Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 03 (of 10): Filarete and Simone to MantegnaVasari, Giorgio
History
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 03 (of 10): Filarete and Simone to Mantegna
Vasari, Giorgio
Art, Italian; Artists -- Italy -- Biography
A work by the same Antonio, likewise, was the principal church of
Bergamo, which he built with no less diligence and judgment than he had
shown in the above-named hospital. And because he also took delight in
writing, the while that these works of his were in progress he wrote a
book divided into three parts. In the first he treats of the
measurements of all edifices, and of all that is necessary for the
purpose of building. In the second he speaks of the methods of building,
and of the manner wherein a most beautiful and most convenient city
might be laid out. In the third he invents new forms of buildings,
mingling the ancient with the modern. The whole work is divided into
twenty-four books, illustrated throughout by drawings from his own hand;
but, although there is something of the good to be found in it, it is
nevertheless mostly ridiculous, and perhaps the most stupid book that
was ever written. It was dedicated by him in the year 1464 to the
Magnificent Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, and it is now in the collection
of the most Illustrious Lord Duke Cosimo. And in truth, since he put
himself to so great pains, the book might be commended in some sort, if
he had at least made some records of the masters of his day and of
their works; but as there are few to be found therein, and those few are
scattered throughout the book without method and in the least suitable
places, he has toiled only to beggar himself, as the saying goes, and to
be thought a man of little judgment for meddling with something that he
did not understand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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