Vitruvius

Lore & Background

Little is known about Vitruvius' life. Most inferences about him are extracted from his only surviving work, De Architectura. His full name is sometimes given as 'Marcus Vitruvius Pollio', but both the first and last names are uncertain. By his own description he served as an artilleryman, the third class of arms in the Roman military offices, and probably served as a senior officer of artillery in charge of doctores ballistarum and libratores. As an army engineer he specialized in the construction of ballista and scorpio artillery war machines for sieges. It is possible that Vitruvius served with Julius Caesar's chief engineer Lucius Cornelius Balbus.

He states that all buildings should have three attributes: firmitas, utilitas, and venustas ('strength', 'utility', and 'beauty'). His discussion of perfect proportion in architecture and the human body led to the famous Renaissance drawing of the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci. The only building we know Vitruvius to have worked on is a basilica completed in 19 BC at Fanum Fortunae (modern Fano), which has disappeared so completely that its very site was a matter of dispute.

Reader's Guide

Vitruvius' De architectura was well-known and widely copied in the Middle Ages and survives in many dozens of manuscripts, though in 1414 it was 'rediscovered' by the Florentine humanist Poggio Bracciolini in the library of Saint Gall Abbey. Leon Battista Alberti published it in his seminal treatise on architecture, De re aedificatoria (c. 1450). The first known Latin printed edition was by Fra Giovanni Sulpitius in Rome in 1486. Translations followed in Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, and several other languages. Though any original illustrations have been lost, the first illustrated edition was published in Venice in 1511 by Fra Giovanni Giocondo, with woodcut illustrations based on descriptions in the text. Bramante, Michelangelo, Palladio, Vignola and earlier architects are known to have studied the work of Vitruvius, and consequently it has had a significant impact on the architecture of many European countries. He is often credited as father of architectural acoustics for describing the technique of echeas placement in theaters.

Did You Know?

• Vitruvius served as an artilleryman in the Roman military, specializing in ballista and scorpio war machines.
• His work De architectura is the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity.
• The Renaissance drawing of the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci was inspired by Vitruvius' discussion of proportion.
• The first illustrated edition of De architectura was published in Venice in 1511 by Fra Giovanni Giocondo.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (born ca. 80/70 BC?; died ca. 25 BC) was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC." — Vitruvius "Neque enim ingenium sine disciplina aut disciplina sine ingenio perfectum artificem potest efficere." — Vitruvius "For neither talent without instruction nor instruction without talent can produce the perfect craftsman." — Vitruvius "Neither natural ability without instruction nor instruction without natural ability can make the perfect artist." — Vitruvius