The Portfolio of
Villard de Honnecourt
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That Villard was an artist, and quite a fair one at that, is beyond doubt, but he has also been called an architect, sculptor, engineer, and designer, all without support. One commentator has noted that, "the manuscript is a unique survival of 13th century Europe. This uniqueness has two unfortunate consequences. It has made the drawings and their artist famous beyond all justification. And it has engendered endless speculation as to their purpose and his career." (Barnes 1982:xi)
By and large, Villard has been analyzed by art historians more than historians of science and technology, but both disciplines can find much of interest in his 33 folios (66 'pages'). His manuscript (Paris, Bib. Nat. ms. fr. 19093) was probably completed in the 1220s or 1230s and covers a wide range of topics, although there is really no organizing theme. The pages measure approximately 235mm x 155mm (9.25" x 6.10") and are bound in seven gathers, in no apparent order. He seems to have just jotted things down as he thought of them or saw them (as is the case with visits to building sites or Rheims cathedral). Some pages have completely unrelated images seemingly thrown together with no text at all. Others have a definite topic, with each sketch set off in its own ruled cell with a brief line or two of text explaining it.
It is clear that Villard made this book for himself, with its use for instruction of others only a secondary purpose. One can think of it as a notebook for a teacher, but not a textbook in the modern sense. It contains drawings of architecture, masonry and carpentry techniques, church furnishings, geometrical constructions and surveying techniques, human and animal figure studies, mechanical devices, and prescriptions (or formulae).
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