Parallel Lives: Guarini and Dechales and the Theories of Fortification

This paper focuses on the treatises about military architecture by Guarino Guarini (1624-1683) and Claude-Francois Milliet Dechales (1621-1678). Guarini and Dechales were two religious figures who shared a deep interest in mathematics and the art of fortifications at the same time and, for a specific period of their lives, in the same cultural milieu. Dechales wrote the Architectura militaris, included in the Cursus seu mundus mathematicus (1674) and L'art de fortifier (1677); Guarini wrote the Trattato di fortificatione (1676). This research compares the three treatises, including in visual form through synoptic charts, to highlight recurrences, variants, and possible derivations between the themes treated by the two treatisers.