Villa Farnesina, in honor of Gertrud Batschelet © 1979-2002 by Franz Gnaedinger, Zurich, fg(a)seshat.ch / www.seshat.ch

 

 

 

Villa Farnesina

 

In honor of Gertrud Batschelet, who discovered the painting Amphitrite and Poseidon (an exciting story that will be told in a later version of this chapter)

 

 

Farnesina 9 / Farnesina 10

 

 

Farnesina 1 / Farnesina 2 / Farnesina 3 / Farnesina 4 / Farnesina 5 / Farnesina 6 / Farnesina 7 / Farnesina 8 / Farnesina 9 / Farnesina 10 / Farnesina 11 / Farnesina 12 / Farnesina 13 / Farnesina 14 / Farnesina 15 / Farnesina 16 / Farnesina 17 / Farnesina 18 / Farnesina 19 / Farnesina 20 / Farnesina 21 / Farnesina 22 / Farnesina 23

 

 

 

Leonardo da Vinci, Neptune with Four Sea-Horses

 

Leonardo da Vinci, Neptune with Four Sea-Horses, Windsor, reconstruction of the original format. A small cartoon for a wall-painting in Agostino Chigi’s Villa? Frame 576 by 754 small units, painting 398 by 576 small units. Grid 89+89+110+110+89+89 = 576 by 89+89+110+89+89+110+89+89 = 754 small units. 396 small units equal 1 canna Romana. 144 small units = 81 cm. 576 small units = 324 cm. Painting 223.875 by 324 cm. Frame 324 by 424.125 cm. Scale of the Windsor drawing exactly 1:8  Neptune 1 / Neptune 2 / Neptune 3 / Neptune 4 / Neptune 5 / Neptune 6 / Neptune 7

 

For comparison: Anghiari 1 (Rubens, Vienna) / Anghiari 2 / Anghiari 3 / Anghiari 4 / Anghiari 5 / Anghiari 6 / Anghiari 7 field of force (ellipses and hyperbolae)

 

Neptune 3 / horse / Leda 1 / Leda 2 / Leda 3 / Leda 4

 

 

 

ed alcune teste di dei marini bellissime

 

Amphitrite and Poseidon: A&P 1a (yellow version) / A&P 1b (yellow version, large) / A&P 1c (sepia) / A&P 1d  (blueversion, small) / A&P 1e  (blue version, negative, reveals the plastical quality of the composition / A&P 1f (black and white, small).

 

A few words on the Amphitrite and Poseidon painting: oil on a fine hand-woven canvas, about 105 by 150 cm, doublated, large areas including the angels and further small figures and the complete sky have been removed and painted anew in the 19th century. Painting purchased by Gertrud Batschelet in 1968 (?) at Roma Corwin’s, Wiltshire Boulevard., Los Angeles. In my opinion, it might well be the true copy (carried out by the some 14 years old Noël-Nicolas Coypel?) of a now lost true copy (a drawing by Rubens?) of a lost small cartoon for another wall-painting in Agostino Chigi’s villa.

 

Amphitrite and Poseidon as a virtual wall-painting in the formerly shorter salon of Agostino Chigi’s villa. Painting 283.5 by 405 cm (14 by 20 units), ideal frame 324 by 445.5 cm (16 by 22 units). Frame standing on the floor. Height of the vertical axis at the eye level of a standing man (8 units or 162 cm)  A&P 2 / A&P 3

 

Deriving the ideal plans of the villa from a cube. 11 units equal 1 canna Romana or about 223 cm. 44 units equal 4 canne Romane or about 891 cm  A&P 4 / A&P 5 / A&P 6 / A&P 7 / A&P 8 / A&P 9 / A&P 10

 

Geometry of the composition: grid 14x20, axes, rhomb, a small standing ellipse for the couple Amphitrite and Poseidon, a large lying ellipse for all the figures, a large lying oval, a large lying rhomb, circles and squares. The axes of the small standing ellipse measure 8 by 6 units; its focuses are marked by the pupil of the left eye and by the hollow of the left knee of Amphitrite. The axes of the large lying ellipse measure 14 by 20 small units; its focuses are marked by the left eye of the standing man and by the left eye of the boy riding on the white horse  A&P 11 / A&P 12 / A&P 13

 

How the measurements of the virtual wall-painting fit in the ideal salon  A&P 14 / A&P 15 / A&P 16

 

Comparisons  A&P 17 Agostino chigi’s medal (recto), Amphitrite, Giorgione’s Tempest, Michelangelo’s Delphian Sibyl, Francesco Albani’s Galatea, Rembrandt’s Bathseba (Louvre) / A&P 18 drawing of an angel by Leonardo (Venice, Academy, n 259 v), right angel from A&P, couple of hovering angels from Francesco Albani’s painting of Adonis and the Sleeping Venus (from the cycle of the Four Elements, Louvre) / A&P 18a  Comparing the faces of Amphitrite and Giorgione’s Tempesta woman / A&P 19 Amphitrite, Michelangelo’s Delphian Sibyl / A&P 20 Master of the Dice, Venus riding on Dolphins, a dove whispering into her ear / A&P 21 and A&P 22 A&P, Nicolas Poussin’s first sketch for his Amphitrite painting (Stockholm) / A&P 23 Nicolas Poussin, Neptun and Amphitrite (Philadelphia) / A&P 24 woodcut after Nicolas Poussin’s painting) / A&P 24a Noel-Nicolas Coypel, Abduction of Europe / A&P 25 Tazza Farnese; cameo showing Poseidon, Amphitrite and swimming boys (both acquired by Adrea del Verrocchio for the Medicis)

 

 

Alles ist gleich, alles ungleich …   (all is equal, all unequal)

 

Alles, was uns daher als Zierde ansprechen soll, muss gegliedert sein, und zwar im höheren Sinne, dass es aus Teilen bestehe, die sich wechselsweise aufeinander beziehen. Hiezu wird erfordert, dass es eine Mitte habe, ein Oben und Unten, ein Hüben und Drüben, woraus zuerst Symmetrie entsteht, welche, wenn sie dem Verstande völlig fasslich bleibt, die Zierde auf der geringsten Stufe genannt werden kann. Je mannigfaltiger dann aber die Glieder werden, und je mehr jene anfängliche Symmetrie, verflochten, versteckt, in Gegensätzen abgewechselt, als ein offenbares Geheimnis vor unsern Augen steht, desto angenehmer wird die Zierde sein, und ganz vollkommen, wenn wir an jene ersten Grundlagen dabei nicht mehr denken, sondern als von einem Willkürlichen und Zufälligen überrascht werden.

 

     Frank Miller

 

 

 

Ordine Italiana  (combined measures of Florence and Rome, Renaissance and Antiquity)

 

 

   Braccio Fiorentino                                58.36 cm

   golden minor                                      22.2915...cm

   palmo Romano         22.234 or 22.319 or 22.34 cm

   canna Romana         222.34 or 223.19 or 223.4 cm

 

   partica decempida    280 e = 297.105... cm  (Imperium Romanum)

   canna Romana         210 e = 222.829... cm  (Renaissance, Rome)

   passus               140 e = 148.527... cm  (Imperium Romanum)

   gradus                70 e =  74.276... cm  (Imperium Romanum)

   braccio Fiorentino    55 e =  58.36     cm  (Renaissance, Florence)

   cubitum               42 e =  44.565... cm  (Imperium Romanum)

   palmipes              35 e =  37.138    cm  (Imperium Romanum)

   pes                   28 e =  29.710... cm  (Imperium Romanum)

   palma                  7 e =   7.427... cm  (Imperium Romanum)

   digitus              7/4 e =   1.856... cm  (Imperium Romanum)

                          1 e =   1.061... cm  (Imperium Romanum)

   unit a            210/11 e =  20.257... cm  (Villa Farnesina)

 

Width of the former and now extant salon of the Villa Farnesina 3 particae decempidae = 4 canne Romane or about 891 cm, ideal measurement 891.316 cm.

 

(Cf. Hermos Hermaes homoios homaereo Homaeros / Sinn und Aufgabe der Geisteswissenschaften / Anmerkungen zum System Polias von Gerhard Goebel (Hypnerotomachia Poliphili) / Leon Battista Albertis Pläne für Rom)

 

 

 

Raphael, Galatea and Venus

 

Raphael, Galatea, planned as a fresco for the salon of the Villa Farnesina? Original format 1:1, grid 8 by 8 palmipedes, standing ellipse 8 by 6 palmipedes, golden section of the height marked by the woman’s head. Fresco 1 by 1 partica decempida = 297 by 297 cm, frame 16 by 16 a = 324 by 324 cm. Vertical axis marked by the sea level (on the eye level of a standing visitor, 8 a = 162 cm above the floor)  Galatea 1 / Galatea 2 / Galatea 3 / Galatea 4 / Galatea 5 / Galatea 6 / Galatea 7 / Galatea 8 / Galatea 9 / Galatea 10 / Galatea 11 / Galatea 12 / Galatea 13 / Galatea 14

 

Raphael, Venus and Cupido, central part of a small cartoon for a fresco on the opposite wall? Format 5:7, grid 10 by 14 palmipedes, lying ellipse 10 by 14 palmipedes, standing ellipse in the center 8 by 6 palmipedes, upper focus marked by Venus’ left eye, lower focus marked by a toe; golden section of the length marked by Venus’ left hip and upper thigh  Venus 1 / Venus 2 / Venus 3

 

 

 

Mona Lisa, an Allegory of Seeing

 

 

 

 

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