Nave of a Church with Two Recessed Chapels. Verso: pen trials

The architecture, which includes a cardinal’s hat without a coat-of-arms and nonsensical inscriptions in several of the cartouches, was probably made without a specific commission in mind but rather as a precious object – it is on vellum – to be shown to potential patrons. Hans Hubert noted that some of the architectural details such as the herm pilasters supporting the altar are similar to forms employed by Bartolommeo Ammanati around 1560 (unpublished opinion recorded in curatorial file, 2002). Hubert further noted that the draftsman is not likely to have been an architect since he combined triglyphs with the Ionic order, whereas in classical architecture they may only be combined with the Doric order.¹

Footnotes:

1. Georg Schelbert seconded this analysis (unpublished opinion recorded in curatorial file, 2002).