The album comprises 96 numbered leaves of architectural drawings, which are preceded by a two-page introduction, and followed by a two-page table of contents. Most of the drawings are copies made after originals in private collections, and after prints published in books or circulated as broadsides. There are 7 buildings drawn by Honorati after measurements taken by eye on site. All the drawings have captions listing the name or type of building, the place, the destination or owner, the architect, the date, and the source of the original drawings. Each drawing includes a scale. The 37 buildings in the album are presented in elevations, plans and often also in sections, the latter accompanied by detailed explanations. Some drawings have not been used for actual constructions. The samples chosen by Honorati cover the classical style, from antiquity through Renaissance to neoclassical buildings, mainly from the last quarter of the 18th century

Binding: half mottled calf; rigid boards covered in mottled brown paper; on front cover pastedown book plate of Carlo Verzoni; also the book plate of the Muzio collection, without the name, almost covering the previous one (with the name), procedure used by the family before selling the collection

Some captions and descriptions contain autobiographical references about the author, his family and and his obvious passion for architecture (pp. 59, 75, 78, 87, etc.). Architect friends accompany him or host him in their homes during his trips to various Italian cities, including Orvieto, where his brother, Monsignior Settimio Honorati, was governor in 1793. Descendents of the Honorati family of marquesses still resided in the Palazzo Honorati of Iesi in 1965, as documented in correspondence attached to another manuscript of Gaudenzio Honorati in the Getty Research Library (acc. no. 850109)

Cavaliere Gaudenzio Honorati's life-span covered most of the 18th century; he was still active in 1797. Architecture was his lifelong passion, but he appears to have been only a learned and devoted amateur

Provenance: Muzio Collection; previously in Carlo Verzoni Collection, and in Giovanni Muzio Collection

Transferred from Library;

Accessioned

Library has another manuscript by Gaudenzio Honorati, which is a complete Italian version of William Chambers' book Plans, elevations, sections ... of the buildings at Kew in Surry (1763), with all the drawings copied by Honorati (acc. # 850109)

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