Archisesto per formar con facilità li cinque ordini d’architettura : con altri particolari intorno la medesma professione / del signor Ottavio Revesi Bruti, gentilhuomo vicentino, written by Ottavio Revesi Bruti is an architectural textbook, which shows how to make and use an archisesto , a proportional compass invented by the author, based on Galileo Galilei’s geometrical and military compass, the sector.
The book is divided in five sections which focus on these styles, and it is strongly informed by earlier works on Classical architecture and proportion. Revesi Bruti illustrates how to design arches, architraves, columns, pedestals, capitals and balustrades according to the canons of each one of the five orders. The five sections are preceded by the advice to the reader. Instructions on how to make an architectonic sector follow, together with the folding plate that illustrates its components. In the advice, the author states that the design of ornaments has always been the most delightful part of his profession. However, he knows the decoration of buildings is no easy task, since the attainment of right proportions often requires complex calculations.
In addition to the practitioners of architecture, the author makes clear that anybody dealing with geometry, arithmetic, and music, will benefit from the use of this multifunctional object. Revesi Bruti instructs the reader on how to build an architectonic sector. By cutting the components out of the large folding plate, and gluing them on either card board or plywood, one can start to assemble a model of the tool, which however is way longer and more complicated a process.