Disegni di Gaspare Beretta nel territorio europeo per la difesa, nei secoli XVII e XVIII

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to refresh my studies on Gaspare Beretta, published in the 90’s. At the service of three kings, Philip IV, Charles II, Philip V, thanks to his memory of 1696 we know a lot about his life: from the first enrollment 1639-51, to his election as State’s First Engineer in 1657, up to being designated as Engineer of Factories, from 1651 to 1703. The documents analyzed, which are often autograph, are locate in: Biblioteche Trivulziana e Ambrosiana, Civica Raccolta «Bertarelli», Archivi di Stato di Milano e Torino; Archivo General de Simancas, and Osterreichisches Staatsarchiv, Kriegsarchiv, Vienna. The accurate drawings, of great skill, often with captions, reveal a mature awareness in the theories and techniques of representation of cities, fortresses and territory, especially when compared to the previous generation. The new grammar of the bastioned front is characterized by bulwarks of larger sizes, multiple levels of artillery in casemates and open pit, greater use of advanced works - ravelins, crescents, counterguards, lunettes, arrows, batten - with ditches, covered roads and feasting divided by gabions, paradoxes, bearers stands, with border squares, hub, supportive. The drawings will be cross evaluated with various documents and compared with drawing schools, geometry and military strategies. Beretta, therefore, has a strong profile in European defense context. If the predecessors are Baldovino, Prestino e Richino, his collaborators Formenti, Sesti, Joseph Chafrion Serena, the new masters - strangers to Italy - Pagan, Vauban, Frenchs; van Rusensteen, van Coehoorn, Storf de Belleville, Dutch; de Verboom, Flemish.