Representing with Wood: Carlo Lucangeli and the Model of the Flavian Amphitheatre

The wooden model of the Flavian Amphitheater built by Carlo Lucangeli between 1790 and 1812 is among the largest and most detailed ever made on the subject. Unlike the coeval models, normally made of cork and retracting the building to a state of ruin, the Lucangeli wooden Coliseum, divided into seventy distinct sections, is an interpretation of the ideal form of the monument, extremely detailed and expressive thanks to the use of different wood essences and accessory materials, such as metal and putty. This essay aims to illustrate the peculiarities of this model and to define the importance of the contribution of Carlo Lucangeli in the vast historical panorama of the representation of the monument.