Introduzione critica al Vignola illustrato nell'edizione del 1828 proposta da Carlo Antonini

The Vignola illustrato published in 1828 by Carlo Antonini, an Apostolic Chamber architect and engraver, is the reissue of a previous publication which Antonini had edited with Giovan Battista Spampani in 1770. At that time the book was welcomed, as proved by the several reissues and contemporaries commentaries.Angelo Comolli, a man of letters and art scholar, describes the book in his biography Bibliografia storico critica dell’Architettura civile e arti subalterne (1788 –1792), considering it the best. As a matter of fact, it isn’t one of the several quick reference handbooks in which Vignola’s treatises were turned into practical precepts, but it is an edition which has the quality of keeping the theoretical depth, which Egnazio Danti gave to the book in the first printed edition in 1583, unchanged. Antonini replaced Danti notes, up to then continuously reissued, with original commentaries and suggestions by Francesco Pannini and the Reverend Father Gaudio, who imposed this text as editio princeps for the following editions until the mid-20th century.On the occasion of the anastatic reprint of the volume, general research on the 18th century artistic culture in Rome and the Carlo Antonini figure has been carried out, so that the book can be fit, in a more coherent way, into the historical framework. Before analysing the text, a historical overview of perspective, examining, at the same time, the use of perspective in art and in architectural design and the progress towards a scientific definition of the representation method, has been given.In this respect, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola made his contribution, which has been carefully analysed. In this context, it has been possible to examine the text written by Carlo Antonini, confirming, moreover, its authorship, which some authors attributed to others, thanks to a cross-comparison of different publications. The analysis has been carried out looking for the features of the book edited by Antonini, especially in relation to the edition of the Vignola text edited by Egnatio Danti, and describing the mathematician Father Gaudio original contribution. Some drawings, e. g. the one describing the Scala dè gradi which Antonini highlights, have been made to serve as a support for the text.The critical essay is divided into the following paragraphs:Carlo Antonini and the 18th century artistic culture in RomePerspective between mathematical rigour and insightThe two practical perspective rules in “Il Vignola illustrato”Editions of” Il Vignola illustrato”13308