DOI article:
Ashby, Thomas: Sixteenth-century drawings of roman buildings attributed to Andreas Coner
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70293#0016
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The British School at Rome.
the sketchbook from notes furnished by myself, and (ibid. 240) mentions
the inventory of his goods, which exists in the Archivio di Stato
in Rome (vol. 414, Reg. lac. Apocellus, c. 148). The inventory, which
is given in full in Appendix I, is dated Friday, Nov. 8, 1527, and in a
previous document (c. 145) we find him acting as witness at Ostia on
Oct. 20, so that he must have died between these two dates—and
apparently in Rome (cf. p. 75).1 He did not therefore perish in the sack of
Rome, though one of his books, a MS. of Ptolemaeus, was ' conculcatus
pedibus barbarorum.'
He is described on c. 145 as c(lericus) Bambergen^sis) dioc(esis); and
from his inventory we find that he was a man of considerable learning, the
owner of manuscripts and printed editions of the Greek and Latin classics,
of various dictionaries, and of classical and Renaissance works on mathe-
matics, astronomy, geography, etc.
He also possessed copies of Blondus, De Roma Instaurata, and of
Raphael Volaterranus, Commentarii urbani, and he cites Albertini,
Opusculum de Mirabilibus novae et veteris urbis Romae for the height of the
column of Trajan (No. 69a). This was practically the whole of the
topographical literature then available: Fulvius' Antiquitates Urbis Romae
appeared in the very year of Coner's death (his Antiquaria Urbis, a topo-
graphical description of Rome in hexameters, was published in 1513, it is
true, but is not a work of so much scientific value as the Antiquitates) and
Marliani's Topographia (first edition) in 1534.
These, however, are our only sources of information. There was some
hope that original letters from Coner to Bernardo Rucellai might be
preserved in the archives of the Rucellai family at Florence. These are
now divided, a portion being in the possession of the Ricasoli-Tiridolfi
family, and the remainder belonging to Lord Westbury, who inherited
them from the late Mr. Temple-Leader. The former collection was
carefully examined by Dr. Marzi,2 of the Archivio di Stato in Florence,
but without any trace of Coner's name being found : and the same was the
case with regard to the latter, as I am informed by Cav. Rag. Alessandro
Papini, Mr. Temple-Leader s executor, who was good enough to examine
1 I infer this from the list of his possessions 'in domo D. Angeli Saurii' and for the charge for
the hire of a mattress and coverlet which were conveyed to that house. His illness seems to have
necessitated continual nursing day and night for just over a week.
2 Dr. Marzi's researches were undertaken at the instigation of Cav. Gherardi, Director of the
Archivio, on the request of Prof. Villari. To all these gentlemen my best thanks are due.
The British School at Rome.
the sketchbook from notes furnished by myself, and (ibid. 240) mentions
the inventory of his goods, which exists in the Archivio di Stato
in Rome (vol. 414, Reg. lac. Apocellus, c. 148). The inventory, which
is given in full in Appendix I, is dated Friday, Nov. 8, 1527, and in a
previous document (c. 145) we find him acting as witness at Ostia on
Oct. 20, so that he must have died between these two dates—and
apparently in Rome (cf. p. 75).1 He did not therefore perish in the sack of
Rome, though one of his books, a MS. of Ptolemaeus, was ' conculcatus
pedibus barbarorum.'
He is described on c. 145 as c(lericus) Bambergen^sis) dioc(esis); and
from his inventory we find that he was a man of considerable learning, the
owner of manuscripts and printed editions of the Greek and Latin classics,
of various dictionaries, and of classical and Renaissance works on mathe-
matics, astronomy, geography, etc.
He also possessed copies of Blondus, De Roma Instaurata, and of
Raphael Volaterranus, Commentarii urbani, and he cites Albertini,
Opusculum de Mirabilibus novae et veteris urbis Romae for the height of the
column of Trajan (No. 69a). This was practically the whole of the
topographical literature then available: Fulvius' Antiquitates Urbis Romae
appeared in the very year of Coner's death (his Antiquaria Urbis, a topo-
graphical description of Rome in hexameters, was published in 1513, it is
true, but is not a work of so much scientific value as the Antiquitates) and
Marliani's Topographia (first edition) in 1534.
These, however, are our only sources of information. There was some
hope that original letters from Coner to Bernardo Rucellai might be
preserved in the archives of the Rucellai family at Florence. These are
now divided, a portion being in the possession of the Ricasoli-Tiridolfi
family, and the remainder belonging to Lord Westbury, who inherited
them from the late Mr. Temple-Leader. The former collection was
carefully examined by Dr. Marzi,2 of the Archivio di Stato in Florence,
but without any trace of Coner's name being found : and the same was the
case with regard to the latter, as I am informed by Cav. Rag. Alessandro
Papini, Mr. Temple-Leader s executor, who was good enough to examine
1 I infer this from the list of his possessions 'in domo D. Angeli Saurii' and for the charge for
the hire of a mattress and coverlet which were conveyed to that house. His illness seems to have
necessitated continual nursing day and night for just over a week.
2 Dr. Marzi's researches were undertaken at the instigation of Cav. Gherardi, Director of the
Archivio, on the request of Prof. Villari. To all these gentlemen my best thanks are due.