Mariano Taccola, De ingeneis

With the rediscovery of Mariano Taccola’s technical manuscripts, a primary source has been found for drawings and texts in treatises and sketchbooks of Francesco di Giorgio Martini. Taccola first conceived a new subject in Renaissance literature: rational descriptions and illustrations of utilitarian structures built by master masons, carpenters, millwrights, and artisans in the service of military lords.<br/>Taccola’s complex and fascinating manuscript is being published fully in facsimile. It was a gift to Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter who studied law (1533-1542) in Siena, probably at the Studio or University where Taccola had been secretary while writing in the building arts. The volume that Taccola entitled “Liber primus leonis” and “Liber secundis draconis” was modified into a “Notebook” when he, in 1435-1438, added many small sketches around each main drawing existing on a folio, and added quires of paper after Book II for additional and later drawings.<br/>This edition includes, in the editors’ introduction, a short biography of Mariano Taccola, a history of his “Notebook”, a description of its sections, an account of Taccola’s contribution to the history of thechnology, and a study of his influencce. Each of Taccola’s several hundred drawings is identified, his Latin texts and notes are all transcribed an then translated into English. In one Appendix, the editors illustrate and interpret eight drawings identified as copies of Taccola’s originals lost from his “Notebook”, and a second Appendix concerns the desings of mills, pile-drivers, and water-supply devices of a Machine Complex that other engineers developed from prototypes in Taccola’s “Notebook”.<br/>

English description: With the rediscovery of Mariano Taccola’s technical manuscripts, a primary source has been found for drawings and texts in treatises and sketchbooks of Francesco di Giorgio Martini. Taccola first conceived a new subject in Renaissance literature: rational descriptions and illustrations of utilitarian structures built by master masons, carpenters, millwrights, and artisans in the service of military lords. Taccola’s complex and fascinating manuscript is being published fully in facsimile. It was a gift to Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter who studied law (1533-1542) in Siena, probably at the Studio or University where Taccola had been secretary while writing in the building arts. The volume that Taccola entitled “Liber primus leonis” and “Liber secundis draconis” was modified into a “Notebook” when he, in 1435-1438, added many small sketches around each main drawing existing on a folio, and added quires of paper after Book II for additional and later drawings. This edition includes, in the editors’ introduction, a short biography of Mariano Taccola, a history of his “Notebook”, a description of its sections, an account of Taccola’s contribution to the history of thechnology, and a study of his influencce. Each of Taccola’s several hundred drawings is identified, his Latin texts and notes are all transcribed an then translated into English. In one Appendix, the editors illustrate and interpret eight drawings identified as copies of Taccola’s originals lost from his “Notebook”, and a second Appendix concerns the desings of mills, pile-drivers, and water-supply devices of a Machine Complex that other engineers developed from prototypes in Taccola’s “Notebook”. German description: Mit der Wiederentdeckung der technischen Handschriften Mariano Taccolas wurde auch die Quelle fur die Zeichnungen und Texte in den Abhandlungen und Skizzenbuchern Francesco di Giorgio Martinis entdeckt. Taccola behandelte als erster ein neues Thema in der Renaissanceliteratur: die rationale Beschreibung und Illustration von Zweckbauten. Das Werk, das Taccola ursprunglich als “Liber primus leonis” und “Liber secundus draconis” angelegt hatte, bekam nach und nach den Charakter eines Notizbuchs, als den Hauptzeichnungen mehrere kleinere Skizzen hinzugefugt und mehrere lose Blatter mit technischen Zeichnungen beigelegt wurden. Die Handschrift war ein Geschenk an Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter, der sich einige Jahre in Siena aufhielt. Aus der Sammlung dieses Humanisten gelangte sie anschliessend nach Munchen. Die vorliegende Faksimileausgabe enthalt neben einer kurzen Biographie Mariano Taccolas die Geschichte dieses Notizbuchs, eine Beschreibung der einzelnen Abschnitte sowie Taccolas Bedeutung fur Wissenschaft und Technik der Renaissance. Jede der mehreren hundert Zeichnungen wird erlautert, Taccolas lateinische Beschreibungen der Maschinen werden in Transkription wiedergegeben und ins Englische ubersetzt. Ein Anhang enthalt die Zeichnungen zu Muhlen, Pfahlrammen und Entwurfen zu Wasserleitungssystemen, die spater nach Taccolas Modellen aus dem “Notebook” entwickelt wurden.

• Edited by Gustina Scaglia
• Edited by Ulrich Montag
• Edited by Frank D. Prager