Tag Archives: Rome

New Books at the Architecture and Planning Library: Spain & Rome

Two new books at the Architecture and Planning Library consider the relationship between Rome and Spain during the Early Modern Period.

Deupi, Victor. Architectural Temperance: Spain and Rome, 1700-1759.  New York: Routledge, 2014.

Victor Deupi in his work, Architectural Temperance: Spain and Rome, 1700-1759, examines the relationship between Rome and Spain under the new reign of the Bourbon monarchy. Deupi writes, “…I have attempted to approach pivotal moments in the architecture and culture of early eighteenth-century Spain through an examination of the latter’s engagement with Rome.” (pg. xiii) Two of the topics addressed in Architectural Temperance include patronage and “the transmission of architectural thought”. (pg. 2) For example, Deupi examines the education of Spanish architects through both academies and travel to Rome.

Temperance

Freiberg, Jack. Bramante’s Tempietto, the Roman Renaissance, and the Spanish CrownNew York: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Jack Freiberg’s also considers the Spanish crown’s relationship to Rome, though two hundred years prior to the Bourbon monarchy. His interest lies with the patronage of the Tempietto by Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castile and the continued importance of the building itself. He writes of his inspiration to undertake the research for this book:

The first time I entered the crypt of the Tempietto and made out the names of Ferdinand and Isabel, Catholic King and Queen, inscribed on the 1502 foundation stone, I knew that the relationship of those illustrious monarchs to the most lauded Renaissance building held rich  possibilities for defining the historical underpinnings of Bramante’s architecture. (pg. 2)

Bramante

Nuova Pianta di Roma

Nolli, Giambattista Nolli, Leonardo Bufalini, and Joseph Rykwert. Nuova pianta di Roma data in luce da Giambattista Nolli, l’anno MDCCXLVII. London: Architecture Unit, Polytechnic of Central London, 1977.

Along with the maps of Paris, several other map facsimiles were transferred from the Alexander Architectural Archive to the Architecture and Planning Library. One of these was Nuova pianta di Roma data in luce da Giambattista Nolli, l’anno MDCCXLVII, a 1977 reproduction of Giambattista Nolli’s (1701-1756) famous ichnographic map of Rome. Nolli began survey work on his map in 1736 and the map was published in 1748. Composed of twelve copper plate engravings that could be assembled into a nearly six by seven foot display, the “Nolli map” was revolutionary for both its accuracy (down to the asymmetry of the Spanish Steps!) and the way it distinguished between open civic and closed private spaces rather than simply denoting interiors and exteriors. This meant that not just the streets, but the cathedrals, Pantheon, and colonnades of St. Peter’s, were left white, while private buildings, walls, and columns were shaded in poché. The map, which is beautifully rendered in crisp black and white, is framed by Stephano Pozzi’s (1699-1768) elaborate vedute depicting St. Peter’s Square.

In addition to the Nolli map, this publication by Polytechnic College of London (now the University of Westminster) includes an introduction by the University of Pennsylvania’s Paul Philippe Cret Professor of Architecture Emeritus, Joseph Rykwert (1926- ), as well as Nolli’s reproduction of Leonardo Bufalini’s 1551 Pianta di Roma. An interactive version of the map, created by professors at the University of Oregon, can be seen here.

Library of Congress call number: Coming Soon!