Today we present an essential text for those who deal with Bolognese architecture, useful for understanding the more 'material' aspects of the Art of Masonry. This is in fact the title of the volume by Leonardo Marinelli and Paolo Scarpellini, long-time officials of the Superintendence of Bologna.
On the subject of colours, we quote here some insightful paragraphs about the chromatic tradition of historical architecture that simplistically tends to identify Bologna with red. We read in fact that red alone characterized the buildings under the Two towers in the late Middle Ages: at that time in fact bricks prevailed, often left exposed or treated with the typical 'sagramatura'. This term, derived from the Bolognese dialect, indicates a particular smoothing technique of the brick wall, performed by rubbing it with another brick immediately after the conclusion of the masonry work. In this way, the still fresh lime that comes out of the joints mixes with the dust of the terracotta generated by the rubbing, thus forming a protective layer against infiltrations and aggressions of atmospheric agents. The result also has a special aesthetic relevance, because it makes the surfaces homogeneous while still allowing the brickwork to be seen through.
From the end of the fifteenth century, the red of bricks began to be joined by the yellowish color of sandstone, a local friable stone that made its appearance on the wave of the Renaissance taste that flourished in the same period in nearby Florence. Sandstone was the only stone easily available in the Bolognese area, whereas hardly ever very rich clients had marble or other expensive cut stones imported from abroad. Soon, therefore, the typical layout of local buildings combined architectural parts (ashlars, frames, pillars, columns or pilasters) in sandstone with brick walls. In truth, over time, due to the progressive economic decline of the city, even the parts originally in sandstone were often made of brick and then covered with coarse-grained yellow plaster.
Comparing the stylistic and historiographical data, one can attribute the spread of the two-tone colour scheme to the desire to emulate, first, and then simulate, the refined architecture of the city's sixteenth-century noble residences, which, in turn, had found in the use of the brick walls and sculpted sandstone an adequate response of the Bologna building style to the demands of the new aesthetic tastes coming from Lombardy and Veneto at first (late-medieval decorativeism), then from Tuscany (classical repertoire), and finally from Rome (Mannerist spatial framework).
Sources
Leonardo Marinelli e Paolo Scarpellini, L'arte muraria in Bologna nell'età pontificia, Bologna Nuova Alfa editoriale, 1992, pp. 147 e ss.
Photo by A.M. Ghilardi for Bologna Welcome