Daniele Barbaro’s Perspective of 1568

Description

A year after the second edition of his famous translation and commentary on Vitruvius, Daniele Barbaro published The Practice of Perspective, a text he had begun working on many years before. Barbaro was the first to publish a formal treatise entirely dedicated to the science of geometric perspective. In an informal style especially addressed to practicing artists and architects, Barbaro begins by drawing on and expanding the manuscript treatise of Piero della Francesca with regards to basics of perspective constructions for representing three-dimensional solids on two-dimensional media, and then goes on to show that perspective is a particularly suitable instrument for other scientific and artistic applications as well, including cartography, cosmology, stage set design, and anamorphosis. Here for the first time Barbaro’s The Practice of Perspective is made available to contemporary scholars in an English translation, augmented by annotations relating the printed treatise to the three unpublished manuscripts in Italian and Latin of the work now conserved in Venice’s Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana. A foreword by Philip Steadman sets the stage for this book. In-depth essays by authors Kim Williams and Cosimo Monteleone situate the treatise within the editorial panorama of the Cinquecento, outline the innovations that Barbaro brought to the study of perspective, and focus particularly on his creative explorations of geometric solids and the construction of clocks. Sometimes dismissed in recent studies as a compilation of known principles, the aim of this present book is to reveal the truly innovative nature of Barbaro’s experiments and results and restore him to his rightful place as an original scholar of Renaissance perspective theory. Contents Foreword Notes on the Translation The use of language The approach to the translation Vocabulary The treatment of errors in the treatise The use of symbols The role of the authors Conclusion References Acknowledgements Daniele Barbaro and the Geometric Solids Introduction A visual survey of depictions of the solids in manuscripts and printed books Barbaro’s Solids A classification of Barbaro’s solids Barbaro’s methods for obtaining solids Material Bodies Artistic depictions of material bodies Mathematical studies based on material bodies Studies on solids after Barbaro References Appendix A: Catalogue of the solids presented by Barbaro Appendix B: Comparison of studies of polyhedra Appendix C: The ‘family tree’ of Barbaro’s solids Daniele Barbaro’s Innovations in Perspective Studies Introduction The giusta distanza and the unicity of the viewing point The representation of polyhedra The creation of theatrical scenes according to the method of Pompeo Pedemonte Anamorphosis and the tabula scalata Perspective machines The horario universale Conclusions References The Practice of Perspective To the Very Magnificent and Excellent Mr. Matheo Macigni Daniel Barbaro, Patriarch Elect of Aquileia Foreword [Part I, setting up a perspective] The Division of the Treatment of Perspective Chap. I. The ordering of the principles and foundations of perspective Chap. II. On the eye Chap. III. On the way of seeing Chap. IV. On the thing seen Chap. V. On distance Chap. VI. On the division of planes Chap. VII. Where the eye must be placed Chap. VIII. On the distance Chap. IX. Of the size that figures must be made in the painting Part II, in which are treated ichnographia, that is, the description of the plan Chap. I. The practice of describing figures of many angles in a circle Chap. II. The way of describing plans Chap. III. The way to degrade a given plane in the prosposed termination according to the eye and the distance Chap. IV. The way to reduce the degraded plane into a square Chap. V. Division of the degraded square according to the perfect square Chap. VI. The way to add to or take away from the degraded square Chap. VII. How to cut a square from a quadrangular surface that is wider than it is long Chap. VIII. How to respond to those who, in dividing the plane into braccia, come to have a foreshortening that is larger than the perfect Chap. IX. The plan of the triangle, and how the degraded is made from the perfect Chap. X. How to form the plan of a cube in the perfect and degraded squares Chap. XI. Other ways of making plans Part III, which treats the ways of raising the body from the plan Chap. I. Three ways of raising bodies from the plans Chap. II. Unfolding, raising and shadowing the pyramid Chap. III. Unfolding, raising and shadowing the cube Chap. IV. Unfolding, raising and shadowing the body called ‘octahedron’ Chap. V. Unfolding, raising and shadowing the dodecahedral body Chap. VI. Unfolding, raising and shadowing the body called ‘icosahedron’ Chap. VII. Description of the irregular bodies that are born from the regular bodies [truncated tetrahedron] Chap. VIII. Description of a body that is born from the cube and from the octahedron, and its unfolding [cuboctahedron] Chap. IX. Description of another irregular body that is born from the cube [truncated cube] Chap. X. Description and unfolding of another body that is born from the cube [small rhombicuboctahedron] Chap. XI. Unfolding and description of a body that is born from the octahedron [truncated octahedron] Chap. XII. Unfolding and description of a body that is born from the dodecahedron and from the icosahedron [icosidodecahedron] Chap. XIII. Unfolding and description of another body that is born from the dodecahedron [truncated dodecahedron] Chap. XIV. Unfolding and description of another body that is born from the icosahedron [truncated icosahedron] Chap. XV. Unfolding and description of another body that is born from a composite body [great rhombicuboctahedron] Chap. XVI. Unfolding and description of another body that is born from a composite body [rectified truncated octahedron] Chap. XVII. Unfolding and description of another composite body [small rhombicosidodecahedron] Chap. XVIII. Unfolding and description of another body [rectified truncated icosahedron] Chap. XIX. Unfolding of some other bodies [truncated pentakis dodecahedron] Chap. XX. Unfolding of another irregular body [truncated truncated icosahedron] Chap. XXI. Unfolding of another irregular body [great rhombicosidodecahedron] Chap. XXII. Unfolding of another irregular body [truncated truncated octahedron] Chap. XXIII. Unfolding of another irregular body [great rhombicosidodecahedron augmented with pentagonal cupolas] Chap. XXIV. Unfolding of another irregular body [great rhobicuboctahedron augmented with square cupolas] Chap. XXV. Unfolding of another irregular body Chap. XXVI. Unfolding of some bodies based on the surfaces of bodies both regular and irregular, and first that which is based on the pyramid [elevated tetrahedron] Chap. XXVII. Unfolding of a body based on the cube [elevated cube] Chap. XXVIII. Unfolding of a body based on the octahedron [elevated octahedron] Chap. XXIX. Unfolding of a body based on the dodecahedron [elevated dodecahedron] Chap. XXX. Unfolding of a body based on the icosahedron [elevated icosahedron] Chap. XXXI. Unfolding of a body based on an irregular body [elevated cuboctahedron] Chap. XXXII. Unfolding of a body resting on an underlying body [elevated small rhombicuboctahedron] Chap. XXXIII. Unfolding of another body [elevated icosidodecahedron] Chap. XXXIV. Description of some of the previous bodies with pyramids Chap. XXXV. Some easy and quick ways to draw plans and bodies Chap. XXXVI. How to degrade many circles drawn on the same centre and divided into several parts Chap. XXXVII. An easy way to degrade without rulers Chap. XXXVIII. Description of the torchio, or mazzocchio Chap. XXIX. The perfect description of the mazzocchio Part IV, in which will be treated scenographia, that is, the description of scenes Chap. I. The manners of scenes Chap. II. Description and shading of the Tuscan base Chap. III. Description and shading of the Attic base Chap. IV. Description and shading of the Ionic base Chap. V. Description and degradation of columns Chap. VI. Description and degradation of the Tuscan capital Chap. VII. Description and degradation of the Doric capital Chap. VIII. Description and degradation of the Ionic capital Chap. IX. Description and degradation of the Corinthian capital Chap. X. Description of the Doric architrave Chap. XI. Description of the Ionic architrave and the pediment Chap. XII. Rules for the heights of the architraves and ways to transpose them from one size to another Chap. XIII. The description and degradation of stairs Chap. XIV. Of arches, vaults and doors Chap. XV. Plan, elevation and profile of a temple Chap. XVI. Description of the Tragic scene Chap. XVII. Description of the Comic scene Chap. XVIII. Description of the Satiric scene Part V, in which is set forth a fine and secret part of perspective Chap. I. [Distorting images] Chap. II. The first practice of these things Chap. III. The second practice of these things Part VI, which is called Planispherio Chap. I. Unfolding, description and degradation of the sphere Chap. II. Projection of the sphere onto the plane according to the ancients Chap. III. How to make projections of oblique circles Chap. IV. The projection of the circles of the heights onto the plane Part VII, which treats lighting, shadows and colours Chap. I. [The importance of light, colour and chiaroscuro] Chap. II. On the projection of shadows Part VIII, in which are treated the measures of the human body Chap. I. Measurement of the human body Chap. II. The way to describe the plan of the human head Chap. III. How to describe heads that are neither in profile nor straight on Chap. IV. The way to make heads that look either up or down Part IX, in which are described many instruments and ways of rendering and transporting things in perspective Chap. I. The author’s instrument for making clocks in every climate, on every plane and for every sort of hour Chap. II. The use of the universal clock Chap. III. Albrecht Dürer’s instrument for making perspectives Chap. IV. Building another instrument by Baldassarre Lanci Chap. V. Natural manners of rendering things in perspective [Appendix] How with a new instrument it is possible to know the inclination of scarps of walls, according to the invention of Giacomo Castriotto References Index of Names