Portfolio of Villard de Honnecourt

About 1220-30, builders and architects took the decisive step of making small-scale sketches on parchments. With this method, all the larger and smaller shapes could be copied and reproduced in order to give precise advance details to sculptors and masons. The “lodge-book” of Villard de Honnecourt gives an overview of the various functions and types of architectural drafts. This manuscript which shows people, animals, machines, furnishings, carvings, and many more things apart from churches.

This picture from the sketchbook shows drawings of stonework for piers and windows.