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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Exterior and interior views of the Pantheon ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Above - Pantheon Below - Porticus of Octavia ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |
"According to Bober, the exterior view of the Pantheon in the upper part of the sheet derives from the same source as the so-called Codex Coner by Bernardo della Volpaia in the Soane Museum in London. It is interesting to note Aspertini's lack of interest in the perspective of the columns while copying the Soane drawing or its source, so much that in his drawing the Pantheon seems to have ten rows of columns instead of eight. Bober observes that also the Porticus of Octavia below is copied in the Codex Coner, and again, while the Coner sketchbook drawing is very precise, Aspertini's is much more approximate and free-handed, leaving it to interpretation whether the flanking supports are columns or pilasters (as they should be)."
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Above - Niches in the Pantheon with tiny figures Below - Loggia in the Belvedere Courtyard ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |
"Bober believes that the upper part of the drawing records two of the second story niches inside the Pantheon, and that Aspertini developed them as actual structures with tiny figures in front of them. . . . For both Ackerman and Bober, the structure below is based upon the same source as the Codex Coner, but, as Ackerman observes, Aspertini's rendering is considerably broader in proportion, doesn't have measurements, and adds figures in the archway plus statues in the niches."
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Belvedere Courtyard at the Vatican with small figures ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Courtyard of the Belvedere at the Vatican ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |
"Another drawing representing the Cortile del Belvedere seen from the Palazzo del Vaticano. Ackerman notes that even if the point of vantage is much the same here, the artist has changed the architecture according to his extravagant fancy. . . . It is difficult to say whether Aspertini has totally invented this view, or whether he had a source to look at. In the foreground there is a figure of Venus and amoretti carrying the arms of Mars."
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Elevation of the Belvedere Courtyard ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Elevation of the Belvedere Courtyard, seen as a ruin ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |
"This is a fantastic elevation of the eastern corridors of the lower court in the Cortile del Belvedere in the Vatican. The structure is not only in a ruinous state, but the cornice above the first order slants down to the left. The figures below seem to be trying to shield themselves from this seemingly falling building. It is almost certainly an allusion to the accident of January 1531, when a long stretch of Bramante's corridors in the lower court caved in from the ground floor arcade to the upper loggia, and it does denote a certain wit on Aspertini's side."
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Castel Sant'Angelo with Bridge (cannonballs flying from ramparts) ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Castel Sant'Angelo with Bridge and foreground figures ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |
"In the background, a side view of the Castel Sant'Angelo. . . . The position of the bridge here represented does not correspond to Castel Sant'Angelo's bridge, which should be seen further upstream. The arch is the so-called 'Porta di San Pietro all'Adrianeo' reconstructed under Pope Alexander VI around 1495, later modified and never finished. Bober tells us that the figure on the left could be either 'Hercules and the Cretan Bull' or 'Theseus and the Marathon Bull'. It is more likely to be Hercules, as one can also see the Nemean Lion's skin hanging behind the figure. . . . As observed by Bober, the three men digging in the foreground recall the strong foreshortened poses of the archers in Pietro Pollaiuolo's 'Death of St Sebastian'."
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Colosseum (cross-section) ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |
"As noted by Bober, this is a cross section and partial plan of the Colosseum, and she refers to both an unspecified earlier architect's sketchbook and to the so-called Codex Coner by Bernardo della Volpaia in the Soane Museum. Nesselrath believes that this and the following sheet are copied from Giuliano da Sangallo's 'Taccuino Senese' and he wonders whether Aspertini had the possibility to see both books (Coner and Senese) in the house of a member of the Sangallo family."
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Elevation of the Colosseum across five bays ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Two Philosophers and St Sebastian in front of the Colosseum ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Two portals with flanking caryatids ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |
"As observed by Bober, these two portals with flanking caryatids are of free invention. The caryatids at the left seem inspired by a Diana of Ephesus type; those at the right, roughly derived from the della Valle Pan statues. Aspertini's interest in decorative architectural elements and structures can be seen in his painted panels found in the church of San Girolamo della Certosa in Bologna."
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Foreground - Recumbent male nudes based on the antique Background - Classical doorways with figures ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |
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| Amico Aspertini Sketchbook Foreground - Group of nudes on blocks Background - Classical doorways with figures ca. 1530-40 drawing on paper British Museum |