240px, The 1521 Italian edition of Vitruvius'_''De_architectura'',_translated_and_illustrated_by_Cesare_Cesariano..html" ;"title="De_architectura.html" ;"title="Vitruvius' ''De architectura">Vitruvius' ''De architectura'', translated and illustrated by Cesare Cesariano.">De_architectura.html" ;"title="Vitruvius' ''De architectura">Vitruvius' ''De architectura'', translated and illustrated by Cesare Cesariano. Cesare di Lorenzo Cesariano (December 10, 1475 – March 30, 1543) was an Italian painter, architect and architectural theorist. He authored the first Italian-language version of

Vitruvius Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled '' De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribut ...

' '' De architectura''.

Biography

Cesariano was born in Milan. Information about his life is scarce. In 1496 he lived for a period at Reggio Emilia; in the early 1500s he worked at

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

, where he painted the sacristy of San Giovanni Evangelista. In 1507 he was in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where he met

Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil. Ea ...

Pinturicchio Pinturicchio, or Pintoricchio (, ; born Bernardino di Betto; 1454–1513), also known as Benetto di Biagio or Sordicchio, was an Italian painter during the Renaissance. He acquired his nickname (meaning "little painter") because of his sma ...

and

Luca Signorelli Luca Signorelli ( – 16 October 1523) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Cortona in Tuscany, who was noted in particular for his ability as a draftsman and his use of foreshortening. His massive frescos of the ''Last Judgment'' (1499–15 ...

However, most of his activity was in Milan, where he returned in 1512-1513 as military engineer at

Maximilian Sforza Maximilian Sforza (Italian: ''Massimiliano Sforza''; 25 January 1493 – 25 May 1530) was a Duke of Milan from the Sforza family, the son of Ludovico Sforza. He was installed as a ruler of Milan in 1512 after the capture of Milan by the Holy ...

's court. He worked at Santa Maria presso San Celso and to part of the renovation of the

Sforza Castle The Castello Sforzesco (Italian for "Sforza's Castle") is a medieval fortification located in Milan, northern Italy. It was built in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, on the remnants of a 14th-century fortification. Later reno ...

; he collaborated in the painting decoration of Milan Cathedral (Duomo), in the ''Sala dei Deputati'', which was demolished in the 19th century.

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculp ...

wrote in Bramante's '' vita'': In 1528 Cesariano was appointed as ducal engineer by the Spanish governor of Milan. In 1535 he became director of construction in the Duomo.

Works

Cesariano is chiefly remembered as the first translator of

' treatise '' De architectura'' into a modern language (Italian), with his added commentary. It was published, with copious woodcut illustrations, at

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps h ...

, 1521. It contained 360 pages and was printed in 1300 copies. It was soon plagiarized in editions published at Venice, but all were superseded by

Daniele Barbaro Daniele Matteo Alvise Barbaro (also Barbarus) (8 February 1514 – 13 April 1570) was an Italian cleric and diplomat. He was also an architect, writer on architecture, and translator of, and commentator on, Vitruvius. Barbaro's fame is chief ...

's edition, with illustrations by

Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of ...

, 1556. Vitruvius' technical language is fraught with difficulties.

Leon Battista Alberti Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. H ...

was of the mind that the Latins thought Vitruvius was writing Greek and the Greeks, Latin. The impenetrable Latin and the lack of illustrations gave freedom to the Renaissance designers, who were able to interpret antique architecture in their own image, ''all' antica''. Cesariano's Vitruvius gives us a clear picture of the Renaissance perception of the architecture of

Classical Antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

. Indeed, the spirit of Milan's Late Gothic

Duomo ''Duomo'' (, ) is an Italian term for a church with the features of, or having been built to serve as, a cathedral, whether or not it currently plays this role. Monza Cathedral, for example, has never been a diocesan seat and is by definition n ...

can be recognized in some of Cesariano's woodcut

Among his illustrations is an attempt at rendering Vitruvius' precepts on the ideally proportioned man, successfully rendered by Leonardo da Vinci, Leonardo, but attempted by many 15th century theorist

Cesariano's illustrations, though not as influential as

Sebastiano Serlio Sebastiano Serlio (6 September 1475 – c. 1554) was an Italian Mannerist architect, who was part of the Italian team building the Palace of Fontainebleau. Serlio helped canonize the classical orders of architecture in his influential trea ...

's, had some influence in the picturesque and classicizing vocabulary of the Northern

Antwerp Mannerism Antwerp Mannerism is the name given to the style of a group of largely anonymous painters active in the Southern Netherlands and principally in Antwerp in roughly the first three decades of the 16th century, a movement marking the tail end of Ear ...

References

Vitruvius (Cesare Cesariano, Como 1521)Cesariano's De architectura on line
* ttp://www.hnanews.org/2005/papers/pauwels.htm Yves Pauwels, Université de Lille, 2005. "Cesariano, Sagredo and the Language of Architectural Ornament in the Low Countries from 1530 Onwards" Antwerp Conference (abstract) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cesariano, Cesare 1475 births 1543 deaths Artists from Milan 15th-century Italian architects 16th-century Italian architects Architects from Milan Italian Renaissance architects 15th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 16th-century Italian painters Italian architecture writers Italian male non-fiction writers