Leon Battista Alberti
(1404-1472), the Master Builder of the Renaissance, in his interpretation of
Vitruvius’ Ten Books on Architecture, was the first architect to mention
spaces for ballgames. In Book V of his De re aedificatori (1452,
published 1485-1486) Alberti situates the area for the practice of physical
exercises, including an undefined space for the game of tennis (giuocare alla
palla) near the portico of the palace or villa.
Donatello
We may have a clue in determining what
the first tennis court looked like by examining an intriguing work of art by
Donatello, one of Alberti’s most faithful colleagues: the bronze relief on the
San Antonio Altar in Padua’s famous Basilica del Santo. The representaion of the
Miracle of the Repentant Son (Miracolo del figlio pentito,
c. 1445) in the foreground of Donatello’s relief shows the mercy of God towards
a boy who has kicked his mother. After the son has chopped off his foot in
remorse, San Antonio re-attaches it. What is most fascinating in the
representation for us, is the mysterious structure behind the group of people in
the foreground.
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An Image of The First Enclosed
Tennis Court (?) by Donatello (c.1445)
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Donatello’s Ballcourt
In his stunning relief Donatello has
conveniently left out the front wall of the ballcourt, giving the viewer a
better impression of its interior. The dimensions of the stone structure, to be
seen immediately behind the group in the foreground, can be deduced from the
size of the watching human figures in the amphi-theatrical structure at the top.
They amount to about 20 x 8 metres, roughly the measurements of an early tennis
court. Is this possible mid-fifteenth century ballcourt (a teatro della
palla, as the art historian Hartmut Biermann called it in his study of
Alberti) perhaps Donatello’s speculative visual interpretation of the
reconstruction that his respected colleague Alberti had undertaken for the
sphaeristerium, the walled-in ballcourt passed down from antiquity? Although
caution has to be observed, we are confident that we can hail Donatello as the
first artist we know to have perpetuated a tennis court. It may surprise us that
no galleries along any of the ballcourt’s walls can be detected, but we have to
bear in mind that the 15th century must be regarded as a gestation
period for the game of tennis. It may well be that the gallery as an essential
element of the tennis court was not introduced until the second half of the 15th
century. Federigo da Montefeltro had a Sala per gioco della palla
constructed at his Palazzo Ducale in Urbino (c. 1470) with very much the same
dimensions as Donatello’s ballcourt: 21 x 8 metres. These measurements prevailed
in Italy until well into the 16th century, when the racket came into
vogue and the players needed a wider scope for their strokes. Sebastiano
Serlio was the first architect to design the maggiore steccato (as Scaino
called the large tennis court alla francese) for Cardinal Ippolito II
d’Este in Fontainebleau. His gioco di palla for the cardinal’s residence
(called Grand Ferrara, c. 1545) measured some 38 x 11 metres.
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Duke Federigo da
Montefeltro’s tennis court in the right wing of his Palazzo Ducale, Urbino
(c.
1470, now three office rooms) |
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