Renaissance Art and Architecture

1. Hacia un corpus de arquitectura jesuítica. Bases actuales y líneas de trabajo futuro, por M.ª Isabel Álvaro Zamora y Javier Ibáñez Fernández 

2. La ratio aedificiorum di un'istituzione globale tra autorità centrale e infinità del territorio, por Richard Bösel 

3. Episodi emergenti dell'architetture gesuitica in Italia, por Richard Bösel 

4. La provincia di Sicilia, por Marco Rosario Nobile 

5. Le architetture della Compagnia di Gesù in Sardegna (XVI-XVIII secolo), por Emanuela Garofalo 

6. L'architecture jésuite en France: état de la question et perspectives de recherches, por Alexandre Gady y Pascal Julien 

7. Étienne Martellange: un architecte de la Compagnie de Jésus en France au XVIIe siècle, por Adriana Sénard 

8. The architecture of the jesuits in the Southern low Countries. A state of the art, por Joris Snaet y Krista de Jonge 

9. Jesuits architecture in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1564-1772, por Andrzej Betlej 

10. La arquitectura jesuítica en Castilla. Estado de la cuestión, por Alfonso Rodríguez G. de Ceballos 

11. La arquitectura jesuítica en Andalucía. Estado de la cuestión, por Alfredo J. Morales 

12. La arquitectura jesuítica en Valencia. Estado de la cuestión, por Mercedes Gómez-Ferrer 

13. La arquitectura jesuítica en Aragón. Estado de la cuestión, por Javier Ibáñez Fernández y Jesús Criado Mainar 

14. De historias globales y locales: una aproximación a la historiografía de la arquitectura de los jesuitas en Hispanoamérica, por Luisa Elena Alcalá 

15. Arquitectura de los jesuitas en Portugal y en las regiones de influencia portuguesa, por Paulo Varela Gomes y Rui Lobo 

16. Arquitectura jesuita en Filipinas y China, por Pedro Luengo

Une visite, effectuée en 1656 lors de l’achat du domaine de Meudon par Abel Servien aux héritiers de la Maison de Guise, permet de préciser la nature des travaux menés dans la seconde moitié du XVIe siècle, notamment ceux exécutés sur les dessins du Primatice. L’intervention de ce dernier ne se borna pas en effet à la seule grotte que Vasari mentionne, non sans exagération, et qui au demeurant n’a pas été achevée, mais elle porta aussi sur le château : création de galeries terrasses dans la cour, des décors de la galerie dans l’aile droite, de la grande salle et d’un petit studiolo peint sur le thème d’Aristote.

Michelangelo si reputava principalmente uno scultore e fu autodidatta nella professione di architetto professionista e nel disegno tecnico. Nel tempo, il linguaggio architettonico di Michelangelo, difficile da classificare in quanto ritenuto atipico per un artista del Rinascimento, sia dai contemporanei sia dagli studiosi moderni, è stato etichettato come “anticlassico”, “eterodosso”, “manierista” e “protobarocco”. È ancora necessario affidarci a tali interpretazioni? In cosa consiste la singolarità del suo approccio? La padronanza della rappresentazione dell’architettura gioca un ruolo fondamentale nella capacità di un architetto di concepire un edificio. Una disamina del modo in cui Michelangelo gestiva le tecniche di rappresentazione grafica dell’architettura, e trasformava le proprie idee in spazi fisici, all’inizio della sua carriera, aiuta a spiegare l’origine del suo approccio immaginifico all’architettura. Come mostrano i suoi disegni architettonici, Michelangelo concepiva i suoi edifici per parti indipendenti. Pertanto la sua architettura risulta a-sintattica. Michelangelo progettava ciascun dettaglio, persino quelli di grandi dimensioni, indipendentemente dagli altri e tendeva a non raffigurare lo spazio che stava progettano nella sua interezza. Attraverso tre casi studio tratti dalla storia della progettazione e della realizzazione della Biblioteca Laurenziana, il saggio affronta tre aspetti importanti dell’approccio di Michelangelo con il disegno: 1. L’artista prediligeva l’uso delle semplici proiezioni ortogonali (ma indulgeva nel mescolarle con altre tecniche di rappresentazione) ma non allineava sul foglio piante e prospetti dello stesso dettaglio né usava la stessa scala di rappresentazione. 2. Eseguiva schizzi di portali e sequenze di modanature a mano libera senza ricorrere a costruzioni geometriche. 3. Non applicava la Concinnitas (idea di bellezza vitruviana come proporzione applicata a tutto, in modo che le parti fossero tutte in relazione tra loro. Di certo Michelangelo non ignorava regole e prassi comuni a molti altri architetti. Piuttosto, con tutta probabilità non era interessato a perseguirle.


The Role of Architectural Drawing in Michelangelo's Design and Constrution: The Laurentian Library as a Case Study.

Michelangelo, who considered himself primarily as a sculptor, was a self-taught architect and draftsman. Over time, Michelangelo’s unclassifiable architectural language, considered atypical for a Renaissance artist by both his contemporaries and modern critics, has been labeled as deliberately “anticlassical”, “heterodox”, “mannerist”, or “proto-baroque”. Should we rely on these interpretations? Where does the uniqueness of his approach lie? Command in representing architecture has an impact on the architects’ skill in conceiving their buildings. An analysis of Michelangelo’s way of handling architectural drafting techniques, to translate his ideas into physical spaces in his early career, casts light on the origin of his imaginative approach to architecture. Michelangelo’s architectural drawings show how he conceived his buildings fragmentarily. His architecture is a-syntactic. He designed individual (even large scale) details separately, and virtually never represented spaces in their totality. Through the lens of three case studies taken from the history of the design process and construction of the Laurentian Library, the essay explores three significant aspects of his approach to drawing: 1. He preferred simple orthogonal projections (but indulged in overlapping various types of representation techniques) but never aligned plans and elevations of the same detail nor represented them at the same scale. 2. He sketched door frames and sequences of moldings free hand, without using geometrical constructions. 3. He avoided Concinnitas (Vitruvian idea of beauty as an overall ratio, interlocking all parts of a building) and did not use numerical proportions. Michelangelo certainly did not ignore such rules and common practices. Very likely he was uninterested in them.

Stando a un famosissimo brano scritto da Giorgio Vasari nella Vita di Michelangelo, il Ricetto della Biblioteca Laurenziana (1526-'34) rappresenterebbe il manifesto dell’approccio estremamente inusuale dell’artista all’architettura. Tuttavia, quando la biblioteca venne inaugurata nel 1571, il Ricetto era ancora incompiuto. L’interno ma soprattutto l’esterno vennero completati all’inizio del Ventesimo secolo da Giuseppe Castellucci. Dove si interruppe Michelangelo? Quali aspetti vennero fraintesi dal restauratore? Che origine avevano le idee progettuali di Michelangelo? Il presente breve saggio inquadra la storia della realizzazione del Ricetto nel contesto dell’esperienza recente di Michelangelo architetto e del suo intenso scambio con un committente particolarmente importante e competente, Papa Clemente VII de’ Medici.


Michelangelo and Monumentality in the Vestibule [of the Laurentian Library]: Design, Execution, and Interpretation.

According to a famous passage by Giorgio Vasari, in his "Life" of Michelangelo, the Vestibule of the Laurentian Library (1526-'34) represents the manifesto of the artist's unusual approach to architecture. However, when the Library was first opened, in 1571, the Vestibule was still unfinished. The interior and especially the exterior were completed at the turn of the twentieth century by Giuseppe Castellucci. Where did Michelangelo stop? What did the restorer misunderstood? Where did Michelangelo's design ideas originate from? This short essay looks at the building history of the Vestibule through the lens of Michelangelo's early experience as an architect and of his intense exchange with his important and knowledgeable patron, Pope Clement VII Medici.

L’adozione di balaustri e balaustrate nell’arte e nell’architettura del Rinascimento dimostra una sperimentazione aggiornata del linguaggio architettonico all’antica da parte dell’artista che ne fece uso. Tuttavia nel mondo romano antico i balaustri non erano trattati come elementi architettonici e le balaustrate non esistevano. Nel corso del Rinascimento italiano avvennero tre principali evoluzioni: i balaustri vennero applicati agli edifici all’antica, venne inventata la balaustrata e, infine, gli elementi costitutivi e la sintassi del balaustro vennero sottoposti a un processo di standardizzazione. I balaustri verticali si presentavano a fuso doppio o singolo. Le proporzioni e la forma di balaustri e balaustrate (costruiti o immaginari) dipendevano dal materiale con il quale erano stati concepiti. Spesso le balaustrate vennero adottate da artisti che, per varie ragioni, avevano preso a modello una o più opere precedenti che includevano quel dettaglio. Tutte le arti visive diedero un contributo importante a questo processo. L’architettura raffigurata, per esempio, sullo sfondo di dipinti e bassorilievi costituì un veicolo fondamentale per la diffusione dell’idea della balaustrata e anticipò soluzioni che più tardi sarebbero apparse nell’architettura costruita. Infine, l’architettura rappresentata svolse una funzione di mediazione nella transizione di balaustri e balaustrate dalla piccola scala della dimensione artigiana e dall’ambito della scultura alla grande scala dell’architettura vera e propria.


Balusters and Balustrades Between Mid-Fifteen Century and Early Sixteen Century.

The use of balusters and balustrades in Renaissance art and architecture denotes an updated experimentation of architectural language "all’antica". Nevertheless, in the ancient Roman world balusters were not considered architectural elements, and balustrades were unknown. During the Renaissance, three major transformations took place in Italy. First, balusters were applied to buildings "all’antica"; secondly, the balustrade was invented; and, thirdly, their formal elements and syntax were standardized. Vertical balusters were either double-spindled or single-spindled. The proportions and shape of the balusters and balustrades (either built or imagined) depended on the material used by their "designers". Often, balustrades were adopted by artists who, for various reasons, looked at specific, earlier models/works, which featured that particular detail. All visual arts were involved in this process. Architecture represented in paintings and bas-reliefs, was a fundamental vehicle to disseminate ideas about the balustrade, and anticipated solutions which, later, appeared in built architecture. Moreover, architectural representation played the role of mediator in the transition of balusters and balustrades from the small scale of craftsmanship and sculpture, to large scale architecture.

"En este artículo se ofrece una apretada visión de síntesis sobre la arquitectura desarrollada en tierras aragonesas entre la primera mitad del siglo XV y los primeros compases del XVII desde el reconocimiento de la coexistencia de dos tradiciones constructivas diferentes –la arquitectura levantada con ladrillo y con yeso, y la realizada en piedra– que, partiendo de lenguajes artísticos de raíz medieval, experimentaron dos fenómenos artísticos distintos a lo largo de todo este tiempo ya que, por un lado, conocieron una evolución que podría entenderse como propia y, por otro, sirvieron de cauce de expresión a quienes trataron de aplicar el nuevo sistema artístico renacentista que se estaba articulando en la Península Itálica, ofreciendo formas –y respondiendo a estilos– que irían desde el gótico hasta el clasicismo pleno.

In this article we offer a very close synthesis vision of the architecture developed on Aragonese land between the first half of the 15th century and the early 17th, starting from the acknowledgement of the coexistence of two different construction traditions : the architecture built with brick and plaster, and the one executed with stone that, starting from artistic languages of medieval origin, experienced two distinct artistic phenomena in that period since, on one side, they knew an evolution that could be understood as its own, and, on the other, they served as base of expression for those who tried to apply the new artistic Renaissance system that was being developed in the Italic Peninsula, offering forms and responding to styles that would stretch from the Gothic to Classicism.
"

El conocimiento del primitivo edificio del Colegio de San Bartolomé tiene especial interés en la medida en que pudo proporcionar una tipología para otros colegios seculares, que tuvo también su influencia en las Escuelas Mayores de Salamanca. Por este motivo el estudio se centra esencialmente en la gestación y características de su arquitectura, pero a la vez se ofrecen algunos datos sobre otras obras que formaban parte de su rico patrimonio artístico, ahora disperso, todo ello a partir de fuentes documentales diversas.

Knowledge about the original San Bartolomé College is of special interest in the sense that it could have provided a template for other secular colleges that also had influence in the Major Schools of Salamanca. Accordingly, this study essentially focuses on the gestation and characteristics of its architecture, although we also offer some data concerning other works that formet part of its rich artistic heritage, now dispersed, all from different documentary sources.

En este artículo se ofrece una visión de conjunto sobre la arquitectura civil –tanto privada como pública– levantada en tierras aragonesas a lo largo del Quinientos. Partiendo del análisis de las tipologías y prestando una atención especial a las fuentes y modelos empleados, este estudio contempla sus relaciones con la arquitectura desarrollada en el reino de Navarra a lo largo de este mismo periodo.

In this article we offer an overall vision on civil architecture –private or public– applied on Aragonese land during the 16th century. Starting from the analysis of typologies and paying a particular attention to the sources and models employed, this study considers its relations with the civil architecture developed in the Kingdom of Navarre throughout the same period of time.

"La adopción de un nuevo repertorio decorativo de inspiración clásica a partir de la década de 1490 constituye el primer paso en el proceso de asimilación del lenguaje renacentista en el arte aragonés. Este cambio afectó en primer lugar a la pintura ornamental, un género del que nos han llegado ejemplares de gran interés fechados entre 1494-1495 y 1522 que evidencian diversos niveles de asimilación de los principios del nuevo estilo. La mayoría se caracteriza por la supervivencia de los esquemas góticos y por la convivencia de motivos propios de los repertorios góticos, mudéjar y renaciente, pero también existen ejemplos que testimonian una asimilación más consciente del nuevo lenguaje anticuario de los grutescos. Estos últimos deben entenderse como una primera aproximación, siquiera conceptual, a la arquitectura al romano, reemplazada a partir de 1515 por el empedrado, una fórmula más sobria que acabaría prevaleciendo con la que se pretendía imitar los interiores de cantería, asociada a la aplicación del repertorio clásico en los elementos de yeso de las bóvedas, los vanos y las molduras desplegadas en la línea de impostas.

The adoption of a new ornamental repertory of classical inspiration starting on the decade of 1490 constitutes the first step in the process of an assimilation of the Renaissance language in the Aragonese art. This change had firstly an effect on the ornamental painting, a genre from which we have received some examples of great interested dated from 1494-1495 to 1522, which give clear proof of the diverse levels of assimilation of the principles of the new style. Most of them being characterized by the survival of the Gothic schemes and by the coexistence of different motives peculiar to Gothic, Mudejar and Renaissance repertories, although there are also examples which demonstrate a more conscious assimilation of the new antiquariam language of the grotesques. The latter must be understood as a first approximation, conceptually at least, to the arquitectura al romano, replaced from 1515 by the empedrado, a more sober formula which finally prevailed and with which it was intented to imitate the inner parts of stonework, associated with the application on the classical repertory in the plaster cast elements in the vaults, gaps and mouldings opened out in the line of imposts."

Las tradicionales estructuras nervadas a compresión habían permitido levantar, sobre pilares y arcos torales, soluciones de carácter turricular como los cimborrios, que, además de proporcionar luz natural sobre las encrucijadas de los transeptos de los templos, adoptaron, en algunos casos, perfiles escalonados de muy difícil resolución desde el punto de vista constructivo. Sin embargo, estas estructuras no pudieron emplearse para la materialización de las nuevas tipologías arquitectónicas que trataron de introducirse en el contexto artístico aragonés de mediados del Quinientos, como la cúpula sobre pechinas y tambor, en esencia, porque generaban unos estados tensionales en las fábricas que podían tornarlas inseguras.
No obstante, al margen de otras vías, las cúpulas terminarán resolviéndose desde una tradición constructiva local habituada al empleo del ladrillo, la madera y el yeso, pero, sobre todo, gracias a un nuevo sistema constructivo que contemplaba la incorporación de elementos de madera en el seno de las propias fábricas.

The traditional ribbed structures had allowed to build, on pillars and chancel archs, tower-shaped solutions such as the cimborrios –lantern towers–, which provided natural light over the crossing and, in some cases, adopted stepped profiles that were very difficult to perform in building terms.
However, these structures couldn’t be used to perform the new architectonical typologies coming from Italy in the Aragonese artistic context of the middle of the 16th century, such as the dome on pendentives and drum, essentially because they generated such tensions in the constructions that could make them unsafe.
In any case, besides some other solutions, the domes were finally executed starting from the local construction tradition in brick, wood and plaster but, above all, thanks to a new construction system which included wooden elements in the constructions themselves.

Architectural atlas of Zagreb contains overview of the history of Zagreb architecture and 900 entries on buildings from all parts of the city.
The buildings are grouped according to Zagreb’s neighborhoods: Upper Town, Kaptol, Lower Town - Centre, Lower Town - West, Lower Town - East, Savska street, Vukovarska street and Slavonska avenue, New Zagreb, etc. Each of these neighborhoods has been split into streets, and the buildings are organized according to their official street number. Along with each city area, a map showing the locations of all the marked buildings mentioned in the atlas is also attached.
The buildings in this atlas have been selected primarily according to their importance to the history of Zagreb’s architecture, while also bearing in mind their interest to the average visitor to Zagreb. The city center (Lower Town, Upper Town, and Kaptol) has been covered in most detail.

Researches undertaken in Aragonese archives has resulted in the discovery of a large number of documents concerning the execution and employment of different types of designs relative to the processes of artistic creation that took place between the 15th and 17th centuries, as well as the retrieval of a significant number of the designs and drawings themselves.
The study of this material has shown the use of a specific terminology that reveals the existence of very different instruments of graphical representation that were used in two clearly differentiated contexts: on the one hand, we have “demuestras”, “muestras”, “drawings” and “designs” that relate to the commission of the work, whilst, on the other hand, there are “trazas” or the technical drawings used in relation to the execution of the project.
Our aim is to elucidate the most relevant definitions of the terms “muestra” and “traza”, based on the documentation of the 15th century. We use this century as our cornerstone because the utilisation of these terms (and the fact that they concern instruments of graphical representation for two discernibly identifiable contexts) was maintained throughout the 16th century.  Furthermore, we will also analyse the two fundamental changes that occurred during the epoch:
First, the period witnessed the appearance of a new professional profile that was rooted in the Italian principle that saw design as the basis of all arts. This notion led to the prioritisation of the creative element of the work (and its intellectual foundations) over the strictly artisanal, masonry and manual and practitioners were expected to be capable of producing “muestras” or “designs” for any kind of business or enterprise; the second significant development was the emergence of a new academic conception of architectural representation, seemingly derived from Vitruvius’s “species dispositiones”. We will examine the way in which this would come to dominate both the commission and the execution of architectural projects.

Los trabajos desarrollados en diferentes archivos aragoneses han permitido descubrir, por un lado, un gran número de referencias documentales sobre la ejecución –y el empleo– de diferentes tipos de diseños durante el proceso de creación artística entre los siglos XV y XVII, y por otro, un buen número de diseños realizados a lo largo de ese mismo periodo.
Del estudio de todo este material se desprende que el uso de una terminología específica trasluce la existencia de instrumentos de representación gráfica radicalmente distintos, “demuestras”, “muestras”, “dibujos” o “diseños” por un lado, y “trazas”, por otro, que se emplean, además, en ámbitos perfectamente diferenciados: el de la contratación y el de la ejecución.
Nuestra intención pasa por tratar de dilucidar las más relevantes acepciones de esos dos términos, “muestra” y “traza” a partir de la documentación del siglo XV, en esencia, porque su empleo, con todo lo que eso conlleva –la existencia de instrumentos de representación gráfica distintos para dos ámbitos perfectamente diferenciados– se mantiene a lo largo de todo el siglo XVI. No obstante, también trataremos de exponer los dos cambios fundamentales que se observan a lo largo del Quinientos:
Por un lado, la aparición de un nuevo perfil de profesional que, basado en el principio italiano que hacía del diseño el fundamento de todas las artes, y persiguiendo anteponer la faceta creadora de la profesión –y, por lo tanto, su fundamento intelectual– a la estrictamente gremial, artesanal y manual, se considerará capacitado para entregar “muestras” o “diseños” para cualquier tipo de empresa. Y en segundo lugar, la irrupción de una nueva concepción académica de la representación arquitectónica pretendidamente derivada de las “species dispositiones” de Vitruvio, cuyo empleo terminará imponiéndose en los dos ámbitos, el de la contratación y el de la ejecución. Veremos cómo.

Common conceptions about Gothic and Renaissance architectural proportion systems contrast the mediaeval geometrical methods with the arithmetical, rational ones of the Renaissance. In this paper, the authors analyze the geometrical proportion systems in Chapter V of Compendio de Arquitectura y simetría de los templos, generally attributed to the sixteenth-century Spanish architect Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón. This shows that geometrical proportioning system of the Compendio generally leads to rational proportions. However, on some occasions, irrational proportions arise from the geometrical properties of the figures used in the layout of the churches, or from deliberate choices of the author, with a remarkable disregard for the notions of commensurable or incommensurable dimensions. This is consistent with the notion, put forward by Shelby, of constructive geometry. Medieval design methods were based on a compass and ruler geometry, with no concern for rational and irrational proportions.

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La piedra angular de la biografía del pintor palentino Pedro Berruguete es un documento citado por el erudito Luigi Pungileoni (1822) en el que un cierto «Petrus Hispanus», pintor, se encontraba en Urbino. Nun-ca transcrito ni reencontrado, esta noticia soporta la mayor parte del peso de la supuesta formación italiana de una de las cabezas de la pintura española del Renacimiento. El hallazgo de dicho documento, la transcrip-ción de su contenido y la incorporación de nuevos documentos igualmente inéditos, permiten no solo deter-minar rasgos significativos del hasta hoy ignoto «Petrus Hispanus», sino reconsiderar la tradición historio-gráfica que ha mantenido sin reservas la identificación entre los dos artistas. Palabras clave: Petrus Hispanus. Pedro Berruguete. Justo de Gante. Jóos van Wassenhove. Pintura del Renacimiento en España. Hispanoflamenco. Palacio Ducal de Urbino. The cornerstone of the biography of the Palencian painter Pedro Berruguete is a document cited by the erudite Luigi Pungileoni (1822) in which a certain «Petrus Hispanus», painter, was in Urbino. Never transcribed or found again, this notice bears the greater part of the weight of the supposed Italian formation of one of the leading figures of Spanish Renaissance painting. Now, the discovery of this document, the transcription of its contents and the incorporation of new documents likewise previously unpublished, allow for the discernment of significant features of the until today unknown «Petrus Hispanus», as well as the reconsideration of the historiographie tradition which has maintained without question the crossed identification between these two artists.

Ecrire les savoirs prend une dimension singulière au cours de la Renaissance, dans le cadre de l'effervescence intellectuelle qui accompagne et induit une perception renouvelée du monde et de l'individu. Les connaissances établies de même que les sciences émergentes, spéculatives ou expérimentales, sont mises en forme dans la volonté d'apprendre et de comprendre mais aussi dans le désir de recueillir, de théoriser et de transmettre ces savoirs, désir favorisé par de nouveaux modes d'appropriation et de diffusion. Ce phénomène, qui se répand alors dans l'ensemble de l'Europe, a été étudié par et pour de multiples champs disciplinaires, notamment en ce qui concerne les modalités de mise en forme des savoirs scientifiques ou les enjeux de leur réduction en arts. Ce colloque se propose d'approfondir ces processus dans le domaine jamais abordé mais pourtant primordial des savoir-faire artisanaux et artistiques, qui s'expriment dans des écrits manuscrits comme dans les livres imprimés du XV e siècle au premier tiers du XVII e siècle. Dans la pluralité des approches on s'attachera plus précisément :-aux livres de recettes, secrets ou merveilles, à la formulation des usages de métiers et des procédés d'atelier, à la circulation des données écrites et gra-phiques, à l'expression des rapports entre empirisme et expérience ou des liens entre connaissances matérielles et intellectuelles, aux modes d'écriture des ouvrages pratiques et théoriques en vue d'une publication,-aux implications des auteurs et à l'expression de leur personnalité dans les textes, à ce que révèlent leurs origines – artisans, ingénieurs, artistes ou « pen-seurs »-et leurs modes de rédaction, dessin, soliloque, discours, dialogue, au passage de la notion de savoir-faire à celle de techniques grâce à l'édition, à l'ordonnancement de la pensée en vue de son impression et à son enrichis-sement par les divers artifices de l'objet-livre, aux dimensions politiques de l'écriture d'une maitrise technique…

The Historia da Antiguidade da Cidade de Évora (ms. 1541-47) by the humanist and archaeologist André de Resende, is the first Portuguese account of antiquities. It is also the first printed monographic text dedicated to praise an Iberian municipality. Studies have shown that Resende’s Historia was inspired by the plan of the humanists at the service to pope Nicholas V engaged in the renovatio imperii movement, who used the prestige of the Latin past of the city of Rome to assess its modern virtues. In fact, the archaeological remains that Resende lists in the Historia, ranging from pagan antiquities to Christian mirablia, are presented as material evidence to the historical narrative he weaves about the city. Also, as one may find in some texts of the Roman Quattrocento, Resende’s narrative considers two main periods of time: the Roman antiquity – that he extols –; and the ruling of Goths – which he deplores. Modern times also insinuate in Resende’s text as another period to add to this traditional bi-partition. This considers the span of time from the birth of Portugal as kingdom, in 1142, up to the moment when Resende writes. This interpretation brought an extra difficulty: standing for the superiority of more recent times over Antiquity due to the supremacy of the Christian faith (as some former Roman humanists did), Resende forcibly had to encompass part of the lamentable Gothic past of the city by the more praiseworthy modernity... (see attached abstract)