Lo inganno de gl'occhi

Abstract

First edition of a famous practical manual on perspective, especially of interest to painters. Pietro Accolti (Arezzo? 1579 - Florence 1642) was an Italian author, painter, architect, librarian and mathematician. Descendant of an illustrious Aretine family (his grandfather was Benedetto Accolti), Pietro was librarian and architect in the service of Cardinal Carlo Medici, and a member of the Florence Academy and the Academy of Design. He is known for this treatise divided into three parts (on plane figures, solids and shading) and distinguished for showing how perspective practice derives from principles of visual perception. In this erudite work, he criticizes classical and modern theories of vision (including those by Witelo, Euclid, Aguilonius and Guidobaldo del Monte) and modern writers on perspective for underestimating the importance of light and shadow. He emphasizes the need to distinguish the light of (virtually) parallel solar rays from that of a diverging point source such as a candle. He presented some original ideas on arranging compositions with multiple vanishing points, and on foreshortening pictures within pictures. He reproduced a perfected version of Dürer's perspective window with a frame, hinged shutter and strings. Chapters on anamorphosis and quadratura ceiling painting are typical of 17th-century interests. Accolti's writings testify to the 17th-century revival of the Leonardo's ideal of scientific painting. Carlo Pedretti has shown that the appendix to part 3, "Discorso intorno al Disegno" (pp. 144-152), dedicated to young academicians, is a paraphrase of Leonardo da Vinci's treatise on painting, now known as the Libro di pittura and that this text is the earliest "edition'"of Leonardo's treatise. Accolti followed in Leonardo's footsteps by combining art with science and engineering projects, such as a windmill built in Livorno which was capable of moving water. Also noteworthy is his flexible attitude towards perspective rules, which he cited only to "open the eyes and minds" of students without intending to set restrictions. His ideas on unione and sfumamento (the transitions between light and shadow) have been compared to those of Pietro Testa, and interpreted as a product of the Carracci reform of color and chiaroscuro. Besides all aspects of perspective, including anamorphoses, he discusses light fall and the camera obscura extensively. The work is divided into three parts and elaborately illustrated with numerous diagrams and figures. After the title (verso blank) follows the dedication to Cardinal Carlo de Medici, dated Florence 30 January 1625 and signed by Pietro di Fabbrizio Accolti, 3 laudatory poems addressed to Giovambatista Strozzi, Alesandro Adimari and Andrea Salvadori, the table of contents and a two-page note to the reader. The text is divided into 3 parts: "Del proprio obietto del vedere, et azzionisue" (pp. 3-58), "Come si metta in disegno di prospettiva il primo de corpi regolari" (pp. 59-94) and 'I raggi del corpo luminoso si partono da ciascun punto della superficie di esso con diritto progresso' with a two-page note (pp. 95-143). The work closes with two full-page woodcut perspective views of geometric structures, and the printer's device and register of quires.