Terrestrial mirror, celestial mirror: the dome of Anet chapel

In 1567 Philibert de l’Orme (1514-1570) published in France his famous essay, Le Premier Tome de l’Architecture, by which are spread, for the first time, the guild secrets of the traits art. Two of the nine books, that make it up, are devoted to the stereotomy. Many of the proto-descriptive operations, described in this two books, are realized in the works situated in the Castle of Anet, designed precisely between the 1552 and the 1559 by de l’Orme, on behalf of Diana di Poitiers. In the general project, only the chapel, the portal and some remains of the cryptoportico are currently surviving. The topic of the present study will focus on the investigation of the relationships that the author managed to organize between the ‘ribs’ of the dome and the surrounding environment, whose reflection is perceptible on the complex floor decoration that seems to constitute a sort of geometric projection.