Details
[?AMMANATI, Bartolommeo (1511-1592)]. Drawing for the construction of a canal embankment; diagrammatic representation with mixed view-points, showing timber retaining walls -- as though flattened -- on either side of a turbulent waterway with three vessels: a sailing barge, a punt with three men, and a barquentine, above this another view with the entire wall shown, including the pointed metal-clad ends of the piles, and above this, written the other way up, an explanation of the design, its origin and its use in Poland, on the verso an annotation in a 19th-century hand to the effect that the writing is certainly that of Benedetto Giramonte, secretary of Bartolommeo Ammanati, and that the drawing must therefore be Ammanati's work, Florence, ca. 1565.
Drawing in leadpoint, pen and brown ink and watercolour, and manuscript on paper with a watermark of a crown with a star above [some similarity with Briquet 4834 - Italian 1551-6], 24 lines, 770 x 480mm (small tears in fold and 3 small holes, stain on verso showing through in text, not affecting legibility).
Cosimo I de' Medici and his successor Ferdinand I were responsible for many improvements in Pisa, both to the physical city and its institutions. Cosimo established the Ufficio dei Fiumi e Fossi in Pisa to govern the waterways of his Tuscan state: great tracts of marshland were drained and the canale dei Navicelli was reconstructed connecting Pisa with the new port of Livorno. It is possible that the present drawing relates to this project.
Because the author offers his diagram and account 'Per maggiore intelligentia di V[ostr]a Ecc[ellenz]a Ill[ustrissi]ma' it was most likely intended for Cosimo de' Medici; this was the appropriate form of address for the Duke before he became Grand Duke in 1569. The explanation gives a breakdown of the costs involved (about 6000 scudi per mile), a description of how it would work (built-up with earth behind, planted with willows, so that when the timber embankment has been consumed by water and time, what is left will be stable and firm 'non si conoscere se sia facta dall'Arte o dalla Natura'). Cosimo is referred to the 'Regno di Pollonia nella Provincia di Prussia' where the effective employment of this design can be seen close to the city of Danzig where the Vistula and the Mottlau join, spreading copious quantities of water across the flat country. A detailed description of the canal in Poland and the advantages it afforded to the city and to trade in the area is concluded by listing the goods imported and exported via the Baltic: fruit, almonds, raisins, rice, sugar, drugs, spices, salt 'in grandissima quantita', oils, Malmsey and other wines, cloth, armour and other things 'delle quali quelli paesi settentrionali hanno mancamento'. The list of commodities plentiful around Danzig that were carried south on the ships' return includes corn, rye, honey, wax, furs of various types, timber for galleons and other large ships and herrings. This list is given to demonstrate the merits that such a canal can afford -- 'Donde manifestamente si vede quanta gran comodita et utile faccia a quelli Regni et provincie il canale dell'acque ristretto da duoi ordini de travamenti decti di sopra'.
Drawing in leadpoint, pen and brown ink and watercolour, and manuscript on paper with a watermark of a crown with a star above [some similarity with Briquet 4834 - Italian 1551-6], 24 lines, 770 x 480mm (small tears in fold and 3 small holes, stain on verso showing through in text, not affecting legibility).
Cosimo I de' Medici and his successor Ferdinand I were responsible for many improvements in Pisa, both to the physical city and its institutions. Cosimo established the Ufficio dei Fiumi e Fossi in Pisa to govern the waterways of his Tuscan state: great tracts of marshland were drained and the canale dei Navicelli was reconstructed connecting Pisa with the new port of Livorno. It is possible that the present drawing relates to this project.
Because the author offers his diagram and account 'Per maggiore intelligentia di V[ostr]a Ecc[ellenz]a Ill[ustrissi]ma' it was most likely intended for Cosimo de' Medici; this was the appropriate form of address for the Duke before he became Grand Duke in 1569. The explanation gives a breakdown of the costs involved (about 6000 scudi per mile), a description of how it would work (built-up with earth behind, planted with willows, so that when the timber embankment has been consumed by water and time, what is left will be stable and firm 'non si conoscere se sia facta dall'Arte o dalla Natura'). Cosimo is referred to the 'Regno di Pollonia nella Provincia di Prussia' where the effective employment of this design can be seen close to the city of Danzig where the Vistula and the Mottlau join, spreading copious quantities of water across the flat country. A detailed description of the canal in Poland and the advantages it afforded to the city and to trade in the area is concluded by listing the goods imported and exported via the Baltic: fruit, almonds, raisins, rice, sugar, drugs, spices, salt 'in grandissima quantita', oils, Malmsey and other wines, cloth, armour and other things 'delle quali quelli paesi settentrionali hanno mancamento'. The list of commodities plentiful around Danzig that were carried south on the ships' return includes corn, rye, honey, wax, furs of various types, timber for galleons and other large ships and herrings. This list is given to demonstrate the merits that such a canal can afford -- 'Donde manifestamente si vede quanta gran comodita et utile faccia a quelli Regni et provincie il canale dell'acque ristretto da duoi ordini de travamenti decti di sopra'.