Juanelo Turriano

Juanelo Turriano
portrait bust from Alonso Berruguete

Reconstruction of the water art from Toledo to Ladislao Reti

Giovanni Juanelo Turriano (* after 1500 in Cremona ; † June 13, 1585 in Toledo ; also: Gianello Torriano or Giovanni Torriano ) was one of the most important watchmakers , mechanics and machine builders of his time.

He worked as a mechanic for the emperor Charles V , who was interested in astronomy and related sciences, and his son, King Philip II of Spain . Ambrosio de Morales (Spanish humanist, 1513–1591) reports that Turriano, among other things, spent over 20 years constructing an astronomical clock. It took another three and a half years to build the clock itself. It consisted of over 1800 gears and was considered to be one of the most perfect of its time. The water art of Toledo is one of his main works .

A contribution to the invention of a movable suspension, which his friend Gerolamo Cardano described for the first time, is attributed to him. In 1984 a handwritten manuscript with drawings was published from the Spanish National Library entitled Los Veintiún Libros de Ingenios y Máquinas , which bears his name. This work shows that the engineering skills of Leonardo da Vinci were by no means to be regarded as a singular event in his time. However, Pedro Juan de Lastanosa († 1576) is also occasionally named as the author of this work.

literature

• JA Garcia-Diego: The Chapter on Weirs in the Codex of Juanelo Turriano. A question of authorship , in: Technology and Culture, Vol. 17, No. 2 (April 1976), pp. 217-234.
• Cristiano Zanetti: Janello Torriani and the Spanish Empire: A Vitruvian Artisan at the Dawn of the Scientific Revolution. Brill, 2017.

Web links

Commons : Gianello Torriani  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Chapter on Weirs in the Codex of Juanelo Turriano
• Article about an exhibition in Cremona about Turriano (Süddeutsche Zeitung)