Until 1756, the façade of the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino exhibited 72 stone bas-reliefs depicting war and peace machines, artillery, armaments and trophies. This open-air exhibition was conceived by the Duke of Urbino Federico da Montefeltro and was built under the supervision of the architects Luciano Laurana and Francesco di Giorgio Martini. This symbolic-celebratory exhibition of military art represented the emerging link between art, power, science and technology. Did the depicted machines leave a trace in the work of successive generations of architects and mathematicians from Urbino? A partial answer can be provided by the analysis of the Codice Santini, the Organa Mechanica and the Ashburhnam 1357*. These three manuscripts include some drawings of machines identical to the stone bas-reliefs. These manuscripts circulated within the informal school born around the mathematician and philologist Federico Commandino (1509-1575). As is known, Commandino and his pupils restored Greek-Hellenistic mathematical treatises. After presenting the meaning of these bas-reliefs, I will analyze the circulation of the three codices just mentioned. The aim of this essay is to discuss two general questions: did the restoration of ancient mathematics influence the evolution of the modalities of machines representation? How did engineers benefit from this?
Dalle macchine dei bassorilievi in pietra del Palazzo Ducale di Urbino alla scienza della meccanica
Davide Pietrini
2023
Abstract
Until 1756, the façade of the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino exhibited 72 stone bas-reliefs depicting war and peace machines, artillery, armaments and trophies. This open-air exhibition was conceived by the Duke of Urbino Federico da Montefeltro and was built under the supervision of the architects Luciano Laurana and Francesco di Giorgio Martini. This symbolic-celebratory exhibition of military art represented the emerging link between art, power, science and technology. Did the depicted machines leave a trace in the work of successive generations of architects and mathematicians from Urbino? A partial answer can be provided by the analysis of the Codice Santini, the Organa Mechanica and the Ashburhnam 1357*. These three manuscripts include some drawings of machines identical to the stone bas-reliefs. These manuscripts circulated within the informal school born around the mathematician and philologist Federico Commandino (1509-1575). As is known, Commandino and his pupils restored Greek-Hellenistic mathematical treatises. After presenting the meaning of these bas-reliefs, I will analyze the circulation of the three codices just mentioned. The aim of this essay is to discuss two general questions: did the restoration of ancient mathematics influence the evolution of the modalities of machines representation? How did engineers benefit from this?I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.