Thomas Jefferson Papers
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-14-02-9000

Thomas Jefferson to Arthur S. Brockenbrough, [after 27 June 1819]

To Arthur S. Brockenbrough

[after 27 June 1819]

Th:J. to mr Brockenbrough.

Palladio’s measures of the Fortuna virilis are not in Modules & minutes but in quarter inches of the Vicentine foot, the diameter of the column being 2 f–8½ I or 130 quarter inches which he calls minutes. then 130 ¼ I : 60′ :: 95 ¼ I his projection to 43′ 1720 which is the projection of that cornice given by Palladio.

Chambray’s drawing of the same temple being expressed in modules and minutes, I had taken the projection of the cornice from his notation of 70.′ measured from the center of the column. but measuring the projection from the face of the frize or of the diminished diameter as I generally do, one half of the diminished diameter, to wit, 26′ ½ must be deducted from Chambray’s 70.′ which leaves for the projection of the cornice beyond the face of the frize 43′ ½ = 21¾ I

so that the projection,  if measured from the center of the column is 1 M–10′ = 2 f–11 I as noted
but  if measured from the face of the frize is 43′ ½ = 1 f–9¾ I

the difference between Palladio’s and Chambray’s projections is only 110 of a minute.

RC (ViU: TJP-PP); written in TJ’s hand on recto of a half sheet, with numerous related penciled calculations by Brockenbrough at foot of text and on verso; undated; endorsed by Brockenbrough: “T.J. to A.S.B.” Not recorded in SJL. This document, located after the pertinent chronological volume was published, will appear in the concluding supplement to the print edition.

TJ anticipated the necessity of explanations such as those given here in his letter to Brockenbrough of 27 June 1819.

The Ionic architecture in pavilions II and IX at the University of Virginia was derived from the Temple of fortuna virilis in Rome. The Italian architect Andrea Palladio’s vicentine foot, a measurement from Vicenza that was neither widely used nor defined very precisely, measured around thirty-six centimeters (Shinjiro Kirishiki, “On the Vicentine Foot of Andrea Palladio,” Journal of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Engineering [Transactions of the Architectural Institute of Japan, no. 360] [Feb. 1985]: 85–90). TJ’s figures on the diameter of the column suggest that he is referring to the columns of Pavilion II.

Index Entries

  • Brockenbrough, Arthur Spicer; as University of Virginia proctor search
  • Brockenbrough, Arthur Spicer; letters to search
  • Errard, Charles; Parallele de l’Architecture Antique avec la Moderne search
  • Fréart de Chambray, Roland; architectural drawings by search
  • Fréart de Chambray, Roland; Parallele de l’Architecture Antique avec la Moderne search
  • Leoni, Giacomo; The Architecture of A. Palladio search
  • Palladio, Andrea; The Architecture of A. Palladio (G. Leoni) search
  • Palladio, Andrea; works of, as models for University of Virginia construction search
  • Parallele de l’Architecture Antique avec la Moderne (C. Errard and R. Fréart de Chambray) search
  • The Architecture of A. Palladio (G. Leoni) search
  • Virginia, University of; Construction and Grounds; Pavilion II search
  • Virginia, University of; Construction and Grounds; Pavilion IX search
  • Virginia, University of; Construction and Grounds; TJ’s architectural designs for search