Portrait of Luca Pacioli
Encyclopedia
The Portrait of Luca Pacioli is a painting attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Jacopo de' Barbari
, dating to around 1500 and housed in the Capodimonte Museum, Naples
, southern Italy
.
, is mentioned for the first time in a 1631 inventory of the Ducal Palace of Urbino
.
It was later moved to Florence through Vittoria della Rovere-Medici, belonging to both the reigning dynasties of Urbino and Tuscany. The painting reappeared in the 19th century, as a property of the Ottaviano branch of the Medicis. It was subsequently acquired by the Italian state to prevent that it could be sold to England.
The painting has been even attributed to Leonardo da Vinci
, who had collaborated with Pacioli when he moved to Milan in 1496.
, half-filled with water and characterized by detailed a triple reflection effect of the Ducal Palace of Urbino, is suspended from the ceiling. Pacioli is demonstrating a theorem by Euclid
written on an open book. The closed book, with the inscription LI.RI.LUC.BUR. ("Liber reverendi Luca Burgensis") is supposed to be his Summa de arithmetica geometria proportioni et proportionalità (1494).
The character on the right has not been exactly identified: he could be Guidobaldo da Montefeltro
, the then duke of Urbino who was a fervent scholar of mathematics and to whom the Summa was dedicated, the German painter Albrecht Dürer
, or with one Francesco di Bartolomeo Archinto, of whom a very similar portrait, of Leonardesque school, exists in the National Gallery, London
.
Jacopo de' Barbari
Jacopo de' Barbari, sometimes known or referred to as de'Barbari, de Barberi, de Barbari, Barbaro, Barberino, Barbarigo or Barberigo , was an Italian painter and printmaker with a highly individual style. He moved from Venice to Germany in 1500, thus becoming the first Italian Renaissance artist...
, dating to around 1500 and housed in the Capodimonte Museum, Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, southern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
History
The painting, which portrays the Renaissance mathematician Luca PacioliLuca Pacioli
Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli was an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and seminal contributor to the field now known as accounting...
, is mentioned for the first time in a 1631 inventory of the Ducal Palace of Urbino
Urbino
Urbino is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482...
.
It was later moved to Florence through Vittoria della Rovere-Medici, belonging to both the reigning dynasties of Urbino and Tuscany. The painting reappeared in the 19th century, as a property of the Ottaviano branch of the Medicis. It was subsequently acquired by the Italian state to prevent that it could be sold to England.
Attribution
The painting has been generically attributed to Jacopo de' Barbari due to the presence of a cartouche with the inscription IACO.BAR. VIGENNIS. P. 1495, with the enigmatic presence of a fly above it. However, the attribution to the Venetian painter is now generally regarded as wrong, due to pictorial and historical considerations.The painting has been even attributed to Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
, who had collaborated with Pacioli when he moved to Milan in 1496.
Description
The painting portrays the friar and mathematician with a table filled with geometrical tools: slate, chalk, compass, a dodecahedron model. A rhombicuboctahedronRhombicuboctahedron
In geometry, the rhombicuboctahedron, or small rhombicuboctahedron, is an Archimedean solid with eight triangular and eighteen square faces. There are 24 identical vertices, with one triangle and three squares meeting at each. Note that six of the squares only share vertices with the triangles...
, half-filled with water and characterized by detailed a triple reflection effect of the Ducal Palace of Urbino, is suspended from the ceiling. Pacioli is demonstrating a theorem by Euclid
Euclid
Euclid , fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "Father of Geometry". He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I...
written on an open book. The closed book, with the inscription LI.RI.LUC.BUR. ("Liber reverendi Luca Burgensis") is supposed to be his Summa de arithmetica geometria proportioni et proportionalità (1494).
The character on the right has not been exactly identified: he could be Guidobaldo da Montefeltro
Guidobaldo da Montefeltro
thumb|240px|Portrait of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro by [[Raphael]].Guidobaldo da Montefeltro , also known as Guidobaldo I, was an Italian condottiero and the Duke of Urbino from 1482 to 1508.-Biography:...
, the then duke of Urbino who was a fervent scholar of mathematics and to whom the Summa was dedicated, the German painter Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
, or with one Francesco di Bartolomeo Archinto, of whom a very similar portrait, of Leonardesque school, exists in the National Gallery, London
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
.