Wendel Dietterlins Architectura de postium seu portalium ornatu vario was published in 1595. The title translated from latin means the architecture of doors and portals and their various ornaments.
The Book is quite large in size, the pages being well over a4. The paper of the ETH Libraries copy itself has yellowed over time and is quite thin but rather sturdy. The book is bound in hard dark brown leather and features a brown, beige and green pattern on the inside on the first and last page.
Apart from a very short introduction it only features drawings. These drawings are as the titles all of doors and entrances to buildings. The drawings are all on the right side of a double page, as the paper is so thin that the drawings can be seen from the reverse side of the paper aswell. The drawings of doors and portals are all ideas and concepts by the author. Many of them feature very intricate designs with columns, statues and cornices. Some of the drawings are so intricate that they are more reminiscent of renaissance paintings than of an architects sketch or design book.
The book is basically aimed at architects and stone masons, but also anyone interested in architectural concepts, eg. someone choosing a grand design for their own building. Even though many of the drawings are bursting with intricate details each and everyone can be understood well enough to be built or interpreted when building an entrance to a building.
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