Architectural drawings before the Renaissance
When discussing the history of architectural drawings before the invention of perspective rules and standards set by Brunelleschi, there are many interpretations of how they originated and to what purposes they were intended for. There are many diverse answers within this to why there has been so little architectural drawings and sketches been seen from these ages. However drawings have been found dating back to the times of ancient Egypt, following through ancient Greek and Roman periods all the way to the renaissance of the fifteenth century; where we see the reproduction/rebirth of architectural drawings and the preservation of them. Nonetheless before these stages of technicalities seen in the renaissance period the historical values of functionality, usage and the need of these drawings must be analysed to see what acts they preformed in constructing these ancient architectures.
The historical value of illustration is possible as ancient as human society itself. We as people have forever experimented in trying to evoke emotions into items we have seen in essence or we have made. When talking about the origins of art, art historian E. H. Gombrich concludes that for early humans, ‘there is no difference between building and image-making as far as the usefulness in concerned’[1]. He proposes that the housing of early people created to protect themselves from the weather and the spiritual level of representation were just as important as each other in documenting livelihood and the stories told from this. This documentation can be seen back to 15,000-20,000 BC, in the caves of Lascaux, France of the primitive (Upper Palaeolithic) people.[1]
In these caves lies thousands of painted images on the walls and ceilings: some of abstraction, some of humans and some of cattle – with some of these drawing could said to be in early elevation view. Due to the absence of written records these images depict these people lives; stories of fruitful hunting, acts of bravery or some suggest ritual experiments to give hunters luck. Whatever these paintings were intended for, there importance must have been huge, otherwise why bother? They were necessary to their culture in representing their successes. These primitive sketches can be seen as early architectural drawings themselves – yes they don’t depict buildings in true elevation or plan but they act on a representational level – clearly showing how these people worked and lived and that is what an architectural drawing does, it shows how a building works and how it is used. However ancient visual communication after this period are rare, as they date so far back and most where drawn on temporary materials not in caves which managed to preserve the drawings – this is why they have become lost or fragmented. Nonetheless there is one exclusion from this is, and that is ancient Egypt. Ancient Egypt was one of the key cultures to preserve some of its architectural drawings primarily due to a large amount of their works being inscribed/painted on there impressive structures. As indicated by these artworks the Egyptian civilisation used an incredible, valuable number of visual communications. However it is believed that such a rich civilisation would have also used materials such papyrus, pieces of wood and clay tablets to convey information and ideas to one another as these were more portable means of communicating to such masons and builders.[1] It is well-defined why these materials did not survive the years (an occurring theme up to the renaissance). The first reason is these specific materials of papyrus and clay were relatively weak and thin materials, as papyrus (dating back to the First Dynasty) was like a slightly stronger version of the paper substance we know today, however as it was made of the plant papyrus and when stored in humid conditions it could grow fungi and thus ruin the material. With clay, after a period of time it begins to break away and fragment. The second reason is again these portable materials were expensive in ancient Egypt and thus were frequently reused. The most preserved drawings where that inscribed in stone, showing plans (dating back to Mesopotamia 3500 BC) and elevations (dating back to the 18th dynasty 1550 BC).[2][1]
The plans clearly show stairways very similar to how they are presented today, showing actual wall thicknesses but sometimes they are more schematic with walls being indicated by lines and openings with cross strokes. The architectural historian Spiro Kostof suggests that papyrus was used for recording drawings, where ‘sketch-plans were incised on flat flakes of limestone’[1] called ostraka being the communicating tool on the site – so these large stones were very common at the location for the builders to understand the diagrammatical layering of what they were undertaking. However it is all good saying that these types of drawing have been found but how necessary where they? This can be answered through the first officially recorded architect Imhotep. Imhotep was seen as god-like, and was the main creator of Egyptian Architecture with sculptures showing him carrying drawing materials. These sculptures suggest that Imhotep was carrying architectural drawings and tells us that these drawings were needed on site as a communication tool of how to construct. Within Egyptian representation there was merely only the use of plan, elevation and some minimal sections; the Greeks however started to test with perspective but [1] seemingly moved away from the use of drawings to more verbal means of communication.
There are few types of drawings been seen from the Greek antiquity period; however we do know they did test with perspective, not fully getting it correct. Greek architecture, like Egyptian, was extremely affected by religion and thus we see this throughout ancient Greece, having many temples to honour the gods. One of the main reasons why we have not seen many drawings from this period is because the Greeks had great mathematical and physics skills and had a very clear and robust formula for constructing. Part of this formula can be highlighted through there column system as every temple (in terms of columns) was 17 x 8 which gave them a very strong frame like structure. From this the architects did not really need to use visual representation as they could simply communicate there specifications verbally to the masons. However it is hard to understand how they managed to elaborate and change there designs through the years without some form of drawings.
There have been full-scale (1:1) illustrations of construction drawings been found engraved on the Temple of Apollo at Didyma[1] however these are minimal and are only depictions of detailed parts of the building so masons could get these intricate details correct. So it could be said that these actual temples were test models in there own defined right serving as a template. Nonetheless it is further hard to understand how such an intelligent mathematical civilisation would not have wanted to research more into architecture drawings to depict there ideas in a more meaningful matter.
The use of perspective has been seen in ancient Greece however it was of little usage as they did not truly understand the concept of it, as shown above, looking rather strange. Through this lacking it could be suggested that with geometry being examined by the mathematician Euclid, precision was accomplished in building, as the architects put to use these instruments of geometry with masons using scale rulers and set squares achieving extreme accuracy. So to a certain extent architectural drawings were not greatly appreciated in the Greek antiquity period due to their mathematical formula, however there are signs they were needed for intricate detailed parts of temples. The aspects of the Roman Architect were much freer within Architecture however drawings were still not fully appreciated.
In Roman antiquity we see convincing representational drawings showing perspective nearly being achieved however again the cataloguing of this is minimal. Vitruvius is seen as the first Roman Architect to have written surviving records of his field of work and tried to promote the use of graphia, orthographia, scaenographia (plan, elevation, perspective) through his ‘Ten books on Architecture’[1]. This scaenographia or perspective entails some form of pictorial depth seen in mosaic artworks, being evidence of early expressions of perspective representation, extending the use of natural space. We see in the Roman period a transition with art and architectural representation as art begins to lean towards pictorial realism with the use of perspective being massive (which can be seen through Boscoreale’s wall paintings). This is why we see a jump in progress within perspective and the proper use of it to represent buildings and its interiors. Although the Romans had achieved convincing perspective they did not use it or incorporate much in showing how the building was going to look. The Romans used measuring tools, like the Greeks, such as callipers and dividers however there are more directed towards being mason tools, different writing utensils have been discovered and act as link towards architectural drawing tools. Through the development of writing/drawing tools this is probably the reason why we do not see many architectural drawings, as a similar product to the eraser had been invented, thus sketches and other drawings where drawn on impermanent materials such as clay tablets, which were again expensive to purchase. However similarly to that of Greeks 1:1 scale drawings on marble have been found representing elevations, necessary in getting the proportions and dimensions correct, making the masons jobs easier. Again similarly to the Greeks, the Romans incorporated there column system thus plans were not really needed for the whole building. Nevertheless this lack of drawings feeds into the middle ages and early renaissance however multiple artworks and documentation have been found, with the recording of architectural theory and drawings being later recorded in the gothic phase by the means of sketchbooks.
The reason for the lacking of architectural representation in the middles ages can be seen as a simple one, having similar circumstances to that of previous antiquities. Preparation sketches/drawings were not seen as an important means of documentation with them subsequently being disposed off or reused, as writing materials were again expensive and thus architects would try and represent there work on any type of material they could get there hands on, from rocks to even sheepskin. However the clearest example from his period of an architectural drawing being used is the plan of St. Gall Monastery dating back to 820 to 830 AD. The plan is formatted by the means of horizontal and vertical lines providing coordinates for the locating points with unmarried lines used to show doors and columns. Furthermore the middle ages did have practical perspective as well as Villard de Honncourt[1] shows this through his Pavia Cathedral drawing, showing it in three dimensional form, however the perspective is not fully correct with parts of the building looking strange with the necessity of this drawing not truly known. The gothic period was most important in starting to preserve differing architectural drawings from abstract to accurate, complicated pieces being shown in there guide books. The persevered book by Villard de Honncourt, shows his journey with architects taking notes, showing architectural theory, construction ideology, elevation and plans, etc, being utilized for other builds. The value of representation was beginning to heighten, and when reaching the early part of the renaissance there was a complete obsession with preserving drawings especially in trying to accomplish the perspective views, leading to less useful plans.
In conclusion, architectural drawings were common, necessary and used before the renaissance to an extent. There are many explanations to why many have not been recorded or preserved through the antiquities; however there are key reasons for this. Drawings especially in Greek and Roman periods were not seen as important and preferred verbal communication and when drawings were used, they were often destroyed after there purpose was complete, or an attempt to keep the architectural practices secret. It is also important to note the materials used to write on such as papyrus and parchment were extremely expensive and thus were reused for multiple projects, with the material evidently fragmenting and being ripped apart. Furthermore the use the perspective in particular in these periods was minimal as the Egyptians did not know of it, the Greek did not truly understand it and the Romans did know how to use it however it was not seen as particularly necessary. Nonetheless drawings were necessary and used prior to the renaissance – clearly showing plans, elevations, sections and some perspective – otherwise it is impossible to understand how they conveyed design without some sort of visual communication. However the history of architectural sketches appears to commence with artists and architects of the Renaissance.
1 E.H. Gombrich, Gombrich on the Renaissance: Norm and Form (1985), p.20
2 M. Fazio, M. Moffett, L. Wodehouse, A World History of Architecture (2013), p.9
3 M. Fazio, M. Moffett, L. Wodehouse, A World History of Architecture (2013), p.8
4 S. Smith, Architects’ Drawings: A selection of sketches by world famous architects through history (2005) p.5-9
5 M. Fazio, M. Moffett, L. Wodehouse, A World History of Architecture (2013), p.10-15
6 Drawing Architectural History: Lecture 1, (2013) p.29
7 Drawing Architectural History: Lecture 2, (2013) p.5
8 S. Kostof, The Architect: A Chapter in the History of the Profesion (1977) p.7
9 Drawing Architectural History: Lecture 2 (2013) p.8
10 S. Smith, Architects’ Drawings: A selection of sketches by world famous architects through history (2005) p.7
11 Drawing Architectural History: Lecture 2, (2013) p.26
12 Perez-Gomez, A., Pelletier, L., Architectural Representation and the Perspective Hinge (Cambridge, and London, 1997) p.97-103
13 Drawing Architectural History: Lecture 2, (2013) p.27
14 Drawing Architectural History: Lecture 2, (2013) p.28
15 Drawing Architectural History: Lecture 1, (2013) p.43
16 Ackerman, J. S., Origins, Imitation, Conventions p.27-31 (Cambridge and London, 2002)
17 Drawing Architectural History: Lecture 1, (2013) p.45
18 Drawing Architectural History: Lecture 2, (2013) p.52
(December 2013)