Abstract
António Rodrigues’s Onze Mil Virgens Chapel (ca. 1565) at Alcácer do Sal is a classic temple built as a mausoleum. Here we are able to discern the omnipresence of geometry, always in association with number. Although this temple is tied to a pre-existing one, it has a rigorous geometric plan based on the square, detected at different scales. An ad quadratum geometry is almost always present in the definition of the general proportions of the Chapel, as the side of the squared modular piers and pilasters and its diagonal are related with the measures of the whole. Other clearly discernable proportions are 5:4 and 7:6. The use of the 5:4 rectangle is related to the height of the celestial pole at Alcácer, evidence of Rodrigues’s “scientific inclination”. Further, the geometry is used to propose a hypothesis for a possible design of the main façade, one of the most puzzling aspects of this temple.
First published as: João Pedro Xavier , “António Rodrigues, a Portuguese architect with a scientific inclination”, pp. 253–268 in Nexus IV: Architecture and Mathematics, Kim Williams and Jose Francisco Rodrigues, eds. Fucecchio (Florence): Kim Williams Books, 2002.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Other works by António Rodrigues are the Igreja de São Pedro de Palmela and the Igreja da Anunciada de Setúbal, no longer in existence, as well as the Chapter Room and Sacristy (demolished) from the Convento de Jesus de Setúbal, according to documentary evidence found by João Custódio Vieira da Silva.
- 3.
King Manuel I’s measurement system included the palm, 21.56 cm, which is divided in 8 in. One foot corresponds to 1½ palms; one ell to five palms; and one fathom to ten palms.
- 4.
Surveying drawings were based on manual measurements taken by the author. Concerning the 5.11 m dimension, I verified the measurements of 12 sides of all 3 squares and the greatest deviation found was less than 0.4 %.
- 5.
It was not possible to determine the thickness of the stones, but they must be thin, underlining the quality and rigour of the construction. It is possible that its thickness diminishes approaching the lantern, but this does not prevent the dome from revealing itself on the exterior as a perfect semi-sphere. No covering was used, obviously, which is remarkable!
- 6.
“A sesquiquartal proposition of a square and a quarter”, proposition 2 from António Rodrigues, Proposições Matemáticas (BPMP, Ms 95).
- 7.
Car le soleil étant au temps de l’ Equinoxe dans les Beliers aux dans les Balances, si la longuer du Gnomon est divisée en neuf parties, l’ombre en a huit à l’élevation du Pole de Rome (Perrault 1979: IX, viii, 283).
- 8.
Alcácer do Sal latitude is 38º 30′ and the smallest angle of the right triangle of 5:4 cathetus measures 38º40′, a rather small difference. I thank Prof. Fernanda Alcântara (Geometry Course supervisor at FAUP) for the suggestion made by about the relationship between the 5:4 rectangle and the latitude or the celestial pole at Alcácer.
- 9.
The whereabouts of this translation is not exactly known. It may have been sent to the Madrid Academia of Juan de Herrera .
- 10.
Georges Kubler emplyed the expression “plain” to name works made in our country from the second half of the sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century. According to Horta Correia, “by the time ideological superstructures of counter-reformist nature grabbed the power in Portugal … the tendency to decorative simplicity, the adoption of a certain classicism based on treatises and an austerity with religious and military features converged to define a new architectonic era dominated by what Kubler called plain style” (Horta Correia 1991: 48).
- 11.
In the west elevation I found that there were originally three more rectangular openings identical to the one still visible. Two of the openings were located where the oculi are presently. The third one was to the right of the existing one, over the central arch.
- 12.
(Rodrigues 1576: fol. 25v). The original text is as follows: Quem for coriozo desta harte estude Hoclides, e nele achará bem couza em que se desemfade. It is part of the introduction to the chapter “What is Geometry”.
References
Horta Correia, J. E. 1991. Arquitectura Portuguesa: renascimento, maneirismo, estilo chão. Lisboa: Editorial Presença.
Moreira, R. 1982. Um tratado português de arquitectura do séc. XVI (1576-1579). Master Diss., Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
———. 1993. A Arquitectura Militar. P. 148 in V. Serrão, ed. História da Arte em Portugal, O maneirismo. Vol. VII. Lisboa: Publicações Alfa.
Perrault, C. 1979. Les dix livres d’Architecture de Vitruve corrigés et traduits en 1684 par Claude Perrault (1684). Bruxelles: Pierre Mardaga Éditeur.
Rodrigues, A. 1576. Tratado de Arquitectura. Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa, Codex 3675.
———. 1579. Proposições Matemáticas. Biblioteca Pública Municipal do Porto, Ms 95.
Acknowledgment
The author wishes to thank Alexandre Alves Costa, History of Portuguese Architecture Lecturer and Professor at FAUP, for his advice on this chapter, and architect Kim Williams who so carefully revised the text.
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Xavier, J.P. (2015). António Rodrigues, a Portuguese Architect with a Scientific Inclination. In: Williams, K., Ostwald, M. (eds) Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00143-2_11
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