Gallucci's Commentary on Dürer’s 'Four Books on Human Proportion': Renaissance Proportion Theory

Description

In 1591, Giovanni Paolo Gallucci published his Della simmetria dei corpi humani, an Italian translation of Albrecht Dürer’s Four Books on Human Proportion. While Dürer’s treatise had been translated earlier in the sixteenth-century into French and Latin, it was Gallucci’s Italian translation that endured in popularity as the most cited version of the text in later Baroque treatises, covering topics that were seen as central to arts education, connoisseurship, patronage, and the wider appreciation of the studia humanitatis in general. The text centres on the relationships between beauty and proportion, macrocosm and microcosm: relationships that were not only essential to the visual arts in the early modern era, but that cut across a range of disciplines – music, physiognomics and humoral readings, astronomy, astrology and cosmology, theology and philosophy, even mnemonics and poetry. In his version of the text, Gallucci expanded the educational potential of the treatise by adding a Preface, a Life of Dürer, and a Fifth Book providing a philosophical framework within which to interpret Dürer’s previous sections. This translation is the first to make these original contributions by Gallucci accessible to an English-speaking audience. Gallucci’s contributions illuminate the significance of symmetry and proportion in the contemporary education of the early modern era, informing our understanding of the intellectual history of this period, and the development of art theory and criticism. This is a valuable resource to early modern scholars and students alike, especially those specialising in history of art, philosophy, history of science, and poetry. Contents Acknowledgments On the Translation Introduction 1. Proportion Theory: Disciplinary Intersections 2. Gallucci: Translator, Academician, Pedagogue 3. Ut pictura poesis: Sister Arts 4. Physiognomics: The Science of Passion 5. From Microcosm to Macrocosm 6. Proportion Studies: Reception and Legacy Contents Dedication Life of Albrecht Dürer Preface to Readers Book Five 1. On the Utility of this Doctrine 2. On the Differences of Humans with Respect to Countries, Sex, and Age 3. On the Beauty of Human Bodies, Especially Women 4. The Figure of a Strong Man 5. How the Figure of a Timid Man Should Be Painted 6. How One Should Paint a Furious and Angry Man 7. The Figure of a Man, Who Is by Nature Cold and Wet, therefore, Meek and Humble, Feeble, Slow, Quiet, and Effeminate 8. How an Ingenious Man Should Be Painted 9. The Figure of an Uncouth Man Compared to One with Great Intelligence 10. The Figure and Painting of an Effeminate Man, Soft by Nature and also through Incident 11. How a Humble Man Should Be Painted, and One Who Is Shameful, either by Nature or Chance, and a Woman Again 12. The Figure of an Insolent and Presumptuous Man 13. The Figure of a Cheerful Man 14. The Figure of a Melancholic and Grieved Man 15. The Figure of a Cruel and Inhumane Man 16. The Figure of a Flatterer 17. The Figure of a Desperate Woman 18. The Figure of a Man Full of Astonishment 19. The Figure of Beastly or Savage Men 20. The Figure of a Fraud 21. The Figure of a Deceitful Man, and of a Mean, Miserable, and Cowardly Man 22. The Figure of a Wicked Man, Who, in Speaking, Says Impertinent Things 23. The Figure of an Insane Man Who Is, at the Same Time, Wicked 24. The Figure of Big Eater, and of One of Great Memory 25. The Figure of a Loquacious Man 26. The Figure of a Drowsy Man 27. The Figure of a Libidinous Man 28. The Figure of an Envious Man 29. The Figure of an Ugly Man and Woman 30. On the Different Feet of Men, and Those Which Are Suitable 31. On the Diversity of Heels or Ankles Compared to the Figure that [the Painter] Wishes to Represent 32. On the Diversity of Legs with Respect to the Different Figures They Want to Make 33. On the Diversity of Knees Appropriate to Different Figures 34. Which Thighs and Buttocks are Appropriate for Which Figures 35. Which Limbs and Stomachs Belong to Which Figures 36. Which Back and Ribs Suit Which Figures 37. Different Measures of the Stomach, Chest, and Belly that Suit Different Figures 38. On Some Correspondences that Some Members Have between Them 39. How the Chest and Shoulders Should Be Done in Several Different Figures 40. On the Shoulders and Chest Most Appropriate to Different Figures 41. On Arms and Hands Appropriate to Different Figures 42. Which Fingernails Are Appropriate to Different Figures 43. On the Diversity of Necks Appropriate to Different Figures 44. Diverse Cheeks Appropriate to Different Figures 45*. Diversity of Lips and Mouths Appropriate to Different Figures 45*. The Way to Form the Chin in Different Figures 46. On the Diversity of Noses Appropriate to Different Figures 47. On the Diversity of Faces Appropriate to Different Figures 48. On the Diversity of Eyes and Parts Nearby Appropriate to Different Figures 49. Which Face is Appropriate for Which Figure 50. On the Various Heads Appropriate to Different Figures 51. On the Diversity of Ears Appropriate to Different Figures 52. Which Hair Colors and Complexions Should Be Used for All Figures One Wants to Represent 53. On the Eye Colors Appropriate to Different Figures 54. On the Eye Movement Appropriate to Different Figures 55. On the Diversity of Hair Appropriate to Different Figures 56. On the Diversity of Stature Appropriate to Different Figures 57. In What Thing Beauty Consists, and Proportion of Bodies According to Marsilio Ficino and Painters Bibliography The Works of Giovanni Paolo Gallucci Primary Sources Secondary Sources List of Illustrations Index of Proper Names About the team