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Four Books on Human Proportion’ H Commentary Proportion J Gallucci’s Commentary on Dürer’s AMES Gallucci’s Renaissance ‘Four Books on Human Proportion’ H Commentary Proportion Renaissance Proportion Theory UTSON on Dürer’s Theory JAMES HUTSON ‘Four Books In 1591, Giovanni Paolo Gallucci published his Della simmetria dei corpi humani, on Human an Italian transla� on of Albrecht Dürer’s Four Books on Human Proport on. While AMES UTSON Dürer’s trea� se had been translated earlier in the sixteenth-century into French G Proportion’ J H and La� n, it was Gallucci’s Italian transla� on that endured in popularity as the most ALLUCCI cited version of the text in later Baroque trea� ses, covering topics that were seen as central to arts educa� on, connoisseurship, patronage, and the wider apprecia� on ’ of the studia humanitat s in general. S C The text centres on the rela� onships between beauty and propor� on, macrocosm OMMENTARY and microcosm: rela� onships that were not only essen� al 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 educa� onal poten� al of the trea� se by adding a Preface, a Life ON of Dürer, and a Fi� h Book providing a philosophical framework within which to D interpret Dürer’s previous sec� ons. ÜRER ’ S This transla� on is the fi rst to make these original contribu� ons by Gallucci ‘F accessible to an English-speaking audience. Gallucci’s contribu� ons illuminate the OUR signifi cance of symmetry and propor� on in the contemporary educa� on of the early modern era, informing our understanding of the intellectual history of this B period, and the development of art theory and cri� cism. This is a valuable resource OOKS to early modern scholars and students alike, especially those specialising in history of art, philosophy, history of science, and poetry. ON H As with all Open Book publica� ons, this en� re book is available to read for free on UMAN the publisher’s website. Printed and digital edi� ons, together with supplementary digital material, can also be found at www.openbookpublishers.com P ROPORTION Cover Image: ‘Adam and Eve’ by Albrecht Dürer 1507 Cover Design: Anna Ga� ’ book eebook and OA edi� ons also available www.openbookpublishers.com OBP To access digital resources including: blog posts videos online appendices and to purchase copies of this book in: hardback paperback ebook editions Go to: htps://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/1138 Open Book Publishers is a non-proft independent initiative. We rely on sales and donations to continue publishing high-quality academic works. GALLUCCI’S COMMENTARY ON DÜRER’S FOUR BOOKS ON HUMAN PROPORTION Gallucci’s Commentary on Dürer’s Four Books on Human Proportion Renaissance Proportion Theory Translated with an Introduction by James Hutson https://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2020 James Hutson This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work; to adapt the work and to make commercial use of the work providing attribution is made to the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information: James Hutson, Gallucci’s Commentary on Dürer’s “Four Books on Human Proportion”: Renaissance Proportion Theory. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2020, https://doi. org/10.11647/OBP.0198 Copyright and permission for reuse of many images included in this publication difer from the above. Copyright and permissions information for images is provided separately in the List of Illustrations In order to access detailed and updated information on the license, please visit https:// doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0198#copyright Further details about CC BY licenses are available at https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/ All external links were active at the time of publication unless otherwise stated and have been archived via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web Any digital material and resources associated with this volume are available at https:// doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0198#resources Every efort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders and any omission or error will be corrected if notifcation is made to the publisher. ISBN Paperback: 978-1-78374-887-7 ISBN Hardback: 978-1-78374-888-4 ISBN Digital (PDF): 978-1-78374-889-1 ISBN Digital ebook (epub): 978-1-78374-860-0 ISBN Digital ebook (mobi): 978-1-78374-861-7 ISBN Digital (XML): 978-1-78374-862-4 DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0198 Cover image: Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve (1507). Oil, 82 1/5 x 31 4/5 in and 82 1/5 x 32 ½ in. Museo del Prado, Madrid. Wikimedia, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_Adam_and_Eve_(Prado)_2FXD.jpg Cover design: Anna Gatti Contents Acknowledgements ix On the Translation xi Introduction 1 1. Proportion Theory: Disciplinary Intersections 1 2. Gallucci: Translator, Academician, Pedagogue 26 3. Ut pictura poesis: Sister Arts 40 4. Physiognomics: The Science of Passion 50 5. From Microcosm to Macrocosm 58 6. Proportion Studies: Reception and Legacy 67 On the Symmetry of Human Bodies 83 Bibliography 187 List of Illustrations 201 Index of Proper Names 205 To my wife Piper and son Bishop Acknowledgments The current study began with my dissertation at the University of Maryland, and continued with an article published in Storia dell’arte. I would frst like to thank Giles Knox, who introduced me to the study of early modern art theory, followed by Anthony Colantuono, whom I assisted in the paleographical transcription and translation for Orfeo Boselli’s Osservationi della Scoltura antica [Observations on Antique Sculpture]. It was Colantuono who frst recommended that I translate Giovanni Paolo Gallucci’s Della simmetria dei corpi humani [On the Symmetry of Human Bodies] many years ago at the conclusion of my doctoral study. This present translation, however, came about more recently. After investigating the shifting landscape of art theory relating to pictorial stylistics, I turned to the more practical application of manuals for artists in their education (thanks to a reader’s comments on my frst book). I’m indebted to the earlier work elucidating the impact and context of Charles Le Brun’s pathognomics by Jennifer Montagu, as well as Jean Julia Chai and her related translation of Giovan Paolo Lomazzo’s Idea del tempio della pittura [The Idea of the Temple of Painting]. Within my own university, I would like to thank the previous president and provost, James Evans and Jann Weitzel, for allocating resources and funds that allow such publications to exist, as well as the current administration for their continued eforts in advancing scholarship and research. In my own school, I would like to express appreciation for the support of the dean of Arts, Media, and Communications, Joe Alsobrook, and the previous chair of the Art and Design department, John Troy. Their eforts ensured that I had the necessary course release to complete the current manuscript. Finally, several talented students assisted in reviewing the translation as part of their own research and scholarship and should be credited here; their contributions were immeasurable — Cristiano Pennisi, Mattia Forigiani, and Serena Rossi. On the Translation The translation at hand reveals the place of symmetry and proportion in the context of contemporary education of the early modern era, especially the education of artists. In the original contribution and subject of this translation, Giovanni Paolo Gallucci expands on Dürer’s nascent interest in the proportions of a diversity of human types and extends this interest in diversity to elaborate systems of physiognomy and humoral readings. Interestingly, the volume’s author was not an artist, nor was he an art critic or theorist. As an avid translator, Gallucci worked in a number of felds and was as equally interested in questions of scientifc investigation as reinforcing the Counter-Reformation’s concerns on doctrinal correctness and the value of la lingua latina, or the Latin language, as a galvanizing tool. But above all, Gallucci’s passion and legacy can be seen in his lifelong profession as a tutor for the noble youth of Venice. As an educator, he always considered the value of his works in providing mnemonic devices to aid in memorization. This is the key to understanding why a non-specialist would attempt the ambitious task of translating a treatise that, according to experts in the feld, was irrelevant to their craft, and why the target language chosen was Italian for a non-academic audience. His writing is then pragmatic in its intention, as are his selection of terms and choice of sentence structure. However, issues arose with the translation for Della simmetria dei corpi humani when considering that the source is taken from the Latin edition of the Four Books on Human Proportion, rather than the German original. This Latin edition had a number of errors which Gallucci admits hampered his eforts: “This I did, of course, after great efort due to the many mistakes that were in the Latin edition, and because the material itself is difcult to explain, as the author himself afrms.”1 1 Giovanni Paolo Gallucci, “Dedication,” Della simmetria dei corpi humani, libri quattro (Venice: Domenico Nicolini, 1591; repr. Venice: Roberto Meietti, 1594), 2v, https:// archive.org/details/dialbertodurero00gallgoog/page/n4. As noted below, my translations are taken from the 1594 reprint. xii Gallucci’s Commentary The difculty encountered on the part of the translator can be seen most clearly in his syntax, which often overlooks appropriate punctuation typical for Latin.
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