Currently reading Leon Battista Alberti's On Painting (1435). This fascinating book reveals how Alberti revolutionized the history of art with his theories of perspective. A groundbreaking work, it sets out the principles of distance, dimension and proportion and instructs the painter on how to use the rules of composition, representation, light and colour - the prerequisites of the successful painter. On Painting had an immediate and profound influence on Italian Renaissance artists including Ghiberti, Fra Angelico and Veneziano and on later figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, and remains a compelling theory of art.
The cover detail is from The Hunt painted by Paolo Ucello (1397-1475). Ucello was celebrated in his lifetime as a painter of perspective and of animals and landscape. The painting is housed at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford.
So, zoom along to Waterstone's and grab a copy, then browse whilst sipping a large latte, then off to the Ashmolean to engage with The Hunt!
