Notes 1-60 (Book Two)

1. Cicero, De amicitia, vii, 23. Alberti's copy of this work is still preserved at the Biblioteca San Marco, Venice.

2. Plutarch, Life of Alexander, LXXIV, 4.

3. Plutarch, Life of Agesilaos, II, 2.

4. Italian lapsus of pietra for pieta [MI, 126r.]. Cf. O, 10v.: Nam ad pietatem.

5. Incorrectly cited as Pliny, XXXV, 62 by Mallé. The true source is unknown to me.

6. Pliny, XXV, xxxvi, 62.

7. Ne forse troverrai arte alcuna non vilissima la quale non raquardi la pittura . . . [MI, 126r.].

8. The Latin statement was perhaps omitted from he Italian text in order not to offend Alberti's sculptor friends Donatello and Ghiberti: Sed et hoc in primis honore a maioribus honestata pictura est ut cum caeteri ferme omnes artifices fabri nuncuparentur solus in fabrorum numero non esset habitus [O, 10v.].

9. Quintilian, De institutione oratoriae, X, ii, 7. Hereafter cited as Quintilian. Mallé unreasonably rejects Quintilian as a source in favour of Pliny, XXXV, v, 15, where a similar statement is found.

This is the only time Quintilian is mentioned by name, although Alberti draws much from him.

10. Pliny, XXXV, v, 15-16. [p. 118]

11. Plutarch, Life of Marcellus, XXI. Also Cicero, Verrine Orations, II, i, 21; II, iv, 54.

12. Italian lapsus. Antigono et Xenocrate misono . . . [MI, 126v.]. Cf. Latin: Antigonus et Xenocrate . . . mandasse . . . [O, IIr.].

13. Euphranor : Pliny, XXXV, xl, 128, and Vitruvius, VII, pref. 14. Antigonos and Xenocrates : Pliny, XXXV, xxxvi, 68. Apelles : Pliny, XXXV, xxxvi, III. Alberti has misread Pelleus for Perseus. Demetrius : Incorrectly cited as Diogenes Laertius, V, II, by Mallé. Perhaps Diogenes Laertius, V, 83, where a painter is the fourth person listed among those named Demetrius.

14. Although Alberti quotes Hermes Trismegistus in the Latin text, it is more probable that his source was the more readily obtainable Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius, De divinis institutionibus, 2, 10, 3-15. In fact, Lactantius' source in the Hermetica [Corp. V, 6-8] says nothing about 'Aesclepius or about man imitating the gods.

15. Aristides: Pliny, XXXV, xxxvi, 100, and VII, xxxviii, 126. Protogenes : Pliny, XXXV, xxxvi, 105. Also Aulus Gellius, XV, xxxi, 1-5.

16. The educated patron would certainly have known the source for man of these references to Pliny. For this reason the Latin text refers a scriptoribus and the Italian to Pliny.

17. Lucius Manilius : Pliny, XXXV, vii, 23. Perhaps a misreading. L. Hostilius Mancinus is mentioned but not as a painter in Pliny. Fabius: Pliny, XXXV, vii, 19. Turpilius : Pliny, XXXV, vii, 20. Sitedius : Pliny, XXXV, vii, 20, where a Titedius Labeo is mentioned. Pacuvius : Pliny, XXXV, vii, 20. Socrates : Pliny, XXXV, xl, 137; XXXVI, 32. Also Diogenes Laertius, II, 19. Plato : Diogenes Laertius, III, 4-5. Metrodorus : Pliny, XXXV, xl, 135. Pyrrho : Diogenes Laertius, IX, 61. Nero : Suetonius, Life of Nero, LII, and Tacitus, Annals, XIII, 3. Valentinian ; Ammianus Marcellinus, Rerum [p. 119] gestarum, XXX, 9, 4. Alexander Severus : unknown to me. Demetrius of Phalerum : Diogenes Laertius, V, 75. Pliny, XXXIV, xii, 27, is less likely since the account is briefer than Diogenes Laertius.

18. For painting as booty see works cited in note 11, Book Two. L. Paulus Aemilius : Pliny, XXXV, xl, 135.

19. Martia : Pliny, XXXV, xl, 147. Perhaps a misreading of 'Iaia Cyzicena, perpetua virgo, M . Varronis iuventa . . .' Mallé [p. 80, note 2] rightly points out the tradition of a Martia as a painter throughout the Middle Ages. Edicts : Pliny, XXXV, xxxvi, 77.

20. Pliny, XXXVII, i, 3.

21. As indicated in the introduction [p. 15] Alberti was probably more of a dilettante than a practising artist. We do know, however, from textural sources [L. B. Alberti, 'Della tranquillità dell'animo', Opera volgare, Bonucci, ed., I, 26] that he made sculpture in wax and clay and perhaps cast these figures in bronze. The anonymous Life [cols. 295A-299C] refers to his 'demonstrations', to portraits in painting and sculpture done in Venice of absent Florentine friends, and to self-portraits. A plaque in bronze at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. [Kress collection, formerly Dreyfus collection, Paris], is generally regarded as a self-portrait probably executed about the time of Della pittura. From Vasari [II, 546-7] we know that Alberti made numerous drawings, some of which Vasari states were in his famous Libro. He also reports a self-portrait and a figure painting in the house of Palla Ruceellai, a perspective of Venice, and 'three storiette and several perspectives' on an altar bench in the chapel of Our Lady on the Carraia bridge in Florence which 'he has described better with the pen than the brush'. This criticism can be discounted partially because Vasari held a low opinion of Alberti's artistic work in general and because he seems to be overcome by the desire to pun on penna [pen] and pennello [p. 120] [brush]. A pen drawing, possibly a self-portrait, has recently been discovered [C. Grayson, 'A portrait of Leon Battista Alberti', Burlington Magazine, XCVI [1954], 177-8]. The features are near to those of the Matteo de' Pasti medal of Alberti [Victoria and Albert Museum, London], indicating a date around 1450. The drawing is not of high quality.

22. ricevere de lumi.

23. l'attorniare del orlo.

24. Parrhasius: Quintilian, XII, x, 5. Pliny, XXXV, xxxvi, 67-8, cited by Mallé, does not mention Parrhasius in this connection. The source in Xenophon is Memorabilia, III, x, where little is said about line. Apelles and Protogenes: Pliny, XXXV, xxxvi, 81-3.

25. Fessura. Cf. Latin: rimule.

26. I have omitted the Italian quello sta cosi and the more interesting Latin equivalent, whose use I was the first to invent.

27. The Latin text concludes with a phrase that puts the data gathered by the use of the veil into the practice of painting. Another use is that they should be able in painting a panel to constitute more certainly the location of the outline and the limits of the planes [O, 121.].

28. This veil, or reticulated net, seems to have been adopted by painters despite current criticism of it implied by Alberti. Leonardo [R. Ï523] advocates its use as strongly as Alberti. Albrecht Dürer and Holbein the Younger made minor variations on the net for their use in drawing. In fact, Alberti's invention still appears in popular elementary drawing books. In the fifteenth century the net was probably used in conjunction with squared paper to obtain accuracy in drawing and then later transferred to panel or fresco by means of the same squares. This last step is referred to later, p. 96, and note 17 of Book Three. [p. 121]

29. Intersegatione. Lapsus for circumscription found in all Latin manuscripts.

30. si compongano.

31. segniare.

32. descriptione.

33. Although the text appears contradictory and unclear, it is based on Alberti's perspective construction from the end of Book One. Since the centric line is at the level of the head of a man on the front plane, it is also at the level of the head of a man on any transversal of the picture. The distance, then, from any transversal to the centric line represents one man-height or three proportional braccia. Since this wall is to be twelve braccia or four man-heights tall, it will rise three man-heights or nine braccia above the centric line. The distance from the transversal on which the wall rests to the centric line will give a quantity proportional to three braccia. [p. 122]

35. disegniare.

36. All translations and editions based on manuscript MI have gone astray at this point because of a lapsus occurring only in this text. MI reads: Grandissimo op[er]a del pittore co[n]uno collosso ma istoria maggiore loda d'ingegnio rende l'istoria qualsia collosso [MI, 129r.]. Manuscript P corrects con to non; the Latin makes it even clearer. Amplissimum pictoris opus non colossus sed historie. Maior enim est ingenii laus in historia q[uam] in colosso [O, 13v.].

37. convenire.

38. offitio.

39. spetie.
[p. 123]

40. allegare. Used here in the philosophic sense, to bring forward arguments one by one.

41. As the first to advocate the practice of building the human figure from the bones to the skin, Alberti already prefigures the anatomical researches carried on by Florentine painters in the later half of the fifteenth century.

42. Et paia che la natura a porto in mezzo [MI, 129r.]. The Latin is similar: At enim cum has omnes mensura natura ipsa explicatas in medium exhibeat [O, 14v.].

43. non conveniente.

44. ma voglio un filosofo mentre che favella dimostri molot piu modestia che arte di schermire [MI, 129v.]. The Italian omits the literary reference of the Latin. At philosophum orantem malo in omni membro sui modestiam quam palestram ostentet. Demon pictor hoplicitem in certamine expressit ut illum sudare tum quidem diceres alterumque arma deponentem ut plane anelare videretur. Fuit e qui Ulixem pingeret ut in eo non veram sed fictam et simulatam insaniam agnoscas [O, 14v.].

Pliny, XXXV, xxxvi, 71, describes a paintng by Parrhasius of hoplites and at XXXV, xl, 129, a painting by Euphranor of Ulysses.

45. languido, as a flaccid below.

46. In this context the Deposition for the Tabernacle of St. Peter's attributed to Donatello and dated c. 1433 could well be mentioned. The Christ in the relief corresponds fairly well to Alberti's description of the dead Meleager. Attempts to find the source of Alberti's description, probably drawn from a Roman sarcophagus, have not been successful.

47. si le mani di Helena o de Efigenia fussero vecchizze et gotiche [MI, 129v.]. Cf. Latin: aut si Helena aut Ephigenie manus senilos et rusticane [O, 15r.].

I believe Roberto Longhi's attempts to make Alberti the first to use the word 'gothic' are somewhat extreme [Roberto [p. 124] Longhi, 'Il "Maestro di Pratovecchio"', Paragone, [1952], p. 15 and note]. I prefer to read the Italian gotiche as gouty and the Latin rusticane as rustic, rough or pertaining to country folk. I have it on good medical authority that gout, when it strikes the hands, leaves them rough and swollen. If it is possible to equate rustic with gothic, Longhi's reading may be acceptable.

48. Aeneid, III, 588-615.

49. capperone da sacomanno. In the fifteenth century sacomanno is used by Vespasiano da Bisticci in his Lives to describe the looters and forager of an army. The Latin makes Alberti's sense even clearer: Nam venerem aut mineva saga inductam esse [O, 151.]. The sagum was a rough wool cloak symbolic of war as the toga was of peace. In sagus esse was used as indicative of being under arms. Although Minerva was not infrequently portrayed in armour, the rough cloak of a soldier would have been somewhat out of character.

50. Cicero, De natura deorum, I, xxx.

51. adoperarsi. Latin: offico.

52. Centaurs appear rather late in fifteenth century Florentine painting as, for example, in the paintings of Pollaiuolo, 'Rape of Dejanira', Jarves Collection, Yale University; Botticelli, 'Pallas and the Centaur', Uffizi; Piero di Cosimo, 'Battle of Centaurs and Lapiths', National Gallery, London.

The 'man in the box' is more typical of the criticism levelled at Italian Trecento painting, although it could apply just as well to the paintings of France and the Low Countries at the time of Alberti's trip to the north.

53. See introduction, pp. 26-7.

54. The Italian version omits this variant found in all Latin manuscripts. Odi solitudinem in historia tamen copiam minime laudo que a dignitate abhorreat. Atque in historia id vehementer approbo quod a poetis tragicis atque comicis observatum video ut quam possint paucis personatis fabulam doceant. Meo quidem iuditio nulla erit usque adeo [p. 125] tanta rerum varietate refercta historia quam ix aut x homines non possint indigne agere ut illud Varronis huc pertinere arbitror qui in convivio trumultum evitans non plusque novem accubantes admittebat [O, 161.].

The statement by Varro is derived from Aulus Gellius, XIII, xi, 1-3.

55. In this passage as in many others Alberti must be read in the context of his historical moment. Although the movements he advocates may seem violent and too varied for our taste, he was almost forced to overstate his position in order to persuade both painter and patron to reject the frozen hierarchic figures of Trecento painting. In order to obtain a little vitality and movement he had to ask for much.

Botticelli is perhaps most frequently evoked by this passage, yet the movements of Piero della Francesca's 'Death of Adam' or of Ghiberti's 'Jacob and Esau' and 'Joseph' panels are closer in spirit to the art of his treatise.

Manuscript NC [14v.] adds a marginal note in another hand citing the actions of Ulysses who covered his nudity with branches before addressing Nausicaa.

56. li antiqui. Latin: Apelles.

57. Pliny, XXXV, xxxvi, 90, and Quintilian, II, xiii, 12. This mention of a one-eyed soldier whose lack of an eye was skilfully concealed by painters suggests Federigo da Montefeltro. In all probability the artists' method of portraying Federigo who lost an eye in 1450 was suggested by this text.

58. Plutarch, Life of Pericles, III, 2, Pliny, XXXV, 137, seems less likely as a source.

59. Cicero, De amicitia, xiv, 50. Alberti's Latin is very close to Cicero. See also Horace, De arte poetica, 101-3.

60. Seneca, De ira, I, i, 3-6.