Novo Teatro di Machine et Edificii 1607 by Vittorio Zonca

Abstract

Book Reviews Novo Teatro di Machine et Edificii 1607. By Vittorio Zonca. Edited by Carlo Poni. Milan: Edizioni II Polifilo (via Borgonuovo 2, Milano 20121), 1985. Pp. lviii+115; illustrations, notes. L 120,000.00. Il Polifilo, which has given us so many of the classics of early Italian technology over the years, now presents its facsimile edition ofVittorio Zonca’s new theater of machines. This is the latest ofthe great machine books of the late Renaissance/Mannerist era to appear. Only a few years ago this enthusiasm did not often run to explanatory texts; sometimes there was not even an introduction. Such was the case with an earlier version of Zonca—only the bare facsimile. But now we have an exposition ofZonca’s place in the history of technology, informative and suggestive, by Carlo Poni of the University of Bologna. Poni’s interpretation is one of the best accounts of the place of this curious literature—more than an introduction, it could well stand on its own. Zonca was the first to use these books of mechanical inventions to explore the world of the actual, to picture the workshop as it existed rather than the inventor’s fantasy. His book opens with two devices for lifting building materials, one a small windlass with worm gear, the other a simple two-way whim that, Zonca claimed, had recently replaced the first. Zonca styled himself an architect on the title page of his book. Virtually the only other document we have of him is the letter in which he applied successfully to the town council of his native Padua to be its official architect, acting as adviser on public issues and disputes. Poni has discovered evidence of his work in this capacity, a map that he drew up in 1599 to illustrate an agreement between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Mantua: they wanted to coop­ erate in the control of hydrological problems on their borders. Padua then belonged to Venice, but that border was well outside its juris­ diction, so Zonca must have enjoyed a wider reputation. Presumably, he had had experience in the problems of construction and engineering. An entry in the town’s register of deaths calls him a sculptor (although no work of sculpture from his hand is known). Thus he could appreciate the positions of both scholar and artisan. From the former point of view, he saw the need to explain machines in theoretical terms. While older books had only captions to their pictures or at most a bald description of the sequence of operations, Zonca tried to show how his machines worked, usually by analyzing Permission to reprint a book review in this section may be obtained only from the reviewer. 285 286 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE them into one or more of the “simple machines” of Greco-Roman tradition, with these in turn reduced to the law of the lever. He based himselfon Classical sources. Of the moderns he mentions onlyJacques Besson, whose theater of machines must have inspired him to write his own new theater, although he was understandably dissatisfied with the text of that seminal work. As Poni observes, his awareness of the power/velocity ratio in lever-type machines suggests an acquaintance with the mechanics of Guidobaldo dal Monte, whose work had been translated into Italian with the express intention of making it more accessible to working architects and engineers. However, he does not cite Guidobaldo—nor Galileo, although the two of them had overlap­ ping interests and lived in the same town for ten years (but then, neither does Galileo ever mention Zonca, even in correspondence). Theoretical interest and knowledge did not prevent Zonca from deferring to the skill ofthe master craftsmen who knew how machines really worked and could presumably construct one of a new design from acquaintance with similar devices—although perhaps used for different purposes. Certainly, Zonca well realized that the same fun­ damental units recur in most of the machines of the day. Where some particular component was little used, he might portray it inset (as earlier machine writers had also done) to draw his readers’ attention to it. But he was apparently...