Philibert Delorme’s Divine Proportions and the Composition of the Premier Tome de l’Architecture

Abstract

In his Premier tome de l’architecture (1567) — the first original, comprehensive architectural treatise written by a French author — Philibert Delorme (c. 1514–1570) claims to be the first to formulate a theory of divine proportions, which he describes as a set of rules recorded in the Old Testament as directly dictated by God to men for the construction of the Ark of Noah, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Temple and House of Solomon. Yet the author does not develop the theory of divine proportions in the Premier tome and postpones it instead to the second volume of his treatise. As a second volume was never published (and likely never written), Delorme readers are left with a handful of less-than-coherent references and illustrations of a theory that remains largely obscure. Yet the elements of theory of divine proportions contained in the Premier tome provide historians with an understanding of the genesis of the treatise itself, thus ultimately helping to raise broader questions about the book and its author. This paper shows how Delorme’s divine proportions offer a key to understanding the conception and composition of his treatise as well as to the process of intellectual development of the author and the changes in the nature and scope of his written work.