiam in publicis magnificentiam exigunt publica etiam interdum priuatorum modestia collaudantur ...

 

His etiam addendum est ne quid aggrediare quod ipsum & si alioquin utile dignum ac non penitus difficile factu sit facultatibus et temporis oportunitate suppeditantibus tamen sit ipsum eiusmodi ut breui aut successoris negligentia aut incolarum tedio defecturum sit.

 

Quæ cum ita sint officii erit ea spectasse quæ recensuimus: hoc est quid sit quod agas & quid quo agas loco: et qui sis qui id agas: Et pro eius dignitate et usu rem totam constituere nimirum hominis erit bene consulti et considerati.

 

pp. 35-37

 

When examining the model, these are some of the considerations to be taken into account.

 

First, nothing should be attempted that lies beyond human capacity, nor anything undertaken that might immediately come into conflict with Nature. For so great is Nature's strength that, although on occasion some huge obstacle may obstruct her, or some barrier divert her, she will always overcome and destroy any opposition or impediment; and any stubbornness, as it were, displayed against her, will eventually be overthrown and destroyed by her continual and persistent onslaught.

How many examples are there to be seen or read about of the failure of mankind's work to survive, simply because it has come into conflict with Nature? …

 

Second, we should beware of taking anything on without the resources to bring it to completion. Had the gods not been in favor of the grandeur of the City, had the expanding empire not provided sufficient funds to complete an undertaking of such magnificence, Tarquin, king of Rome, would have deserved universal criticism for having lavished on the foundations of a temple enough money to cover the cost of the whole work.

 

Another, not unimportant, consideration is that the work should be not only feasible but also appropriate. I cannot approve of the contemporary accounts of that famous harlot, Rhodope of Thrace, who had a tomb constructed for herself at vast expense: for although her immoral earnings had left her the wealth of a queen, in no way did she deserve a tomb fit for one.

… Although modesty is generally expected of private monuments, and magnificence of public ones, occasionally the latter may also be praised for exhibiting the modesty expected of the former. …

 

lt is also advisable to avoid any undertaking, no matter how expedient, worthy, and easy to execute it may appear and even though the means and opportunity are at hand, if its very nature makes it prone to suffer immediately, or through the neglect of subsequent generations, or from the wear and tear of everyday use. …

 

To conclude, it is your duty to consider all the above questions, the nature of your undertaking, and the relative positions of the elements, and to take into account your own social standing as the one who commissions the building: it is the sign of a well-informed and judicious mind to plan the whole undertaking in accordance with one's position in society and the requirements of use.

 

 

Chapter 3

 

pp. 42-43

 

His notatis atque animaduersis lustranda tibi erunt reliqua an sint eorum quæque recte definita et apte suis locis distributa: ...

 

Sed rerum istarum iterum atque iterum admoneo fac sit moderatrix peritorum prudentia et consilium eorum qui spectaturi sint recto aliquo & sincero cum iudicio. Nam istorum scientia et institutis magis quam priuata uoluntate & sensu dabitur ut quæ agas uel optima sint uel optimis similia.

 

Cum uero tota ædificii ratio ex singulis modulorum partibus (tutte le parti del modello) ita erit apud te spectata et cognita: ut nihil non animaduersum: nihil non adnotatum uspiam relinquatur: & interea ita omnino decreueris ædificare: et apud te constabit unde sumptibus oportune satisfiat parabis reliqua ad opus ipsum exequendum necessaria: ne quid inter ædificandum desit: quod a perficiundi operis celeritate auocet. Nam cum sint plura quibus ad opus absoluendum indigeas: cumque illorum quid uis ni adsit omnem structuram possit aut impedire aut uitiare officii erit nihil neglexisse quod conferat si adsit: aut noceat si desit.

 

p. 37

 

Having dealt with these points, it remains for you to consider whether each element has been well defined and allocated its proper place. …

 

In these matters - as I repeatedly advise - be guided by the knowledge of experts and the counsel of those whose advice is honest and impartial. For it is through their opinions and teaching, rather than your own personal whim and feeling, that you will more likely achieve perfection, or something approaching it. …

 

When you have considered and examined the design of the whole building through the various parts of your model, until there remains nothing that has escaped your attention and observation, and when you are entirely decided on  building the work in this way and have determined a suitable source of financing, you should then start making the other preparations necessary for the execution of the work, so as to ensure that nothing occurs amiss during the course of construction to affect the speed with which the work is completed. For many components are required to finish the work, and as the absence of any of them can impede or result in the ruin of the entire structure, it is your duty not to miss anything that will add to the overall scheme if present, but detract from it if absent.

 

 

Book Nine

 

Chapter 8

 

pp. 340-341

 

Odi et calliculam qui equile habuit marmoreum: præsepe eburneum. Quæ ædificabat Nero cuncta erant auro tecta distincta gemmis. Eliogabbalus insanior qui strauit auro pauimenta dolens quod non posset electro. Et uituperandi nimirum hi opum immo insaniæ ostentatores: qui subsidia mortalium hominumque sudores in ea re profundant quam neque usus neque inchoati opis ratio exposcebat: quam ue nulla aut ingenii admiratio honestet: aut inuenti gratia commendet.

 

Hæc igitur uitia ut uitentur iterum atque iterum admoneo priusquam opus aggrediare: totam rem et ipse tecum pensites: et una peritos consulas exemplaribus ad modulos diductis (fattine ancora i modelli). Ex quibus uelim bis ter quater septies decies cum intermissis tum resumptis temporibus omnes repetas futuri opis partes quoad a radicibus imis ad summam usque tegulam nihil neque abditum neque propatulum neque magnum neque paruum toto sit in opere futurum: quod non tibi et diu et multum percogitatum perconstitutum destinatumque habeas quibus rebus locis ordine numeroque locasse adiunxisse præfinisseque deceat aut præstet.

 

p. 313

 

… I also despise Caligula, who had a stable of marble and a manger of ivory. All that Nero built was overlaid with gold and adorned with gems. Still more outrageous, Eliogabalus strewed his pavements with gold, lamenting that he could not use amber. Such ostentation of wealth, such insanity, is to be censured: human effort and sweat are invested in something of no particular use nor any role in the construction, which no admiration for its ingenuity can ennoble, nor the charm of invention endorse.

 

To avoid such pitfalls, therefore, I must urge you again and again, before embarking on the work, to weigh up the whole matter on your own and discuss it with experienced advisors. Using scale models, reexamine every part of your proposal two, three, four, seven - up to ten times, taking breaks in between, until from the very roots to the uppermost tile there is nothing, concealed or open, large or small, for which you have not thought out, resolved, and determined, thoroughly and at length, the most handsome and effective position, order, and number.

 

 

Chapter 9

 

pp. 342-343

 

... Erunt denique omnia dimensa et nexa et compacta lineis angulis ductu cohæsione comprehensione non casu: sed certa et diffinita ratione: præbebuntque se ut per coronas per intercapedines omnemque per intimam extimaque faciem operis quasi fluens libere et suaue decurrat intuitus uoluptatem augendo exuoluptate similium dissimiliumque rerum: neque qui spectent satis diu contemplatos ducant se quod iterum atque iterum spectarint atque admirentur: ni iterato etiam interabeundum respectent. Et cum satis quæsierint toto in opere nusquam offendant aliquod non æquabile: non correspondens: et totis numeris ad decus gratiamque consentiens.

 

Itaque huiusmodi ex modulis (da Modelli) excogitabuntur atque pensabuntur: neque solum quæ inchoes sed etiam quæ inter efficiendum usul futura sunt ex ipsis exemplaribus (da detti modelli) admoniti præcogitemus necesse est atque etiam paremus. Quo coepto opere non hæsitandum non uariandum non supersedendum: sed tota re breui et circumscripta quadam explicatione percepta quæ apta commodaque sint exquisita collecta promptaque suppeditent. Itaque hæc sunt quæ et consilio et iudicio curasse architectum oporteat.

 

pp. 314

 

… In short, everything should be measured, bonded, and composed by lines and angles, connected, linked, and combined - and that not casually, but according to exact and explicit method; so that one's gaze might flow freely and gently along the cornices, through the recessions, and over the entire interior and exterior face of the work, its every delight heightened by both similarity and contrast; and so that anyone who saw it would imagine that he could never be satiated by the view, but looking at it again and again in admiration, would glance back once more as he departed; and so that however much he searched, he would not find anything in the entire work inconsistent or incongruous or not contributing its every number and dimension to the splendor and grace.

 

Questions such as these should be projected and debated by the use of models; these models should be employed not only at the outset but also during construction, so that on their advice we may determine in advance what is necessary and make preparations in order to avoid any hesitation, change, or revision after the commencement of the work, and so that we may form a concise overall picture of the whole, in order that appropriate and useful materials might be procured, stored, and made readily available. Such are the considerations to which the architect must apply his wisdom and judgment.

 

…

 

Chapter 10

 

pp. 343-347

 

Sed quo in his rebus curandis parandis exequendis sese recte atque ex officio gerere architectus possit nonnulla sunt minime negligenda. Cogitandum ei quid suscipiat muneris quod profiteatur quem sese haberi uelit quantam rem aggrediatur quantum laudis quantum emolumenti quantum gratiæ atque etiam posteritatis si suo recte functus fuerit officio nanciscatur. Et contra siquid imperite inconsulte inconsiderate inchoarit: quantum uituperationis quantum odii subiturus sit quam dicax quam aptum patens assiduumque testimonium stultitiæ suæ generi hominum exhibiturus sit.

 

... Cæterum sic gerat uelim sese uti in studiis litterarum faciunt. Nemo. n. se satis dedisse operam litteris putabit: ni auctores omnes etiam non bonos legerit atque cognorit: qui quidem in ea facultate aliquid scripserint quam sectentur. Sic istic quot quot ubique aderunt opinione et consensu hominum probata opera perquam diligentissime spectabit: mandabit lineis: notabit numeris: uolet apud se diducta esse modulis atque exemplaribus (modelli & esempii): cognoscet repetet ordinem locos. genera numerosque rerum singularium quibus illi quidem usi sunt: præsertim qui maxima et dignissima effecerint: quos fuisse uiros egregios coniectura esse: quando quidem tantarum impensarum moderatores fuerint: non tamen uasta illa exaggeratione operum mouebitur ut in eo acquiescat.

 

…

 

De me hoc profiteor multas incidisse persæpius in mentem coniectationes operum quæ tum quidem maiorem in modum probarim eas cum ad lineas redegissem errores inueni in ea parte ipsa quæ potissimum delectasset et ualde castigandos. Rursus cum perscripta pensitaui et numero metiri adorsus sum indiligentiam cognoui meam atque redargui. Postremo eadem cum modulis exemplaribusque (modelli & esempi) mandassem: nonnumquam singula repetentieuenit ut me etiam numerum fefellisse depræhenderim.

Sed ne Zeusim quidem esse pingendo aut Nichomacum numeris aut Archimedes angulis et lineis tractandis uolo. Sat erit si nostra quæ scripsimus pictura elementa tenuerit. Si eam etiam peritiam ex mathematicis adeptus sit quæ angulis una et numeris et lineis mixta ad usum est excogitata. Qualia sunt quæ de ponderibus de superficiebus corporibusque metiendis traduntur: quæ illi podismata embadaque nuncupant. His artibus adiuncto studio et diligentia sibi gratiam architectus opes nominisque posteritatem et gloriam nanciscetur.

 

 

p. 315-317

 

If the architect is to succeed in planning, preparing, and executing the work properly and professionally, there are a number of considerations that he must not overlook. He must ponder the nature of his task, what skills he might offer, and what impression he would like to give; he must calculate the size of the project and the amount of praise, remuneration, thanks, and even fame he will achieve, or conversely, if he embarks on something without sufficient experience, prudence, or consideration, what contempt and hatred he will receive, and how eloquent, how obvious, patent, and lasting a testimony of his folly he will leave his fellow men.

 

… Finally, I would have him take the same approach as one might toward the study of letters, where no one would be satisfied until he had read and examined every author, good and bad, who had written anything on the subject in which he was interested. Likewise, wherever there is a work that has received general approval, he should inspect it with great care, record it in drawing, note its numbers, and construct models and examples of it; he should examine and study the order, position, type, and number of the individual parts, especially those employed by the architects of the biggest and most important buildings, who, it might be conjectured, were exceptional men, in that they were given control of so great an expenditure.

 

…

 

I have often conceived of projects in the mind that seemed quite commendable at the time; but when I translated them into drawings, I found several errors in the very parts that delighted me most, and quite serious ones; again, when I return to drawings, and measure the dimensions, I recognize and lament my carelessness; finally, when I pass from the drawings to the model, I sometimes notice further mistakes in the individual parts, even over the numbers.

For all this I would not expect him to be a Zeuxis in his painting, or a Nichomachus in arithmetic, or an Archimedes in geometry. Let it be enough that he has a grasp of those elements of painting of which we have written; that he has sufficient knowledge of mathematics for the practical and considered application of angles, numbers, and lines, such as that discussed under the topic of weights and the measurements of surfaces and bodies, which some called podismata and embata. If he combines enthusiasm and diligence with a knowledge of these arts, the architect will achieve favor, wealth, fame for posterity, and glory.