The Pantheon: From Antiquity to the Present Read online

  The Pantheon

  The Pantheon is one of the most important architectural monuments of all time. Completed by Emperor Hadrian in approximately AD 125 on the site of its Augustan predecessor, it brilliantly displays the spatial pyrotechnics emblematic of Roman architecture and engineering. The Pantheon provides an up-to-date account of new research on this best preserved of all ancient buildings from the time of its construction to the twenty-first century. Each chapter addresses a specific fundamental issue or period; together, the chapters shed light on essential aspects of the Pantheon’s creation and establish the importance of its checkered history for the understanding of its ancient fabric and heritage, its present state, and its special role in the reception of ancient architecture and the very image of modern Rome.

  TOD A. MARDER is Distinguished Professor of Art History at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He has lectured and published widely on the Pantheon, the art and architecture of Bernini, and many related topics. He is the author of Bernini’s Scala Regia at the Vatican Palace: Architecture, Sculpture, and Ritual (Cambridge University Press) and Bernini and the Art of Architecture, which received the thirty-fifth Daria Borghese Prize for best book on a Roman topic by a non-Italian author. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and currently holds the Rudolf Wittkower Professorship at the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome.

  MARK WILSON JONES is Associate Professor in Architecture at the University of Bath. His research, which has been funded by the British Academy, the Leverhulme Trust, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, concentrates on ancient architecture and its design, along with the ramifications for developments since the Renaissance. He is the author of Principles of Roman Architecture, the only book to be awarded both the Banister Fletcher Prize and the Alice Davis Hitchcock Prize, and more recently of Origins of Classical Architecture.

  The Pantheon

  From Antiquity to the Present

  Edited by

  Tod A. MarderRutgers University

  and

  Mark Wilson JonesUniversity of Bath

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  © Cambridge University Press 2015

  Published with the assistance of the Getty Foundation.

  This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

  First published 2015

  Printed in the United States of America

  A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

  Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data

  Pantheon (Cambridge University Press)

  The Pantheon : from antiquity to the present / [edited by] Tod A. Marder,

  Rutgers, Mark Wilson Jones, University of Bath.

  pages cm

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978-0-521-80932-0 (hardback)

  1. Pantheon (Rome, Italy) 2. Rome (Italy) – Buildings, structures, etc. I. Marder, Tod A.,

  editor of compilation. II. Wilson Jones, Mark, 1956 – editor of compilation. III. Title.

  NA323.P325 2014

  726′.12070945632–dc23 2013027301

  ISBN 978-0-521-80932-0 Hardback

  Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

  Contents

  List of Plates and Figures

  List of Contributors

  Acknowledgments

  Note on Usage

  1 IntroductionTod A. Marder and Mark Wilson Jones

  2 Agrippa’s Pantheon and Its OriginEugenio La Rocca

  3 New Perspectives on the Dating of the PantheonLise M. Hetland

  4 The Conception and Construction of Drum and DomeGiangiacomo Martines

  5 Sources and Parallels for the Design and Construction of the PantheonGene Waddell

  6 The Pantheon Builders: Estimating Manpower for ConstructionJanet DeLaine

  7 Building on Adversity: The Pantheon and Problems with Its ConstructionMark Wilson Jones

  8 The Pantheon in the Middle AgesErik Thunø

  9 Impressions of the Pantheon in the RenaissanceArnold Nesselrath

  10 The Pantheon in the Seventeenth CenturyTod A. Marder

  11 Neoclassical Remodeling and Reconception, 1700–1820Susanna Pasquali

  12 A Nineteenth-Century Monument for the StateRobin B. Williams

  13 The Pantheon in the Modern AgeRichard A. Etlin

  Bibliography

  Index

  List of Plates and Figures

  Plates

  I. Exterior view of the Pantheon

  II. Interior of Pantheon; painting by Giovanni Paolo Pannini, 1747

  III. Plan of Pantheon and urban context

  IV. Diagrams of cavities in the wall

  V. Plan of pavement, niches, and high altar; anonymous seventeenth-century drawing associated with the Bernini workshop

  VI. Interior view featuring pier with Raphael’s tomb and flanking niches

  VII. Portion of attic register of Pantheon interior that was restored to original design by Alberto Terenzio in the 1930s

  VIII. Attic register of Pantheon interior as renovated beginning in 1753 by Paolo Posi

  IX. Dome and oculus

  X. Pantheon interior elevation laid flat with proportions overlaid

  XI. Cutaway axonometric projection of the Pantheon by George Chédanne, 1891

  XII. Virtual visualization of the Pantheon’s geometry

  XIII. Visualization of the sequence of operations in building the Pantheon

  XIV. Plan of Pantheon overlaid with reconstruction of Agrippa’s Pantheon, according to Rodolfo Lanciani

  XV. Schematic reconstruction of Augustan Pantheon, according to Gerd Heene

  XVI. Aerial view of alignment between Pantheon and Mausoleum of Augustus

  XVII. Pantheon, reconstruction views, intended (below) and as executed (above)

  XVIII. Plan of 1891–1892 excavations

  XIX. Composite section combining information from excavations under portico and rotunda

  XX. Section detail of 1891–1892 excavations illustrated in Figure 2.3, looking toward pilaster framing east side of entrance portal

  XXI. Section combining information from excavations under portico and rotunda

  XXII. Pantheon, east stair, sounding “S7” near the top of the rotunda

  XXIII. West stair, detail of sounding on level 2

  XXIV. Manfredo Manfredi, permanent tomb of Vittorio Emanuele II, lateral niche of the Pantheon, begun 1884

  Figures

  1.1. View of Pantheon facade, piazza, and fountain

  1.2. View of the Pantheon from the front, at high level

  1.3. Plan of Agrippa’s Pantheon facing south, orientation now in question

  1.4. View of portico interior; drawing by Maarten van Heemskerck, ca. 1532–1536

  1.5. Schematic geometry of the Pantheon

  1.6. a) West corner of pediment, and b) full-scale etching of profiles for portico elevation, li
mestone paving in front of Mausoleum of Augustus

  1.7. Exterior view of Pantheon; anonymous sixteenth-century drawing

  1.8. Door and vault in portico; drawing by Raphael

  1.9. Exterior of intermediate block, west side

  1.10. Interior seen along main axis

  1.11. Corinthian capital from the interior

  1.12. Section showing gradations of heavy-to-light concrete from bottom to top

  1.13. Cutaway of the Pantheon showing its construction

  1.14. Exterior view of Pantheon; sixteenth-century engraving by Etienne Duperac

  1.15. Proposed refashioning of the Pantheon elevation; sixteenth-century drawing by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger

  1.16. Interior view of Pantheon; sixteenth-century drawing by Raphael

  1.17. Section and detail of interior elevation; sixteenth-century woodcut engravings by Sebastiano Serlio

  1.18. Section and detail of interior elevation; sixteenth-century woodcut engravings by Andrea Palladio

  1.19. Northeast capital of portico with detail of Barberini bee and, on cornice, the later Chigi stars and mounts

  1.20. View of Piazza della Rotonda after removal of vendors, repair of the portico, and rebuilding of the Chapter house; engraving by G. B. Falda, ca. 1665

  1.21. Scheme for enlarging Piazza della Rotonda during the Napoleonic occupation of Rome under Camille De Tournon

  1.22. Facade of Pantheon before 1882–1883; period photograph

  1.23. Facade of Pantheon after removal of bell towers in 1882–1883; period photograph

  1.24. Scheme by Pietro Comparini for enlarging Piazza della Rotonda to commemorate King Victor Emmanuel II, 1882

  1.25. a) Plan for a Foro Mussolini uniting Piazza Colonna and Piazza della Rotonda by Armando Brasini, 1927; and b) bird’s-eye view

  2.1. Plan showing the Campus Martius in the Augustan period

  2.2. Plan of excavations under portico in 1892–1893

  2.3. a) Transverse section showing column bases and foundations of portico, and b) longitudinal section of trench cut in the central aisle of portico, revealed in excavations of 1892–1893

  2.4. Section of pilaster framing east side of entrance portal and substructure, revealed in excavations of 1892–1893

  2.5. Annotated sketch of structures exposed under portico during excavations of 1892–1893

  2.6. Partial plan of 1892–1893 excavations in southeast quadrant of rotunda

  2.7. Section reconstruction of two stairs belonging to the present Pantheon and Agrippan Pantheon

  2.8. Actual plan of portico compared to Agrippa’s portico

  2.9. Temple of Mercury, Baia

  2.10. Plan (a) and model (b) of ancient elliptical building excavated in Chester, England

  2.11. Axial alignment of the Pantheon and the Mausoleum of Augustus

  3.1. View of entablature and tympanum at night

  3.2. Brickstamp in situ, Caseggiato del Serapide, Ostia, from the Severan period, ca. AD 193–198

  3.3. Selected brickstamps: CIL XV 966.7 (first century BC); CIL XV 315 (Trajanic period, from the Pantheon); CIL XV 20 b (AD 115, from the Pantheon); CIL XV 801 (AD 123)

  3.4. Detail of exterior brickwork

  4.1. Plan of Pantheon by Giuliano da Sangallo, after 1465

  4.2. Exploded perspective of Trajan’s Column

  4.3. West elevation of Pantheon; engraving by Francesco Piranesi

  4.4. Study of structure in upper part of drum by Josef Durm

  4.5. Perspective rendering of the structure over an exedra of the rotunda

  4.6. Interior elevations projected flat, showing the bare structure (a) and the structure in relation to principal marble elements (b)

  4.7. Engraving illustrating brick stamps, construction of attic level, brick skeleton for a portion of the dome, and an elevation detail of the oculus by Francesco Piranesi

  4.8. Section (a), plan (b), and model (c) by Filippo M. Martines of Octagonal Hall in the Domus Aurea, Rome

  4.9. Detail of dome intrados at the springing with plaster knocked off, 1892

  4.10. Section through a casiddu near Santa Cesarea Terme, Puglia

  4.11. Nuraghe “Is Paras,” near Ìsili, Sardinia, detail of corbeled dome

  5.1. Plan of the Mausoleum of Augustus (a) and plan of the Pantheon (b) at both pavement level and at the springing of the dome

  5.2. Plan of Trajan’s Baths

  5.3. Pair of exedras in Trajan’s Baths; the coffering only aligns with the niches on the main and diagonal axes

  5.4. Imperial Fora, Rome, including Trajan’s Forum and Trajan’s Markets

  5.5. Trajan’s Markets

  5.6. So-called Maritime Theater, Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli

  5.7. East exedra of Trajan’s Baths

  5.8. Typical Roman brick-faced concrete wall with triangular pieces of bessales separated by layers of bipedales

  5.9. Plan of Serapeum, Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli

  5.10. View of east side of Serapeum, Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli, showing step-rings, concrete voussoirs, and openings to two of three levels of empty chambers in the walls

  5.11. Section of Temple of Minerva Medica, Rome

  5.12. Detail of brick-faced concrete with concrete voussoirs in the Arcus Neroniana (Caelemontana), built under Nero (AD 54–68) and reinforced during the reign of Septimius Severus (AD 193–211), who inserted a similar arch underneath

  5.13. Diagram of brick-faced concrete showing the construction of concrete voussoirs

  5.14. Pantheon, cutaway view

  6.1. Ground plan

  6.2. Half plans of upper levels

  6.3. Half sections through the rotunda

  6.4. Longitudinal section

  6.5. Isometric rendering from rear, showing the so-called grottoni (grottoes), the Basilica of Neptune, and the triple-arched connection or “bridge” between the two at high level

  6.6. Laser scan of longitudinal section

  7.1. Armature of relieving arches embedded in the Pantheon

  7.2. Interior elevation of the rotunda, projected flat, showing the principal cracks in the structure

  7.3. Proposals for the centering used to construct the dome

  7.4. Schematic cross section showing extent of a hypothetical doughnut-shaped centering tower for constructing the dome

  7.5. Rotunda viewed from the south, above the grottoni

  7.6. Pantheon, east stair, section

  7.7. Pantheon, east stair

  7.8. Pantheon, east stair, plan

  7.9. Junction of the rotunda, transitional block, and portico on the east side, at high level

  7.10. Pantheon, vestibule, and transitional block at the junction with the portico

  7.11. Junction of the rotunda, transitional block, and portico on the west side

  7.12. Pantheon plans and elevations, intended and as executed

  7.13. The portico as built and as intended

  7.14. The vestibule and door, seen on axis with view through to the rotunda beyond

  8.1. Madonna and Child icon from the Pantheon, seventh century?

  8.2. Exterior of Mausoleum of Tor de’Schiavi, Rome, c. 300

  8.3. Exterior of Theodoric’s Mausoleum in Ravenna, early sixth century

  8.4. Exterior of S. Adriano, the former Roman Curia, Rome

  8.5. Interior of S. Stefano Rotondo, Rome

  8.6. S. Andrea, with chapels labeled, attached to Old St. Peter’s

  8.7. Apse mosaic of S. Stefano Rotondo

  8.8. Detail of the Pantheon in a fresco by Cimabue, Upper Church of Assisi

  8.9. Columns and shafts

  8.10. Reconstruction drawing of medieval Pantheon facade based on elevation drawing of Antoine Desgodetz

  8.11. Porch of Lateran Baptistery

  8.12. Porch of Studios Church, Constantinople

  9.1. Exterior view of the Pantheon; hand of the Anonymous Escurialensis, sixteenth century

  9.2. Exterior view of the Pantheon; drawing from circle of Baldassar
e Peruzzi

  9.3. Marble reliefs in the entrance hall of the Pantheon; Roman sculptor from the early sixteenth century

  9.4. Second aedicule to the right of the entrance; Trecento fresco of the Coronation of the Virgin

  9.5. Grave of the lawyer Paolo Scocciapile, third alcove to the right of the entrance, early fifteenth century

  9.6. Ground plan of Pantheon; drawing by Hermann Vischer, sixteenth century

  9.7. Section of the Pantheon; drawing by anonymous draftsman of the seventeenth century

  9.8. Aedicule in the Pantheon; by anonymous draftsman from the circle of Giuliano da Sangallo

  9.9. Tomb of Raphael, likely after his own designs

  9.10. Aedicule from the Pantheon; drawing by Giuliano da Sangallo

  9.11. Two aedicules from the Pantheon; drawing by Bernardo della Volpaia

  9.12. Flank of the portico and detail of interior elevation; drawing by Antonio da Faenza, 1520–1535

  9.13. Aedicule from the Pantheon; drawing by Gregor Caronica of a missing folio from a codex of 1577

  9.14. Lead roof tile from the former cover of the cupola of the Pantheon

  9.15. Timbering in the portico of the Pantheon; anonymous French draftsman, late sixteenth century

  9.16. Pantheon studies; drawings by the Anonymous Foro Semproniensis(?)

  9.17. Capital from rectangular alcove of the Pantheon

  9.18. Capital by Brunelleschi from the Pazzi Chapel, Florence, fifteenth century

  9.19. Longitudinal section of the Pantheon; drawing by Bernardo della Volpaia

  9.20. King Josiah Destroys the Temples of Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom; Philipp Galles after Maarten van Heemskerck

  10.1. Truss work at the Pantheon; drawing by Francesco Borromini, 1625

  10.2. Inscriptions erected in 1632 by Urban VIII flanking entrance portal

  10.3. Truss work in portico

  10.4. Project to refashion interior elevation of the Pantheon; drawing by Francesco di Giorgio, fifteenth century