Abstract
Andrea Pozzo’sperspective inventions represent the art of quadratura on itshighest level.The illusory power of his fictive architecture was so strong that it forcefully conditioned the perception of space, leading neo-classical critics to censor his paintings as if they were actually buildings. Eloquent on this subject is the criticism of Francesco Milizia, who warned young architects not to follow the example of Brother Pozzo,calling him an “architect in reverse”1. On the technical level,instead, the supreme skill of the Jesuit painter was undeniable. He could in fact be criticized for one thing only, his decision to impose a compulsory viewpoint on the observer. But it was just this point that formed the cornerstone of his art, and Pozzo, heedless of the critics,never abandoned that crucial requisite.
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Notes
- 1.
[24], Book III, p. 276.
- 2.
Pozzo (1693–1700), Part I (1693), p. 12, Avvisi a iprincipianti. Pozzo (1725), Advise to Beginners.
- 3.
Pozzo (1693–1700), Part II (1700), pp. 19–20.
- 4.
- 5.
Pozzo (1693–1700), Part I (1693), p. 13, Al lettore studioso di Prospettiva; Pozzo (1725), To the Lovers of Perspective.
- 6.
- 7.
On this subject see [4], pp. 51–75.
- 8.
Pozzo (1693–1700), Part I, ed. 1717, Fig. 101, pp. 216–217.
- 9.
See [9].
- 10.
- 11.
Baldinucci (1975), p. 316.
- 12.
Pozzo (1693–1700), Part I (1693), p. 12, Avvisi a i principianti. Pozzo (1725), Advise to Beginners.
- 13.
[32], p. 25v: “II perspetivo non fara cosa alcuna senza l’Architetura, ne l’Architetto senza perspettiva” [Perspectivist can do nothing without architecture, nor can the architect without perspective].
- 14.
[13], Part I (1642), Preface: “Cette science se peut vanter d’estre l’ame et la vie de la Peinture [...] le plus belle pieces de Perspective, se font de Bastimens riches et somptueux, construits selon les ordres des Colomnes, la beauté desquels dépend des proportions et des mesures qui doivent estre observées, autrement elles blesseront l’oeil” [This science can boast of being the life and soul of Painting [...] the most beautiful perspectives are made with rich, sumptuous buildings, constructed according to the orders of columns, whose beauty depends on the proportions and dimensions that must be respected to avoid wound the eye].
- 15.
Pozzo (1693–1700), Part I (1693), Fig. 91, pp. 196–197: “Si meravigliarono alcuni architetti, che io appoggiassi le colonne davanti sopra mensole, ciò che essi non farebbono in una fabrica vera, e reale”. Pozzo (1725), The Ninety-first Figure: “Some Architects dislik’d my setting the advanc’d Columns upon Corbels, as being a thing not practis’d in solid Structures”.
- 16.
Pozzo (1693–1700), Part I (1693), Fig. 1, p. 16. Pozzo (1725), The First Figure.
- 17.
Pozzo (1693–1700), Part I (1693), p. 13, Al lettore studioso di Prospettiva. Pozzo (1725), To the Lovers of Perspective.
- 18.
Pozzo (1693–1700), Part I (1693), Fig. 62, p. 138: Del graticolare i telari che rappresentano fabriche di rilievo. Pozzo (1725), The Sixty-second Figure, Of making the Net-work on Frames, for representing the Architecture as solid.
- 19.
Pozzo (1693–1700), Part I (1693), Fig. 100, p. 216: Modo di far la graticola nelle volte. Pozzo (1725), The Hundredth Figure, The Method of drawing the Net or Lattice Work on Vaults.
- 20.
Ibidem.
- 21.
Ibidem.
- 22.
- 23.
- 24.
See [12].
- 25.
- 26.
[7], pl. 15.
- 27.
See [19].
- 28.
[13], Part I (1642), Preface.
- 29.
Pozzo (1693–1700), Part I (1693), Al lettore studioso di Prospettiva. Pozzo (1725), To the Lovers of Perspective.
- 30.
Pozzo (1693–1700), Part II (1700), Al lettore. Pozzo (1725), To the Lovers of Perspective.
- 31.
Pozzo (1693–1700), Part I (1693), p. 12, Avvisi a i principianti. Pozzo (1725), Advice to Beginners.
- 32.
Pozzo (1693–1700), Part II (1700), Al lettore.
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Camerota, F. (2012). Exactitude and Extravagance: Andrea Pozzo’s “Viewpoint”. In: Emmer, M. (eds) Imagine Math. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-2427-4_4
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