CHAPTER VI — Critical Commentary & Notes¶
On the Order and Construction of the Stylobate (Pedestal or Base-Pillar) of the Column, the Stereobate Foundation, the Ancient Roman Alphabet, and the Three Sets of Sixty Polyhedra Models Made by Pacioli alongside Leonardo da Vinci.
Historical & Mathematical Commentary¶
Pacioli and Leonardo da Vinci Living Together in Milan (1496–1499) and Florence (1500+): This famous passage on Folio 0072 (
f. 28v) is one of the cornerstone documents of Leonardo da Vinci's biography:It confirms that Leonardo drew the 60 polyhedra plates in Milan between 1496 and 1499 while both he and Pacioli were on the payroll of Duke Ludovico Maria Sforza;
It records that after the fall of Milan to Louis XII of France in late 1499, Pacioli and Leonardo left Milan together (visiting Mantua and Venice) and shared a household in Florence (e a Firenze pur insiemi trahemmo domicilio);
It documents the three sets of 60 painted three-dimensional polyhedra models constructed by Pacioli's own hands: the first for Ludovico Sforza (presented in 1498), the second for Galeazzo Sanseverino in Milan, and the third in Florence for Gonfaloniere Piero Soderini (kept in the Palazzo Vecchio, as also recorded in Florentine municipal payment records of 1505).
Constantin Winterberg’s Commentary (1889 Edition)¶
Winterberg Footnotes 1–2 (Arch. Cap. VI, pp. 307–308): (1) Compare the Porta Speciosa and Column plates at the end of the treatise (Paganini Folios 0185 and 0213). (2) Namely, the geometric letters of the Roman Alphabet (scil. die Buchstaben) in Appendix I. (Winterberg Fussnoten 1–2 (Arch. Cap. VI, S. 307–308): 1) Vgl. die betreffende Figur am Ende des Tractats. 2) scil. die Buchstaben.)
Philological and Folio Apparatus¶
1509 Paganini Witness Folios: 0071, 0072 (f. 28r–f. 28v)
Winterberg 1889 Italian Source:
winterberg/02_architectura_italian/006_cap_VI.txtWinterberg 1889 German Source:
winterberg/04_architectura_german/006_cap_VI.txtMarginal Woodcut Diagrams: 0 figure(s) extracted from the 1509 Venice witness.