Di Lucio Vitruvio Pollione De architectura Libri Dece traducti de latino in vulgare affigurati: commentati: & con mirando ordine insigniti
Medium
Printed book with woodcut illustrations
Dimensions
Overall: 16 5/8 x 11 5/8 x 1 15/16 in. (42.2 x 29.6 x 5 cm)
Classification
Books
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of W. Gedney Beatty, 1941
Accession Number
41.100.331
Tags
Art Historical Context
This remarkable 1521 printed volume represents the first Italian translation of Vitruvius’s ancient Roman treatise *De Architectura*, the only surviving architectural text from classical antiquity. Originally written in the first century BCE, the ten books offered practical guidance on everything from city planning and temple design to machines and materials. By rendering the Latin text into the vernacular and enriching it with extensive commentary, Cesare Cesariano and his collaborators made this foundational knowledge newly accessible to Renaissance builders, patrons, and scholars across Ita...
About the Artist
Marcus Pollio Vitruvius|Cesare Cesariano|Benedetto Giovio|Bono Mauro|Cesare Cesariano|Agostino Gallo|Luigi Pirovano|Gottardo da Ponte (Italian|Italian) · 1530 |-0100 –1545 |0001
Florence, ca. 1530–1545|Roman, active late 1st century BCE