In contrast to traditional approaches to architectural drawing, which see them as a key to the chronology of a building or the original appearance of an ancient monument, this essay centers on the broad range of functions drawings served in fifteenth‐ and sixteenth‐century Italy. It argues that drawings are not merely documents but also agents: of education, memory, thought, communication, and transmission. Through drawing, one can often see the evolution and transformation of an architect's understanding of ancient models and his approach to design. The creation and preservation of drawings allowed architects to build up an archive of their own ideas, to be utilized as needed for a range of projects. Even anonymous drawings could function as agents for the replication, variation, and circulation of ideas. Examination of the corpus of anonymous Renaissance architectural drawings reveals the way in which architectural ideas and forms circulated through the practice of copying both before and after the advent of the printed, illustrated book.
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