Rereading Pacioli’s Capodimonte Portrait

• In Event: Una linea sola e non stentata: Papers in Memory of David Rosand I

Abstract

As indicated by its presence at the recent blockbuster shows, Dürer - German Master [Frankfurt, Städel Museum, 2013-4] and Aldo Manuzio and the Renaissance in Venice [Venice, Accademia, 2016], the Portrait of Luca Pacioli and Disciple [Museo di Capodimonte] continues to assert the status of cultural icon that was first celebrated on the dust jacket of Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration where it represented the Renaissance for the Western tradition. Despite such popularity, its interpretation—as well as attribution—continues to challenge scholars. Building on ten years of research, ranging from the discovery of the presence of the divina proportione in the numbers of the slate tablet to the significance of the crystal Archimedean solid as a patronage gift, my paper rereads this panel and Pacioli’s invention of its iconography, paying particular attention to the themes of oppositions, challenges, and the nascent double-portrait tradition.

Author

• Renzo Baldasso, Arizona State University