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Vol: Issue: Month: Year: 2006 Pages: 113-124

Article: Building accounts as architectural drawings: Borromini's construction practice and the role of Francesco Righi

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Building accounts as architectural drawings. Borromini's construction practice and the role of Francesco Righi

Vitale Zanchettin One of the more evident peculiarities ofthe ar- chitecture ofBorromini, and perhaps oneofthe most important reasons for the architect's renown, lies in the manifold levels of interpre- tation to which his works lend themselves. This particular aspect must have been manifest from the time of his first independent works in Rome, created in the third decade of the 17th century. Even today, the wonder experienced on seeing Borromini's buildings for the first time is invariably followed by a more consid- ered interest. Not onlyarchitects and scholars succumb to this fascination. The friars of San Carlo aile Quattro Fontane have repeatedly seen ordinary visitors return to their little church in the Via Pia, suggesting that there is something new to be discovered each time'. The main reason why Borromini's buildings lend themselves to successive interpretations lies in their interlocking system ofreferences - some quite unexpected - which are discovered on observing the buildings at close proximity, and in the coherence with which these links are maintained from the general level downto the details' (fig. 1). After almost a century of studies of Borromi- ni's drawings, it has become increasingly clear that this intricate network of relationships is the result of the architect's tireless revision of hypotheses laid down over a period of time. Borromini's projects have been investigated in the minutest detail, following step by step the successive alterations made by the architect to find the key to solving problems that at first sight appeared virtually insoluble. Towhat ex- tent this planning process was guided by the empirical revision of initial hypotheses, or whether Borromini's efforts were concentrated instead on adapting idealized and pre-planned forms to the contingent reality, cannot yet be determined conclusively. While both aspects are found in everyone of his drawings, the question of which one prevailed is one of the central riddles for anyone attempting to follow the genesis of his projects.

Borromini approached the ultimate solution to each of his projects by continually making cor- rections to his first ideas. Thismodus opercmdi is not in itselfexceptional; the progressive revi- sion ofinitial ideas is a method that many archi- tects employ'. The real peculiarity of Borromi- ni's way of designing a building lay mainly in his technique of draughtsmanship. It enabled him to tackle emerging problems with the sharpened point of his pencil by superimposing his solutions, laying one on top of the other. This method of layering solutions is not often encountered in the work of other architects; one finds it in some famous late Michelangelo drawings, such as his well-known sketch for Porta Pia, but it seems whollyalien to the huge corpus of drawings by Peruzzi or Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane'. Borromini's way of work- ing thus appears to be autonomous, ultimately a manifestation of his character. He constantly employed this way of imagining architecture in drawings. The technique enabled him to stack innumerable superimposed solutions into them, as contemporary architects do today with the layers that are possible in computer-aided de- sign. Whereas the digital support leaves no trace of the changes that have taken place, however, Borromini's drawings are a testimony to the process of re-evaluation to which he con- stantly submitted his projects. Without his sys- tematic use ofthis means ofrepresentation, his planning processes would not have left such significant traces, and it wouldnow be virtually impossible even to begin to understand how he came to conceive of his complex architectural ideas'. This applies both to his built architectural proj- ects and to the projects that remained unreal- ized and confined to paper, such as the Palazzo Carpegna (fig.2) or the Pamphili Chapel (fig.3) in the Chiesa Nuova. Even smallworks, such as the campanile of Sant' Andrea delle Pratte (figs. 4 and 5),are documented by complex drawings that comprise a huge number of hypotheses and solutions compressed into a few sheets.

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1. Oroiorui dei Filippini; Rome, souther» camel' of the cOU'ltym'd nextto the saclisty (photogl'aph viuue Za,nchettin). 2. Fvomcesco Borromini; pl'epamtory drawing f01' the Palazzo Ca17Jegna(Albertina; Wie1~Az. Rom 1019).

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Hence Borromini's corpus of drawings encap- sulates a kind of virtual universe complementa- ry to his architecture, permitting the viewer to reconstruct the genesis of a building by follow- ing the hypotheses successively advanced and abandoned in the course of its gradual elabora- tion. This process has nothing to do with ab- straction; rather, it appears a manifestation of the will to find the optimal way of turning into reality architectural ideas that seem to defy re- alization. The whole corpus of Borromini's drawings could thus be seen as his built archi- tecture's parallel world, a world with its own rules. The sketch was probably the most important tool with which Borrornini tried to impose his will on his buildings during the process of con- struction, yet it was not the only one. Before being transformed into stone, the ideas he had drawn on paper had to stand the test of the building site. Fortunately, numerous traces of this part of the process have survived in the form of measurements [misure] and estimates [stime], which represent the foundation on which the most important studies on the indi- vidual buildings rest. AB in his drawings, so in his running of the building site, Borromini tried to impose his own discipline, both to be able to predict the results of his decisions and to con- trol the realization of his ideas. Like his draw- ings, then, Borromini's building accounts rep- resent a parallel world to the built architecture. They may be considered a unique form of rep- resentation, one that is perhaps less spectacu- lar than the drawings, but one that is some- times more reliable and descriptive. For a long time, Borromini personally con- trolled the keeping of the books at large build- ing sites, beginning with St Peter's, both as an assistant to Maderno and as partner to a com- pany of stonemasons active on some of the ma- jor building sites in Rome'. From this first pro- fessional activity, he derived his knowledge of the day- to-day running of building sites and the management of construction costs, which were

3. Framcesco Borromini; p"epamtory drawing fov the Cappella Paraphili at the Chiesa Nuoua; detail (Albertina; Wien, Az. Rom 285).

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4. Bell tower ofthe chncrd: of Sanl'And"ea delle Fvoue, Rome (photograph Vilale Zanchettin).

5. Francesco Borrcmini; plan of the second and third. storeu of tlie bell tower QI'Sant'And"ea delle Froue (Alberiino; Wien, Az. Rom 114).

aspects he claimed to control personally throughout his life. His close attention to the fi- nancial aspects of the building process is demonstrated by a large group of estimates in his hand, which are preserved in the archive of the Theatines of Sant'Andrea della Valle,now in the Roman State Archive (Archivio di Stato di Roma), and which can be dated to around 16347 (fig. 6). This comprises two large collec- tions of records that testify to Borromini's di- rect involvement in the drawing up of building accounts, first for Maderno and then as an in- dependent architect. Here Borromini appears to be in direct contact with building workers through a continuous process of measurement and estimation, the meticulousness of which finds corroboration in a detail drawing for a window of the papal palace (Albertina Azr 978; fig. 7). In the years in which Borromini had begun to work in partnership with stonemasons, he had also personally supervised some minor building

sites, but all traces of his involvement there have since been lost or forgotten. In the late 1630s and 1640s he continued to act as a con- sultant on minor building works. An unpub- lished sketch preserved in the collection of the Roman hospital of San Giacomodegli Incurabili testifies to a quick project he had done for the construction ofa bottega in the Via Baullari (fig. 8). The drawing is executed on the verso of a sheet containing an estimate from 1639 drawn up by another architect. Borromini annotated the recto of the sheet and produced some sim- ple sketches that attest to his involvement in the ancient hospital for which Maderno had conducted important campaigns of work", The document is in itself of minor importance, but it may be the only surviving evidence of Borromi- ni's more substantial participation in San Gia- como degli Incurabili, in which Francesco Pe- parelli would be involved later'. Accuracy in calculation accompanied him in his growth as an architect. Moreover, his meticu-

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6. F'r(tllcescoBorl"omini, prepamtory drawing with l>WOS1,,-cmentsJ01'the plasterillg and sl.lteeoil>gof the windaws on th go"ten side o( Ialazzo Barberini (A R, Teatini in Sant'And"ea della Valle, Busta 121200).

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8. FTancesco Borromini; sketch plans and sections on the back of a sheet with an estlmate JOT the masonrt; fOT a bottega,n Vw del Giubbonori oumed by the hospiiai oj San Giacomo degli Incurabili (ASR, Ospedale di San Giacomo degli Lncurobili, busta 1505, n. 17bis).

7. Francesco B01"?'omini, p1-cpnmto1'y drawing j:01'. the 'Window on the "w,n fccade of Palozzo Bn1'be1ini (Albertina; Wien, Az. Rom 978).

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lousness in drawing up the accounts of expendi- tures exactly mirrors the precision with which he drew details or parts of buildings. This strong attention to detail must have distin- guished him from the very first years of his ca- reer. His meticulous drawing for the windows of the papal palace thus seems a direct conse- quence of the attention he paid to the building accounts. With the passage of time, the in- creased importance of the posts he assumed made it necessary for the architect to delegate part of the work of measurement and estima- tion to the young Francesco Righi. The peculiar way in which this took place is another product of Borrornini's unique understanding of archi- tecture, and it therefore deserves to be analysed more closely.

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Francesco Righi and building accounts The rapid sketch for the bottega connected to the hospital of San Giacomo degli Incurabili can be dated with all probability to around 1639, based on the date of the estimate on which Borromini's annotations are written. The first documents that testify to Borromini's del- egation of part of the measuring work to Francesco Righi are slightly later in date. Over the course ofthe next 25 years, this young man would monitor the most important building sites in Rome in his time, following the shifts in his master's fortunes". The first building site in which his involvement is documented is that of the church of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, begin- ning in 1643". At the time, Righi was hardly more than 20years old, and his collaboration on the Sant'I vo site was a test bed of his abilities and of his chances of long-term collaboration with Borromini. The most important documents for Sant'Ivo al- Ia Sapienza are preserved in two distinct archival collections in the Roman State Archive. The larger part is found among the documents of the university, while a second part IS found among the papers of Virgilio Spa- da m the Spada Veralli collection!'.

There are three main documents for the first phase of the construction of the church ofSan- t'Ivo: a contract or capitolato di spesa forthe bricklaying costs, dated 9 December 164213;a capitolato di spesa for the stonecutting costs, undated but probably ofthe same date"; anda metric computation for the stonecutting work, dated 10 June 1643!5. The first two documents, carefully revisedhy Borromini, preceded the start of construction on the most important parts of the church. They contain useful indications of the stateof his intentions prior to finishing the planandor- ganizing the building site. On the basis ofthese sources, one can reconstruct how buildingprac- tice was regulated in such cases: first, contracts [capitolati di spesa] were drawn up, in which the unit prices for the phases of construction were laid down, perhaps on the basis ofa ver- bal agreement previously reached. After this, as the work progressed, the completed sections were measured and paid on the basis oftheunit prices stipulated in the contract. Borromini paid great attention to the drawing up of itemized accounts, because he was not satisfied with simply applying the criteriausu- ally used in other Roman building projects;in- stead, he wanted to fmd more effective systems of calculating the cost of his complex building operations (fig, 9). The corrections made hy Borromini to the capitolati di spesa demon- strate this mode of operation. A series ofpencil annotations flank a first draft of the contractfor the travertine. In these annotations Borromini noted the unit prices per palmo for floors, mouldings and arches: "[A]llthe flat profileswill be paid at a rate of seven baiocchi and a half per palma, to be measured in area (as above), declaring that for the arches without frames, which are made on the basis of other drawings, but which are in the same type of construction as those of the niches in the facade ofthe 011ltO- rium of the Reverendi Padri of the ChiesaNuo- va without surrounds and arch imposts, only thirteen scudi per palma will be paid"" (fig.10).

9. Specificciions for WQ1·kto be carried out in the church. of Sant 'Iva alia Sapienza with C01Tections and annotation by Borromini (ASR, Uniuersiia; t. 117,f 39).

10. Oratorio dei Filippini; Rome, windows of the g,/,oltndflo01; main facade (plwtogmph Vitale Zanchettin).

11. Interior of the church: of Sant'Ivo alia Sapienza, Rome, niches of the.fi,·st order (photograph Vitale Zanchettin).

Probably he was already planning to include some of his elaborate mouldings and did not want to face price rises once the building site had opened. It is possible that at this time he envisaged a more complexbuilding that the one that now stands. For this reason, perhaps in re- sponse to specific requests made by the stone- masons, he agreed to a surcharge for the arch- es only, in case it proved necessary to imple- ment a solution similar to that of the facade of the Oratory of San Filippo Neri next to the Chiesa Nuova (fig. 11). Contracts drawn up in such detail called for ex- tremely detailed measurements to be made once the individual phases of construction were completed. During the building of Sant'Ivo alia Sapienza, this task was entrusted to Francesco Righi. The long metric computation of 10June 1643, drawn up by the young assistant, de- scribes step by step the works carried out by the stonemasons and proves that, six months after the signing ofthe contract with the brick-

layers in December 1642, building had ad- vanced to the lateral sacristy doors and the in- termediate cornice that encircles the church at the mid-height of the lesenes. The works are described in an order that seems to reflect the progress of the work from bottom to top, first followingthe work executed onthe right side of the building, then that on the left side. These descriptions indicate that a large part of the architectural mouldings from the ground level up had been done in travertine?". The exe- cution of these parts in stone makes the rapidi- ty of the work even more astonishing. From Righi's methodical description, we can imagine the state of Sant'Ivo alia Sapienza dur- ing the process of construction: its still exposed stone parts used as a guide for the brickwork, its perimeter articulated by thin profiles of choice travertine, the fluting ofits pilasters and the profiles of their bases visibleas they are to- day (figs. 12 and 13), Even during its construc- tion, long before the stucco work was executed,

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12. CI!l,,~1I of ant'lvo 0110 apien,a, Rome, deta il of

tile tI'llveltine in the b"se of one of the "ngul",. piller« (IJllotogmph ViI"le Zancbett.in).

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]8. Ch""ch of imt'Iuc alla SU]J'ienzu, Rome, inte'l"nal bay 'with entmnce pOlial (photograph Vitale Zancllettin).

14. Fvumcesco Righ~ . measurements and est1,mate for building work in the church "ojSomi'Iuo alla Sapienaa. (ASR, UniversitiJ, t. ]17,j 49r).

15. Francesco Righ~ measurements and estimate for building uiork in the ch""ch of Sant'!vo ollo. Sapienza (ASH, Uniuersuo; t. 117./ 49v).

this buildingmust have had the appearance of a perfect machine. The metric computation of Sant'! vo alia Sapienza offers a glimpse of Francesco Righi as a youth skilled in writing, who with an ever- sharp quill pen meticulously described the works completed and measured (figs. 14 and 15). His regular abbreviations demonstrate that he was accustomed to drafting texts like this, leading the reader to infer that he was al- ready skilledin this kind ofwork from his very first years in Borromini's employ. What is clearly evident, however, is that the 20-year-old assistant must have had a close relationship with his master. Indeed, we can assume that Borromini guided him step by step in drawing up the estimate. It was, after all,the first major costing for the building of Sant'Ivo alia Sapien- za, and it is highly probable that Borromini wished to furnish proof of his own efficiency. Presumably the architect had drawn up a very detailed account of the work himself; the con- sistency of the description suggests, however, that Righi's metric computation of Sant'I vo al- Ia Sapienzais the definitive copy,i.e. the official document delivered to the university for the settlement ofthe bill. As is well known, the drawings that testify to the first phase of the planning of the church of Sant'Ivo havenot survived!". The contracts and accounts forthis church are therefore a kind of surrogate representation of the architecture in mathematical form, a simple yet highly de- scriptive reference. Furthermore, the final de- cisions that led to the church we see today lie concealed in the gap between the first capito- loti d~ spesa and the metric computation of the first works to be completed. This interpretation of the archival documents which helps us to understand the planning ?rocess behind Sant'!vo, is linked to a second Issue, namely Borromini's character and its in- fluence on his arc~itecture; for the precision and order with which this metric computation was drawn up seem to reflect many aspects en-

16a-e. Compamson. of the signatnres at the foot of estimates jar Borromini bnilding sites: a) Borromini and Riqhi; chncrcn of Sant'lvo alta Sapienza (1643) (ASR, Un'iversita, t. 117); b) Righi, work for Santa Lucia in Selci (1641) (ASR, Santa Lucia in Selei); c) Righ~ churcti of Sant'!vo alta Sapienza., estimate for work in travertine (1660) (ASR, Unioersiia; t. 117,1 137).

countered in Borromini's drawings. In the final analysis, it might be seen as a direct reflection of the precision that he sought to achieve in his architecture. So what was the role of Francesco Righi on the building site, and how significant was the rela- tionship between Righi and his master? In some six months of work on the building site of Sant'I vo alia Sapienza, 233 wagonloads of stone were delivered, or more than one a day. They appear in the final estimate':', These wag- onloads had to be recorded accurately by some- one present on site, perhaps by Righi himself. The cost of the work amounted at that time to over 1,700 scudi. The overall computation of the cost was the means by which the architect demonstrated his own expertise, and thus it had to be unimpeachable. Connors has demon- strated that buildings designed by Borromini involved decidedly higher construction costs than those of other architects, because his cho- sen forms entailed elaborate and complex processes", We do not know how many drafts of this estimate were made before the final ver- sion, but the precision, order and absence of deletions or erasures suggest a carefully medi- tated text, one that has been purged of inaccu- racies and carefully revised. Borromini must have been very demanding in this regard as well, because the precision of the accounts served as proof of his ability to handle the seemingly onerous task of calculating building processes at the lowest possible price. We may never know the psychological pressure exerted by the 42-year-old Borromini on his assistant, who was less than half his age; we can only note that the handwriting of the 20-year-old Righi closely imitated that of his master in the ac- counts for Sant'Ivo alia Sapienza (fig. 16a).The same can be ascertained in the accounts for Santa Lucia in Selci in the same period" (fig. 16b). His way of abbreviating his name and ending his own signature with the flourishes typical of Borromini testifies to the surprising way in which young Righi emulated his master

even in handwriting, though he did maintain some calligraphic idiosyncrasies of his own, such as a completely different way of writing the letter "1''' 22. Borromini's overpowering personality seems to have left an indelible imprint on that of Righi, causing a process of assimilation that makes it difficult to attribute certain docu- ments to the right person. That is especially the case with drawings containing rapid and cursory annotations. Beginning with the first works for Sant'I vo alia Sapienza, Righi appears recurrently in the doc- umentation accompanying Borromini's works. His signature is found at the end of the compu- tations for Santa Lucia in Selci, San Giovanni in Laterano, Sant' Agnese in Agone, Propaganda Fide, San Girolamo della Carita and lastly San- t'Agostino, where he worked until his death in 166323• To ascertain Righi's "real" handwriting, we can examine a metric computation from 1660, again for Sant'Ivo alia Sapienza, where Righi's description appears without Borromi- ni's counter-signature (fig. 16c).The document

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17. Vil'gilio Spada, comporaiioe table showing the prices cf wa.lling (-111O.S0nl·Y) fo,' the b"ild'ing sites QI' ant'lvo alla Sapienza (lefl), the Omlm'io dei Filippini and Palazzo Berberini; "espectivety (A R FSV, i. 496,.f 88 [new nu",bering]). 18. Amomtmous, desiqnfor window 'inSan Giovanni in Loteromo; detail (Albertina, Wien, Az. Rom 451). 19. Anonymous, elevation [rilievo] of B01T01nini's reconetruction of the lwve in San Giovanni in Ltueromo (Albertino; Wie", Azx 21). 20. Anonymous, inscription on dmwing Azx 21 (Albertina; Wien). 21. Detail ofthe dmwing Az. Rom 410,· (Alberiina; Wien).

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is an estimate for works in travertine, onaless. er scale than in the first accounts for Sant'Ivo, At the time, the assistant was about 40 years old. His handwriting is slanting and less regu- lar, though hardly less fluid, than it wasinthe estimate dating from the early 1640s24• In spite ofthese differences, the signature retains some of the features seen in the first of his estimates for Borromini. After almost 20 years, the meth- ods of the architect he served must havebe- come second nature to Righi, forming a mental habitus perfectly assimilated to his personality. This psychological "shift" is a reflection ofthe centrality for which Borromini was famousin his building operations. In the final analysis, the perfect legibility of his construction seems in many respects to be a direct consequenceof the wish to control every aspect ofthe building process. From that time onwards, the 'jabbl1ca perf etta' of the university was to remain exem- plary, and Borromini's estimates were a paragon for the following centuries. Itis not accidental, therefore, that the capitola- to di spesa that provides the terminus post quem for the start ofthe work on the churchof Sant'Ivo should be found among the papersof Virgilio Spada, who had collected a large group ofmetric computations and estimates fromvar- ious Roman building sites, classified according to the type of building work>. The contractfor Sant'Ivo alia Sapienza must have been usedby Spada as a touchstone for other buildingsites, as can be inferred from a summary table in his handwriting, comparing the accounts ofSant'Ivo with those of the palace of Cardinal Carpegna and the Palazzo Barberini'" (fig. 17). Both Spada and Borromini were particularly alert to questions concerning the estimating and calculating of construction costs, but for different reasons. For the former, these were an instrument of control and accounting ofex- penditure; for the latter; they were a meansby which to defend his sometimes very expensive building processes. Righi was a tool in the hands of both: he contributed to the execution

22. Borromini; drawings ,of column. bases and annotation (Albertina, Wi"4 Az. RomJ,16r).

of the building work, and he helped to ensure that the projects and cost estimates were hon- oured. Virgilio Spada's trust in Borrornini's "young man" is evidenced by Righi's involve- ment in work on the family chapel in San Giro- lamo della Carita and on the Palazzo Spada- Capodifcrro'". The building site on which Righi played a par- ticularly crucial role was that of San Giovanni in Laterano". Here he worked at the side of Borromini and in direct contact with Spada, who had recommended to the Pope that 200 scudi be granted to Righi, Borromini's young measurer, who had, Spada suggests, "made in- credible efforts to satisfy the fastidiousness of Borromini", and who, apart from his diligence, was poor and had a family to maintain". Even more than for Sant'I vo, the work of pro- ducing estimates for San Giovanni in Laterano must have been crucial for ensuring the progress of the work. Onthis building site, how- ever, the partnership between the architect and his assistant was subjected to great strain. Fol- lowing the gravest crisis in relations between Borromini and Spada, Righi was involvedin an exchange that provoked the architect's ire. Spa- da must have addressed himself directly to Righi, perhaps to obtain news on progress of the work. This was information that Borromini had no intention to furnish, and the architect flew iiito om, of his well-known rages when learning that his inconsiderate assistant had had the impudence to divulge what Borromini guarded most jealously, namely his ideas. It is for this reason that Borromini levelled against Righi the gravest accusation that could be made for a man in his position". We know of the exis- tence of these problems from the words of Bernardino Spada, who alleged that "Borromi- ni has placed Righi under the suspicion ofbeing an untrustworthy person, and of accepting kick- backs [beveraggiJ from craftsmen. There may have been some bad feeling between Borromini and Righi, so that during the former's abandon- ment of the work at San Giovanni in Laterano,

Righi inevitably suffered, and others had to car- ry messages back and forth between him and Borromini in order to continue the work to which the latter did not want to attend"?', This situation and the key role played in it by Francesco Righi prevent us from considering him to be a person who merely took measure- ments, sincehe must have been in some way au courant with Borromini's ideas. Moreover, we know for a fact that on the building site of San Giovanni in Laterano, someone other than the master himself also executed drawings. This second hand (fig. 18), to whom Borromini en- trusted preparatory drawings onwhich he him- self would later make pencil annotations, is ev- ident in some sheets in the Albertina, though their style of draughtsmanship is different from Righi's (figs. 19-20). Perhaps we have to

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acknowledge that there was another assistant in Borromini's employ, one whose identity we do not yet know. The possibility that Righi was occasionally giv- en the task of producing drawings, however, cannot be ruled out (fig. 21). It would seem to be implied by a memorandum addressed by Borromini to himself, in which he reminds him- self to ask his assistant for the return of a mov- able protractor [squadra zappa]. With the conclusion of the first phase of the work on the Basilica for the Jubilee celebra- tions, the rift between master and assistant seems to have healed. A short time later, in the darkest phase of the relations between Borro- mini and the Oratorians, Righi came to the de- fence of the architect. He even proposed to Spada that he should make him, Righi, a proxy for the architect in the fobbrica of the Filippini, telling him that he would "draw and take the measurements to the cavaliere Borromino, so that he could finalize the drawings without any need for him actually to appear on the building site"3'. Righi would thus act on his behalf and the construction work would be "supervised by its creator'<. So Righi appears as a kind of shock absorber between Borromini's demanding requests and Spada's need for clarity and simplicity in the documentation of costs. In retrospect, this sim- ple problem of control on the building site has to do with the central problem of the architec- tural project, since for Borromini the estimate of the costs [the capitolato] and the evaluation of the expenditure [the misura and stima] formed an integral part of his way of conceiving architecture. We have therefore returned to our point of departure and must ask ourselves about the importance of the precision that char- acterized the conception and realization of Bor- romini's buildings. Today we are accustomed to systematic esti- mates and drawings that can be enlarged at will WIthout any lo~s of detail. Even so, our every- day lives remam marked by a wide margin of

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unpredictability. Sometimes, indeed, the preci- sion of electronic calculators is greater that the actual feasibility of applying the results they provide. So precision in calculation is notjusta tool to control the unpredictability foundindai- ly life; it is also a way ofconfronting us withthe real world, a Weltanschauung that reflectsour way of seeing the reality. For Borromini,preci- sion in calculation and meticulousness in draw- ing were not only indispensable planningtools; they were also manifestations of his personali- ty and of his vision ofthe world. Hence,theper- fection of the church of Sant'I vo alla Sapienza during its construction was not just a response to practical needs, but also the way in which Borromini was accustomed to forming an im- age of the world. This was the mental habitus of an architect who claimed to the point ofob- session that architecture should be the real mirror of the intellectual world. Borromini's "universe of precision" is reflected in hisrela- tionship with his work more than in vagueand indeterminate references to natural philosophy or to the scientific debates of his time. Against the vagaries, the unpredictable ups and downs, of daily life, Borromini set the ex- actness of the small part of the world that he felt he could control by reason, namelyarchi- tecture and construction. Conscious that such precision could exist only in the smallandcir- cumscribed spaces of his buildings and inthe details of his drawings, he tried through them to restore the image ofa world conceivedbythe intellect, a world in which he sought his own consolation. Without the movable protractor [squadra zap- pa], Righi had to console himself in another way: he continued to represent the "perfect machines" conceived by his master in theform of calculations, perhaps without ever havingde- signed them himself (fig. 22).

1 On the impression aroused by the church of San Carlo alle Quattl'o Fontane, see Joseph CONNORS, "Un tecrema sacro: San Carlo aile Quattro Fontane", in Il giovane Borromimi: Dagli eeordi a San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, M. Kahn-Rossi and M. Fran- ciolli, eds., Milano 1999, pp. 459-474, esp. pp. 468-469. A significant instance of the influence of San Carlino has been identified by Connors in the church of Santa Maria del Prato a Gubbio: Joseph CONNORS,''A copy of Borromi- ni's S. Carlo aile Quattro Fontane in Gubbio", TheBurlington magazine 137 (1995), pp. 588-599. 2 One of the first conscious analyses of this problem was furnished by Sedl- mayr; who recognized the subtleties that hold together the various parts of the church of San Carlo aile Quattro Fontane; see Hans SEDLMAYR,Die Ar- chiiekiur Borrominis, Munchen 1939 ('Hildesheim 1986), esp. pp. 24-36. A similar attention to the internal rela- tionships between the various parts in the architecture of Bor-romini features significantly in the contribution of Wittkower, who remains exemplary on San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Sant'I- vo and San Giovanni in Laterano. See further Rudolf Wl'T'1'KOWER,Art and Architecture in Italy: 1600 to 1750, Harmondsworth 1958, pp. 170 et seq., 176,179. 3 For almost all architects, the drawing is a means by which they can rectify and revise the project. For architects such as Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, however; the drawing was a means of analytical and dimensional control, in which the measurements were supported by long columns of cal- culations. Others, such as Michelange- lo, though sitting down in front of an empty sheet of paper with a general idea of the final result, took suggestions from their own graphic elaboration as this gradually took shape. 4 The superimposition of different solu- tions in Michelangelo's architectural drawings is encountered mainly in his later work. In the drawings traditional- ly associated with the construction of the Sacrestia Nuova in Florence, though only few sketches survive, the solutions are placed side by side (Flo- rence, Casa Buonarroti, I, 77, ff. 210v and 211v. Respectively, Corpus 178v and 179v). Superimposed solutions can be noted in some elevation drawings for the Medici Tombs (London, British Mu~

seum, 1859-5-14-822v; Florence, Casa Buonarroti, A 491'.Respectively Corpus 180v and 1821'). 1\vo juxtaposed and partly superimposed solutions can be found in the drawings of a portal gener- ally linked to Michelangelo's project for the Reliquary Tribune in San Lorenzo (Florence, Casa Buonarroti, A 401'; Cor- pns 1771'). The superimposition of hy- potheses is clear; however, in his draw- ings for the Porta Pia and for San Gio- vanni dei Fiorentini (Florence, Casa Buonarroti, A 1241; A 841'and A 1021'; respectively Corpus 1621', 6141' and 6181'). Cf. Charles DE TOLNAY,ed., Cor- pus dei disegni di Michelangelo, 4 vols., Novara 1975-1980. Peruzzi often juxtaposed different solutions on the same sheet, but without superimposing them. In cases in which Peruzzi had to adapt his plans to pre-existing build- ings, such as palaces to be inserted in a consolidated urban fabric, he would create various hypotheses that remain as self-sufficient projects (cf. for exam- ple his projects for the Palazzo Ricci at Montepulciano, Florence, Uffizi, Gabi- netto Disegni e Stampe, A 5941; 5951', 3581'.Heinrich WURM,Baldassarre Pe- ruzzi: Architekturzeichnungen, Tafel- band, Tubingen 1984, pp. 331 et seqq.). In some hypotheses for complex eccle- siastical structures, Peruzzi was in the habit of juxtaposing alternative solu- tions within serial structures, though without superimposing one on top of the other (cf. for example the project for St Peter's in Florence, Uffizi, Gabi- netto Disegni e Stampe, A 141' or for San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome, ibid., A 5101'). 5 On this question see in particular Joseph CONNORS,"Francesco Borr-omi- ni (1599-1667): Die Revolution des Graphits", in VonBernini bis Piranesi. R6rnische Architekturzeichnnngen des Ba'rock, Exh. cat. Stuttgart, Staatsga- lerie, E. Kieven, ed., Ostfildern-Ruit bei Stuttgart 1993, pp. 33-38. 6 The presence of Borromini at St Pe- ter's is first documented in 1619, in the form of a payment made to a certain Francesco Bromino. His active contribu- tion is documented up to 1632. During this same period, Borromini was active as a stonemason, either self-employed or in partnership with others, on various building sites of the Apostolic Camera (Camera Apostolica). Cf. Marcello DEL P1AZZO,ed., Ragguagli borrorniniani. M ostra documentaria, Exh. cat. Roma, Archivio di Stato, Roma 1968, pp. 67-75.

7 The estimates are in: ASR, 'Ieatini in Sant'Andrea della Valle, Busta 2200.For information about the building see: Pa- tricia Ann WADDY, Palazzo Bcubenni: EaTly proposals. Dissertation: New York University, New York, 1973; Patri- cia WADDY, "Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger; Sprezzatura, and Palazzo Barberini", Archuectura 5 (1975) 2, pp. 101-122; Patricia WADDY, "The design and designers of Palazzo Barberini", Journal of the Society ofAnhitectuml Historians 35 (1976) 3, pp. 151-185. Cf. also: Francesco Paolo FIORE,"Capitolati e contratti nell'architettura borrorninia- na: un capitola della letteratura artistica e della precettistica materiale in eta barocca". Ricerche di storia dell'arte11 (1980), pp. 17-34; Francesco Paolo FIo- RE,"Palazzo Barberini: problemi atorio- grafici e alcuni documenti sulle vicende costruttive", in Gian Lorenzo Bernini architetto e l'architettU'f'aeuropea del Sei-Settecento,Conference proceedings, G. Spagnesi and M. Fagiolo, eds., Roma 1983, pp. 193-209. s ASR, Ospedale di San Giacomo degli Incurabili, busta 1505, n. 17bis. The sheet contains on the verso a reference to a "Bottegha alIi Giupponari di S. Ja- como ali Incurabili. Adi 30 luglio 1639". On the recto are some pencil annota- tions that are undoubtedly in Borromi- ni's hand. They refer to various build- ing projects for a "Cantina in volta", a "scala elimuro fer-rata in strada" and a "ferrata vesso il cor-tile del Palazzo" (perhaps it can be compared with the area of Barberini palace at the via dei Giubbonari, cf. Patricia WADDY,Seven- teenth-century Roman palaces. Use and the art of the plan, New York! Cambridge, Mass. 1990, pp. 132-172). A rapid sketch showing the plan and elevation of this small vaulted cham- ber is shown on the verso of the same sheet. 9 The drawings in the San Giacomo col- lection include a large group of pencil drawings, sometimes executed in a style of draughtsmanship very similar to Borromini's. But of these only sheet 17 seems clearly attributable to Borro- mini himself. Other drawings may be by the hand of Francesco Peparelli, an architect active for the hospital in the 1640s, as testified by the drawing of an estate outside Rome, property of the hospital: ASR, OspedaIe eli San Giaco- mo degli Incurabili, busta 1505, no. 147. On the verso of this sheet is a pencil drawing that represents a large build-

ing constructed on a trapezoidal site (perhaps that ofthe hospital of San Gia- como). The sheet was later cut, perhaps by Peparelli, who drew the estate on the recto. 10 On the basis of two brief biographical profiles of Righi written by Virgilio Spa- da between late 1657and early 1658, we know that he was born in 1621. On 14 November 1657 Spada wrote: "Fran- cesco Righi the Younger; over the age of 35, pupil of Cavaliere Borromfni, not in- ferior to anyone else in fidelity and dili- gence, has worked a great deal in the basilica of San Giovanni, in Sant' Agnese and in the tempietto of the Sapienza, has wife and children" ("Franc[esco] 0 Righi Giovine sopra 35 anni allievo del Cav[alie]ro Borromino quale in fedelta e dilig[enz]a non e inferiore a verun al- tro et ha operata molto nella basilica di S. Gio, S. Agnese e tempietto della Sa- pienza, ha moglie e figli"). Between February and March 1658 Spada also made a written application to the Pope asking that a post left vacant by the death of Domenico Castelli be entrust- ed to Righi: "Francesco Righi age 37, pupil of Cavaliere Borromini for 17 years, having spent the greater part of his time in the service of the Holy See, that is in the building site of San Gio- vanni in Laterano and in the tempietto of the Sapienza, having a wife and three children and having no certain employ- ment, supplicates Your Holiness for some post left vacant by the death of Castelli [...]" r'Francescc Righi d'anni 37, allievo del Cav.Borromino pjer] an- ni 17, avendo speso la maggior parte del tempo in serve della Santa Sede cioe, nella fabrica di San Giovanni Laterano, e del tempietto della Sapienza e ritro- vandosi con moglie, e tre figh, ne aven- do impiego certo, suplica la S.a V per a1- cuni de carichi vacati p la morte del Castello [...J"). Cf: Minna HEIMBURGER- RAVALLI, Architettnr~ scultura e mti minori nel baroccoitaliano. Ricerche nell'Archivio Spada, Firenze 1977, p. 301 note 21: ASR FSV, vol. 495, nos. 13 and 16. 11 For an account of the estimates for the building of Sant'Ivo cf. DEL PIAZZa 1968, pp. 131-156,231-239. 12 The contracts for the organization of the building site date to late 1642, as demonstrated by a copy of the contract of 9 December contained in the collec- tion of estimates of Virgilio Spada (ASR, Fonda Spada Ve1'alli, t. 496, ff. 80-87). This document is found in a col-

123

lection of contracts owned by Virgilio pada, who had compiled a kind of in-

dexed account book grouping contracts analytically, by homogeneous types of work. Using this account book, he could compare the price of individual jobs in other building projects, The largest part. of the documentation for the build- ing site of Sant'Ivo alia Sapienza is in ASR, Universita, t, 117, ft'. 49~62. 1:1 ASR, Unfverstta, t, 113, ff. 44-48. 10l ASR, Universita, t. 117, ff 39 and following. "ASR, Unfversita, t.117, ff.49-62. m"tutti ilavori piani di qualsivoglia cen- tina si pagaranno baioccbt sette e mez- zo il palma et Ii scot-niciati eli qualsivo- glia cantina si pagarano baiocchi nove e mezzo i\ palma da misurarsi in pelle (co- me sopra) dichiarandc che gli archi scornlciati che passano co diverse se- guo, rna della fattura come sana quelli delle nicchle della facciata de 10 Orato- rio clelli RR PP della Chiesa N uova sen- za spallette et imposte, Ii al'chi sola- mente si pagara a scudi tredici il pal- ma" ASR, Universit<\, t.1l7, I: 39. 17 On a fil'st J'eading of the document, 1 had erroneously deduced that the lesenes were clone in travertine. 1 wish to thank Fedel'ico Bellini for pointing out to me that one may deduce from payments made to the bricklayel's that they were in large part executed in brick. For information on this, see Fe- del'ico BELLINI,Le cupole di Borromi- ni: La "Sc'tenza" cost?'utti'va in eta baTocco, Milano 2004, pp. 168-186. 1 wish to thank Julia Smyth-Pinney for calling to my attention the height of four palmi reached by the stone mould- ings (ASR, Universita, t. 117, ff. 491'-

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621'). '1'0 Smyth-Pinney's knowledge, there is no information on this question anywhere else. By the sizes given, she worked out where each of the stones listed belongs. The sizes listed are those of the raw stones before they were installed, which is why the date is so early (10 June 16(3). By Smith-Pin- ney's calculations, the height of the travertine is not exactly the same on each of the 18 pilasters; it is approxi- mately foul' palmi up the pilaster shafts, which is about 2.23 metres above the floor; Therefore the height of the shaft above this, made of tevolozzel tavolozza, is 44 palmi. 18 On this problem see in particular Joseph CONNORS,"S. Iva alIa Sapienza. The first three minutes", Journal of the SoC'ietyofA1·ch'itectural Historians 55 (1996), pp. 38-57. In ASR, Universita, t, 117, f. 62. 20 Joseph CONNORS,Borromini and the Roman Ora-tory. Style and Society, New York/Cambridge, Mass./London 1980, p. 60. 21 I wish to thank Fabio Barry for point- ing out to me the similarity of the hand- writing in the accounts of Santa Lucia in Selci. 22 The way ofwriting the letter "1''' is in- deed one of the features that enable one to distinguish Borromini's handwriting from Righi's. The latter wrote this let- ter in a form similar to the current cap- itallettel'. 23 Fl'om 1659, the accounts for the Li- brary of Sant'Agostino bear Righi's sig- nature. In many cases he appears to be the sole controller of estimates. Indeed, the hypothesis has even been ventured that he contributed independently to

this building. On 1 November 1663 the residual payments due from the con- vent to Francesco Righi were paid to Antonio Righi (probably his son) follow- ing Righi's death. Cf. DEL PIAZZO 1968, p. 122: ASR, Congregazioni religiose soppresse Agostiniani in Sant' Agosti- no, busta 119, registro 313, ec. 61v, 70, 80v, 95. 24 ASR, Univeraita, t, 117, f. 137. 25 ASR, FSV, t, 496. ae ASR, FSV, t. 496, f. 881' (new number- ing). 27 Minna Heimburger-Ravalli cites doc- uments that testify to estimates pre- pared by Righi for the Palazzo Spada between 1652 and 1655. HEIMBURGER- RAVALLI1977, p.125. For the correspon- dence that testifies to Righi's involve- ment in the Palazzo Spada cf. Joseph CONNORS, Borromini e l'Oratorio ro- mano. Stile e societa, Torino 1989, pp. 86 et seq., note 66 (in the English edi- tion: CONNORS1980, pp.124 et seq., note 66); DEL PIAZZa 1968, pp. 54 et seqq. and p. 322, and Lionello NE:PPI, Palazzo Spada, Roma 1975, p. 283 Doc_ 42. 28 Estimates for boatloads of marble [barcate di manno] in the hand of Francesco Righi from 1647 to 1658 are documented. Cf. Klaus GUTHLEIN, "Quellen aus dem Familienarchiv Spa- da zum Romischen Barock, 1. FoIge", Romisches Jahrbuch jur Kunst- geschichte 18 (1979), pp. 173-246, p. 211, n.29_ 29 HEIMBURGER-RAVALLI1977, p. 245: "[ ... ] eli destinare un paio di centinaia di scudi a Righi, il giovane misuratore eli Borromini il quale ha fatto fatiche in- credibili, per sodisfare all'isquisitezza del Borromino et oltl'e la eli lui diligenza,

e povero, et ha famiglia". A group ofdoe- uments collected by Spada shows that th~ latter tried to help Righi to be ap- pomted to the post of Capitoline archi- tect: cf. HEIMBURGER-RAVALLI1977, p. 259, nos. 29-30: ASR, FSV,vol. 495, n.16. 30 On the difficulties between Spadaand Borromini in the Laterano, cf. GOTH- LEIN 1979, pp. 238 et seqq. On the 8pa- da- Borromini relations see also: Klaus GUTHLEIN, "Francesco Borromini e Virgilio Spada nell"anno nero' 1657", in FrancescoBorromini, Conferencepro- ceedings, C.L. Frommel and E. Sladek, eds., Milano 2000, pp. 130-133. 31 Letter of Bernardino Spada of 27 April 1658 in ASR, Archivio Spada,vol. 565, cited from: Augusto RaGADE AMI· CIS, L'operadi Borromini in SanGio- vanni in Laterano: gli anni dellafab· brice (1646-1650), Roma 1995, p. 34,n. 79: "l...] il Borromino ha messo il Righi in sospetto ill persona da fidarsene po- co, e che prende beveraggi da mtigiani [...] pu6 essere qualche disg[ust]o fra il BOl'l'omino e il Righi, poi che durantela contumacia di q[es]to ne le cose eli S. Gio. Laterano, non poteva soffrire cheil Righi et altri portassero parole innanzi e indietro etiam a lui pel' tirar inanzi quei laV011.a i quali il Borromino non voleva attendere". 32 "[ ... ] disegnato, e portato a1Cavaliere Borromino Ie misure accio lui havesse potuto stabelire li disegni e senzaaneD che lui fusse comparso, cosl nellafabri· ca", Joseph CONNORS,"VirgilioSpada's defence of BOlTomini", The Burlington magazine 131 (1989), pp. 76-90, esp. p. 87. S3 "guidata da chi ha faUa nascere [...]", ibid.