Architectural Drawings in the Renaissance: Anonymous Artists, Copyists, Architects.

This event inaugurates an annual seminar series on architectural drawing named after Howard Burns (1939–2025), a leading scholar in the field. The initiative stems from a collaboration between the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut (KHI) and the Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio (CISAAP) and will be held annually around June 10, the date of Burns’ birth.

Each year, the Howard Burns Seminar will address the theme of architectural drawing as a constantly evolving field of study, considering different contexts, chronologies, and methodological approaches. The aim of the series is to periodically reflect on the state of research, pass on the wealth of philological knowledge within the field to new generations of scholars, and, at the same time, promote intergenerational and interdisciplinary dialogue. Each seminar will have different curators and, with the exception of this first event, which is by invitation only, will be organized through an open call.

One year after his passing, the first edition is dedicated to Renaissance drawing in Italy and is organized in collaboration with the Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe degli Uffizi (GDSU). It was here that Howard Burns conducted his early, seminal research, providing new insights into the drawings—and more broadly into the architecture and culture—of architects such as Baldassarre Peruzzi, Leon Battista Alberti, Francesco di Giorgio, and Giuliano da Sangallo, before moving on to the study of Michelangelo, Pirro Ligorio, and above all Andrea Palladio. Taking inspiration from his early studies of drawings, the 2026 edition of the Howard Burns Seminar Series will examine aspects of the graphic output of the great architects of the 15th and 16th centuries, while also focusing on corpora, sketchbooks, albums, and loose sheets that originated as copies or remain unattributed. Although not always attributable to a specific name, these materials are fundamental for reconstructing the artistic and cultural context within which well-known works are situated and, at the same time, possess an autonomous value that has not always been fully recognized by historiography. In this context, the seminar aims to reflect on the topics of authorship/non-authorship and the copy, understood as a creative process and as an integral part of cultural and architectural production.

The seminar will consist of two parts: a day of presentations open to the public (free admission subject to availability), to be held on June 9 at the KHI; and a second part, reserved for seminar scholarship recipients, which will take place on the morning of June 10 at the GDSU and will include a discussion of a selection of drawings.

Program:
9 JUNE

9.30 Coffee
9.45 - 10.15 Welcome and Introduction
Bianca de Divitiis, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut
Guido Beltramini, Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio
Simone Verde, Gallerie degli Uffizi
Fernando Marías, Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio

SESSION I
Chair: Fernando Marías, Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio
10.15 - 10.45
Cammy Brothers, Northeastern University
Painter or Architect? The Problem of Attribution in Pictorial Architectural Drawings

10.45 - 11.15
Vitale Zanchettin, Fabbrica di San Pietro / Università Iuav di Venezia
Il palazzo Vaticano al tempo di Bramante: la Torre Borgia e la biblioteca di Giulio II. Un disegno di Baldassarre Peruzzi e una veduta di Sebastiano del Piombo

11.15 Break

11.30 - 12.00
Dario Donetti, Università di Verona / Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut
After Bramante: Copying and Architectural Retrospection

12.00 - 12.30
Cara Rachele, ETH Zürich
Anonymous Assistants in the Workshop of Antonio da Sangallo the Younger

12.30-13.30 Discussion

13.30-14.30 Lunch Break

SESSION II
Chair: Laura Donati, Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe, Gallerie degli Uffizi
14.30 - 15.00
Laura Moretti, University of St. Andrews
Layers of Provenance: Collecting Practices and the Myth of the ‘Original’ Drawing in the Uffizi’s Gaddi Legacy

15.00 - 15.30
Carlotta Moro, University of Cambridge
‘Gudd manner coms by copiinge ye fayrest thinges’. John Webb e le copie dei disegni di Andrea Palladio

15.30 Break

15.45 - 16.15
Elizabeth Merrill, Ghent University
(Re)-Tracing Machine Models: Carlo Fontana’s Ms. Meccanica

16.15 - 16.45
Mauro Mussolin, Università Roma Tre
Dossier Collage City

16.45 - 17.15
Response: Alina Payne, Villa I Tatti, The Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies

17.15 Break

18.00 Evening Lecture
Guido Beltramini, Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio
Palladio a Beijing

This will be a hybrid event.

VENUE
Palazzo Grifoni Budini Gattai
Via dei Servi 51
50122 Firenze, Italia

To participate online please register in advance via Zoom:
https://eu02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/33X8OLt1Rg6qjUjluNxtBQ#/registration
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

--

Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut
Via Giuseppe Giusti 44
50121 Firenze, Italia
+39 055 24911-1
infokhi.fi.it

www.khi.fi.it
khi.fi.it/newsletter
instagram.com/khiflorenz
facebook.com/khiflorenz
bsky.app/profile/khiflorenz.bsky.social
@khiflorenz #khiflorenz