Watermark: page 10. Anchor within a circle surmounted by a six-pointed star (Briquet 480, 487). Watermark, beta radiograph. Anchor in circle, star. 144201wm1_1978_44_p10_MellonCodex_WM_beta.tif
Watermark: page 28. Anchor within a circle surmounted by a six-pointed star (Briquet 480, 487). Watermark, beta radiograph. Anchor in circle, star. 144201wm2_1978_44_p28_MellonCodex_WM_beta.tif
Watermark: page 57 (conjugate to page 60). Anchor within a circle surmounted by a seven-pointed star (Briquet 480, 487). Watermark, beta radiograph. Anchor in circle, star. 144201wm3_1978_44_p57_MellonCodex_WM_beta.tif
Watermark: page 60 (conjugate to page 57). Anchor within a circle surmounted by a seven-pointed star (Briquet 480, 487). Watermark, beta radiograph. Anchor in circle, star. 144201wm4_1978_44_p60_MellonCodex_WM_beta.tif
Watermark: page 69 (conjugate to page 74). Anchor within a circle surmounted by a seven-pointed star (Briquet 480, 487). Watermark, beta radiograph. Anchor in circle, star. 144201wm5_1978_44_p69_MellonCodex_WM_beta.tif
Watermark: page 74 (conjugate to page 69). Anchor within a circle surmounted by a seven-pointed star (Briquet 480, 487). Watermark, beta radiograph. Anchor in circle, star. 144201wm6_1978_44_p74_MellonCodex_WM_beta.tif
Watermark: page 85, later addition to the sketchbook. Small shield. Watermark, beta radiograph. Shield. 144201wm7_1978_44_p85_MellonCodex_WM_beta.tif
Dated Rome, 1513.
81 folios (counting the last endpaper numbered 101), 25 blank pages, 6 loose folios.
Watermark: Anchor in circle surmounted by star, two variants.
Six sketches in graphite added by a later hand.
Fontana once must have had the sketchbook in his possession. Acquired as Menicantonio.
The sketchbook, which includes interior and exterior views, elevations, and ground plans of Roman buildings as well as a variety of decorative details, is of great importance as an example of an architect's model book of the early sixteenth century. It is especially interesting because of its connection with Bramante and his designs for St. Peter's. It also records many contemporary and antique Roman structures: the Palazzo dei Tribunali and its church of S. Biagio della Pagnotta, both planned by Bramante for Pope Julius II; the interior of the Pantheon; and the elevation and cross setion of the Colosseum.
Formerly attributed to Domenico Aimo, called il Varignana, d. 1539.
Inscribed on inside cover in pen and brown ink in two different hands. One reads: "ANIBALE FONTANA BONONIEN: si [si superscript] / CIVIS BON: FACIEBAT". An earlier inscription legible only with the help of ultraviolet light underneath that of Fontana reads: "DO MINICVS HA [A superscript] ...S · B ...NONIEN / CIVUS.RO.FACIEBAT / M.D.XIII".
Variously inscribed in pen and brown ink.
Kraus, Hans Peter, 1907-1988, former owner.
Mellon, Paul, former owner.
Aimo, Domenico, -1539, Formerly attributed to.
Rudolf Wittkower, "The 'Menicantonio' Sketchbook in the Paul Mellon Collection," Idea and Image, London, 1978, p. 90-107.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Nineteenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1978-1980. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981, p. 27-28.
This sketchbook of architectural drawings is one of the most significant documents of the appearance and structure of antique and contemporary buildings in early sixteenth-century Rome. Containing interior and exterior views, elevations, and ground plans of Roman buildings, as well as a variety of decorative details, it is of great importance as an example of an architect's model book of the early sixteenth century. The draftsman's numerous notations of measurements and his various inscriptions in a precise and meticulous hand provide valuable information on individual projects but also demonstrate the diverse sources from which a Renaissance architect drew his inspiration.
Some of the most notable drawings in the Codex are related to the designs for St. Peter's by both Bramante and Raphael, but it also records many contemporary and antique Roman structures including the Palazzo dei Tribunali and its church of S. Biagio della Pagnotta, both planned by Bramante for Pope Julius II; the interior of the Pantheon; and the elevation and cross section of the Colosseum.
The most frequently published pages of the Codex Mellon are those that relate to Bramante's and Raphael's plans for Saint Peter's Basilica. In 1506, Pope Julius II commissioned Donato Bramante to design a glorious new edifice in place of the decrepit Old Saint Peter's begun by Emperor Constantine in the fourth century CE. The architect developed a centrally planned design that placed a Greek cross within a square (fols. 70v-71r). Following the deaths of both the architect and pope, Julius's successor, Pope Leo X, continued the project with Raphael at the helm. The artist and architect planned to lengthen the nave to extend the basilica into a traditional Latin cross format (see fols. 72v-73r), and a sectioned elevation drawing of the building's façade on fols. 71v-72r indicates a number of Raphael's internal and external changes to Bramante's plan. These drawings closely reflect Bramante's and Raphael's own drawings for the project--some of them lost in the original--and thereby demonstrate their author's close connection with the workshop surrounding St. Peter's, where these materials would have been circulating.
Little is known about the draftsman responsible for the sketchbook. It has been variously attributed to Domenico Antonio (also called Menicantonio) de Chiarellis, a member of a family of stone carvers associated with Bramante, or to the sculptor-architect Domenico Aino da Varignana.