On Painting

References

On Painting

work by Alberti

Also known as: “De pictura”, “Della pittura”

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July 1, 2026

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Leon Battista Alberti's On Painting (1435) was a foundational text for Renaissance art theory. It established the principles of linear perspective, explaining how to create a three-dimensional illusion on a two-dimensional surface. Alberti, a humanist and architect, believed painting was a science and a liberal art, not a mechanical one. He emphasized the importance of mathematics and rational order in art, influencing painters like Masaccio and later theorists such as Leonardo da Vinci. Alberti's work provided a theoretical framework for the visual representation of space and form that dominated Renaissance painting.123

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perspective
…his seminal Della pittura (1436; On Painting), Leon Battista Alberti codified, especially for painters, much of the practical work on the subject that had been carried out by earlier artists; he formulated, for example, the idea that “vision makes a triangle, and from this it is clear that a very…
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…his seminal Della pittura (1436; On Painting), Leon Battista Alberti codified, especially for painters, much of the practical work on the subject that had been carried out by earlier artists; he formulated, for example, the idea that “vision makes a triangle, and from this it is clear that a very…
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Filippo Brunelleschi
Early years
…down in Della pittura (On Painting), his famous treatise on painting, which included a warm dedication to Brunelleschi—undoubtedly an expression of Alberti’s debt to his friend’s revolutionary discovery.
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…down in Della pittura (On Painting), his famous treatise on painting, which included a warm dedication to Brunelleschi—undoubtedly an expression of Alberti’s debt to his friend’s revolutionary discovery.
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Leon Battista Alberti
Contribution to philosophy, science, and the arts of Leon Battista Alberti
The book On Painting, which he wrote in 1435, set forth for the first time the rules for drawing a picture of a three-dimensional scene upon the two-dimensional plane of a panel or wall. It had an immediate and profound effect upon Italian painting and relief work,…
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The book On Painting, which he wrote in 1435, set forth for the first time the rules for drawing a picture of a three-dimensional scene upon the two-dimensional plane of a panel or wall. It had an immediate and profound effect upon Italian painting and relief work,…
Read More

Western painting
Renaissance
Leon Battista Alberti’s Della pittura (On Painting), a treatise on the theory of painting, as opposed to the techniques of preparing and applying colors, appeared in Florence in 1435–36. The directions that art and art theory were to follow for the next 470 years are already present in…
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Leon Battista Alberti’s Della pittura (On Painting), a treatise on the theory of painting, as opposed to the techniques of preparing and applying colors, appeared in Florence in 1435–36. The directions that art and art theory were to follow for the next 470 years are already present in…
Read More