Leon Battista Alberti and Nicholas Cusanus Providing a fresh evaluation of Alberti’s text On Painting (1435), along with comparisons to various works of Nicholas Cusanus—particularly his Vision of God (1450)—this study reveals a shared epistemology of vision. And, the author argues, it is one that reflects a more deeply Christian Neoplatonic ideal than is typically accorded Alberti. Whether regarding his purpose in teaching the use of a geometric single point perspective system, or more broadly in rendering forms naturalistically, the emphasis leans toward the ideal of Renaissance art as highly rational. There remains the impression that the principle aim of the painter is to create objective, even illusionistic images. A close reading of Alberti’s text, however, including some adjustments in translation, points rather towards an emphasis on discerning the spiritual in the material. Alberti’s use of the tropes Minerva and Narcissus, for example, indicates the opposing characteristics of wisdom and sense certainty that function dialectically to foster the traditional importance of seeing with the eye of the intellect rather than merely with physical eyes. In this sense these figures also set the context for his, and, as the author explains, Brunelleschi’s earlier invention of this perspective system that posits not so much an objective seeing as an opposition of finite and infinite seeing, which, moreover, approximates Cusanus’s famous notion of a coincidence of opposites. Together with Alberti’s and Cusanus’s ideals of vision, extensive analysis of art works discloses a ubiquitous commitment to stimulating an intellectual perception of divine, essential, and unseen realities that enliven the visible material world. Charles H. Carman is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Buffalo, USA. VISUAL CULTURE IN EARLY MODERNITY Series Editor: Allison Levy A forum for the critical inquiry of the visual arts in the early modern world, Visual Culture in Early Modernity promotes new models of inquiry and new narratives of early modern art and its history. We welcome proposals for both monographs and essay collections which consider the cultural production and reception of images and objects. The range of topics covered in this series includes, but is not limited to, painting, sculpture and architecture as well as material objects, such as domestic furnishings, religious and/or ritual accessories, costume, scientific/medical apparata, erotica, ephemera and printed matter. We seek innovative investigations of western and non-western visual culture produced between 1400 and 1800. Leon Battista Alberti and Nicholas Cusanus Towards an Epistemology of Vision for Italian Renaissance Art and Culture Charles H. Carman © Charles H. Carman 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Charles H. Carman has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court East 110 Cherry Street Union Road Suite 3-1 Farnham Burlington, VT 05401-3818 Surrey, GU9 7PT USA England www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows: Carman, Charles H. Leon Battista Alberti and Nicholas Cusanus: towards an epistemology of vision for Italian Renaissance art and culture / by Charles H. Carman. pages cm. -- (Visual culture in early modernity) Includes index. ISBN 978-1-4724-2923-0 (hardcover: alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4724-2924-7 (ebook)—ISBN 978-1-4724-2925-4 (epub) 1. Visual perception—history. 2. Alberti, Leon Battista, 1404–1472. De pictura. 3. Nicholas, of Cusa, Cardinal, 1401–1464. 4. Vision. 5. Knowledge, Theory of. 6. Renaissance—Italy. I. Title. N7430.5.C275 2014 701’.8--dc23 2014012034 ISBN 9781472429230 (hbk) ISBN 9781472429247 (ebk – PDF) ISBN 9781472429254 (ebk – ePUB) V To Karen This page has been left blank intentionally Contents List of Illustrations   ix Preface: Perspectiva ut Poesis    xi Acknowledgements   xvii 1 Alberti and Cusanus: An Overview   1 2 On Painting: Setting the Stage and “Tutta la Storia”   25 3 The Eye of the Mind: Where it Goes, What it Sees   55 4 Divine and Human Vision: Perspective and the Coincidence of Opposites    83 5 Disclosing Metaphors 1: Ways into Perspective    111 6 Disclosing Metaphors 2: The Window, The Flower, and The Map   135 Conclusion   161 Bibliography   173 Index   189 This page has been left blank intentionally List of Illustrations Color Plates 1 Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Annunciation. 1340. Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, Italy. Photo credit: Scala / Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali / Art Resource, NY 2 Vincenzo Foppa, Virgin and Child (Madonna of the Book). ca. 1460–1468. Castello Sforzesco, Milan, Italy. Photo credit: Scala / Art Resource, NY 3 Fra Angelico, Annunciation, Cortona Altarpiece, without predella. ca. 1432–1434. Museo Diocesano, Cortona, Italy. Photo credit: Scala / Art Resource, NY 4 Antoniazzo Romano, Madonna and Child. ca. 1475–1479. Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, Perugia, Italy. Photo credit: Scala / Minstero per i Beni e le Attività culturali / Art Resource, NY 5 Giovanni Bellini, Eternal Father. 1507. Museo Civico, Pesaro, Italy. Photo credit: Scala / Art Resource, NY Black and White Figures 1.1 Model for pyramids of vision and perspective space, based on Leon Battista Alberti. Mutual interpretation of finite and infinite. Author’s diagram 1.2 Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper. 1498. Post-restoration. (Author’s perspective overlay.) S. Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy. Photo credit: Scala / Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali / Art Resource, NY 2.1 Raphael, The Disputa of the Sacrament. 1509–1510. Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican. Photo credit: Scala / Art Resource, NY 3.1 Leon Battista Alberti, Occhio alato and motto Quid Tum. ca. 1435. Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, cod. 11 iv, c. 119v. Courtesy of the Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo 3.2 Masaccio, The Tribute Money. 1426. Brancacci Chapel, S. Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy. Photo credit: Scala / Art Resource, NY 3.3 Donatello, Trinity, detail from the niche on Orsanmichele (originally housing the statue of St. Louis). 1423. Florence, Italy. Photo credit: Scala / Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali / Art Resource, NY