Pirro Ligorio and two columna caelata drawings at Windsor Castle

What is it about?

Two drawings by Pirro Ligorio belonging to the Dal Pozzo Paper Museum before becoming part of the Royal Collection show either two columns or the back and front of a single column with an extraordinary amount of relief sculpture on it. An independent contemporary drawing confirms it did exist and was not a figment of Ligorio's imagination. Ian Campbell had published the Ligorio drawings in 2004 in his catalogue of the Paper Museumm architectural and topographical drawings. Robert Gaston contacted him in 2008 to say he had found an account of the discover of the column(s) in Ligorio's writings and the present article was the fruit of their collaboration.

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