<p align="right">Jordan Pinion</p>
<p align="right">9/11/13</p>
<p align="right">HUMA 1302-007</p>
<p align="right">TCP1</p>
<p align="center">      <i><a href="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Alberti.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-3268 aligncenter" alt="Alberti" src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Alberti-300x198.png" width="300" height="198" /></a></i>Principles of Alberti's <i>On Paintin</i><i>g</i></p>
<p align="center"><a href="http://gewelkafka.blogspot.com/2011/09/"><i>http://gewelkafka.blogspot.com/2011/09/</i></a></p>
<p align="center"><a href="http://gewelkafka.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-second-painting-project-this.html"><i>my-second-painting-project-this.html</i></a></p>
<p align="center"><i> </i></p>
<p align="center"><b>Alberti's <i>On Painting</i></b></p>
<p align="center"><i> </i></p>
<b>Name</b>: <i>Della pittura (On Painting)</i>

<b>Author</b>: Leon Battista Alberti <i> </i>

<b>Date</b>: 1435-36
<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Description</b>:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">“Leon Battista Alberti's <i>Della pittura</i> is the first modern treatise on the theory of painting... It prepared the way for the art, the artist, and the patron of the renaissance.” (Spencer) It brings the aspects of dimension, proportion and distance to painting, while influencing other Renaissance Artists. The work itself became the basis for many other pieces throughout the 15<sup>th</sup> century, including other treatise works done by Filarete, Piero della Francesca and Leonardo Da Vince. The work <i>On painting </i>by Leon Battista Alberti should be preserved because of its profound impact on creative, mathematical and philosophical thought, going into the renaissance.</p>
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<b>Discussion</b>:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><i>            On Painting</i> virtually signaled the end of the Dark Ages and very subsequently afterward, kick started the Italian Renaissance. “As art theory <i>Della pittura </i>became one of the chief sources for later treatises on the art of painting.” (Spencer). During “a period of transition in Florentine art when the new was slowly making its way against the old. Alberti's overstatements and his sharp criticism of former practice reflect the tensions of his time, yet he never loses his assurance of final victory or his optimism for the future” (Spencer).</p>
<b>Question Prompts</b>:
<p style="text-align: justify;"><i>            On Painting</i> is not exactly typical of its era in the least. Culturally, the Renaissance has not happened yet, and the world is still reeling from almost a hundred years of war. The typical art form was depiction of people, events and the like, but not in a way that was mathematically pleasing to the eye. Art had no true depth, no concept of realism. Unfortunately, it would not be until the “late 16<sup>th</sup> through the 18<sup>th</sup> century that academic minds would be searching for a rational art which allowed no place for fantasy.” (Spencer)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">            This peace stands out from its peers in that it brought realism to the artistic and scientific table. Alberti used concepts such as depth and mathematical precision on canvas, in order to produce a piece of work that looks true to life. Alberti's <i>On Painting</i> was about representing nature, through nature's own machinations and mechanisms. “The Essence of Alberti's aesthetics, as well as its relations to his thought, can perhaps be best apprehended through an investigation of three topics basic in the treatise; his approach to visible reality, <i>la piu grassa Minerva, </i>his use of the mathematical sciences as a means of controlling this reality, <i>mathematica, </i>and the means and aim of humanist painting, <i>istoria.” (Spencer)</i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">            Alberti's work <i>On Painting</i> was extremely well received. It did so well in fact that it was translated into several different languages from its original Latin, and appropriately distributed. “Alberti's own Italian translation from his Lating original probably entered the shops as something of an 'inspirational handbook' and became so popular that it was read out of existence.” (Spencer) It is also widely believed that <i>On Painting</i> was one of the driving kick-starters for the Renaissance.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">            Today, <i>On Painting</i> is credited for being the inspiration behind a large number of Renaissance artists. The likes of Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo are said to have read <i>On Painting</i> and reveled in its implications for art and science. In addition to this, <i>On Painting </i>had influenced artistic and thoughtful minds well into the future. “The DuFresne translation of 1651 in Paris became the basis for much of Felibien's <i>Entretiens </i> in which Alberti is evoked as an 'authority' for French academic practice. <i>Della pittura </i>was not made generally available in England until Leoni brought out four English translations between 1726 and 1755; their effect on Hogarth, Reynolds and the Royal Academy is quite clear.” (Spencer)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">            Personally, I was expecting a bit more length, but what is presented is in fact a clear, concise (if not wordy) layout for practically applying the concepts of realism and mathematics to art, specifically painting. What I find particularly meaningful is Alberti's concept of <i>vertu</i>, in that mans pursuit of knowledge and perfection are what makes man capable of anything. Suffice it to say, much of Alberti's 'method' involved and circulated around good old fashioned practice. I found it intriguing that something so ground breaking for its time was something so innately simple at its core, and even more surprising is that lessons can be pulled from it even to this day.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><i>            On Painting</i> is especially difficult to compare to anything else in the time period, simply because nothing like it had been done before. “It can be understood as the first formal treatise on the theory of painting in contrast to Cenino Cennini's <i>Craftsman's Handbook</i>, which was focused on workshop practice.” (Spencer) While <i>On Painting</i> is itself not a 'work of art', it does well to lay the groundwork for humanist approaches at realism, and also while Alberti (arguably) failed to produce a painting considered anything above average in the eyes of many scholars and critics,  <i>On painting</i> did not fail in ushering in a new age of thought and intelligent practice.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">            The work <i>On painting </i>by Leon Battista Alberti should be preserved because of the following. First, for the concepts that is introduces to art. Specifically, that nature can be represented accurately through learned observation and mathematics and because of this, math is ever present in nature. Second, for its concepts of <i>vertu</i>, in which the artist betters himself as a person, and as a humanist in order to better observe and control his surroundings, interactions and destiny.</p>
<i> </i>

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Spencer, John R. “Notes to the Introduction”

<i>            Alberti – 'On Painting'. </i>New Haven:

Yale University Press. 1970 [First printed 1956].

Web. 26 Aug 2013

This is a free English translation of Alberti's treatise <i>On painting</i> as published by the Yale University Press, accompanied by an introduction by one John R. Spencer. It was immensely useful in interpreting Alberti's concepts, as well as for understanding the social, political and artistic climate of the time.

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Finkelstein, Honora M. Dr. “Writers of the Renaissance”

<i>            2 – Leon Battista Alberti – On Painting. </i>New Wisdom

Web. 26 Aug 2013

This contains information on specific writers of the Renaissance era. While this source does little to describe the actual work <i>On painting, </i>it did help in understanding the mind and the man behind the piece, which I believe to be just as important.

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“Perspective” <i>Encyclopedia Britannica Online. </i>Encyclopedia

Britannica, 2013. Web. 26 Aug. 2013

An explanation of the concepts of perspective in art put forth by <i>On painting, </i>and origin thereof. It does well to explain the concepts talked about throughout the work, but little else.

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