DEDICATION — Critical Commentary & Notes¶
Epistle Dedicatory to His Dearest Disciples and Pupils—Cesare dal Sasso, Cera del Cera, Rainer Francesco di Pippo, Bernardino and Marsilio da Monte, Girolamo del Fecciarino, and Companions of Borgo Sansepolcro, Worthy Stonemasons and Zealous Followers of the Sculptural and Architectural Art—by Fra Luca Pacioli, Their Fellow Countryman of the Order of Friars Minor and Professor of Sacred Theology.
Historical & Mathematical Commentary¶
Date and Context (Venice, May 1, 1509): While Part I (Compendio de Divina Proportione) was completed in Milan on December 14, 1498, this dedicatory epistle to Part II (Tractato de l'Architectura) is explicitly dated Venice, Kalends of May 1509 (Ex Venitiis Kal. Maii MDIX), just one month before Paganino de' Paganini finished printing the entire volume on June 1, 1509.
Autobiographical & Prosopographical Treasure: This preface is one of the primary biographical sources for Pacioli's life and family:
It names Pacioli's two blood brothers (miei carnali fratelli), both Franciscan friars: Master Ginepro (M. Zinipero) and Fra Ambrogio, and his nephew Francesco Pacioli (who died of dysentery at Ragusa/Dubrovnik with Captain Benedetto Baiardo).
It records that Pacioli lectured on Euclid’s Elements for three years to the condottiere Camillo Vitelli (c. 1459–1496, brother of Niccolò and Paolo Vitelli of Città di Castello), and participated in discussions on fortification in Naples at the palace of Count Francesco Coppola of Sarno with the humanist Giovanni Pontano and the Florentine diplomat Pier Vettori, and in Milan with Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, Galeazzo Sanseverino, and Ludovico Sforza.
It documents Pacioli's closeness to Piero della Francesca (nostro conterraneo e contemporale… Monarca Maestro Petro de’ Franceschi), Lorenzo Canozi da Lendinara (1425–1477), and Lorenzo’s son Giovan Marco Canozi (Pacioli's compare).
Comparison with Earlier Draft Track: The earlier
winterberg_endraft compressed the three-folio roll of honor of the captains of Borgo Sansepolcro. Here every single name, battle, castle, and biographical detail from Folios0061.rst–0065.rst(f. 23r–f. 25r) is translated in full without abridgment.
Constantin Winterberg’s Commentary (1889 Edition)¶
Winterberg Footnotes 1–2 (Arch. Prohemio, pp. 287, 289): (1) San Rocco (Saint Roch)—referring to the architectural works in Venice (Church / Scuola Grande di San Rocco) where Giovan Marco Canozi da Lendinara was active. (2) By the King (dal Re)—namely, King Ferrante I (Ferdinand I) of Naples, as is clear from the preceding sentence on the wars between the houses of Anjou and Aragon. (Winterberg Fussnoten 1–2 (Arch. Widmung, S. 287, 289): 1) San Rocco. 2) Von Neapel, wie aus dem Vorigen hervorgeht.)
Philological and Folio Apparatus¶
1509 Paganini Witness Folios: 0061, 0062, 0063, 0064, 0065 (f. 23r–f. 25r)
Winterberg 1889 Italian Source:
winterberg/02_architectura_italian/001_dedication.txtWinterberg 1889 German Source:
winterberg/04_architectura_german/001_dedication.txtMarginal Woodcut Diagrams: 0 figure(s) extracted from the 1509 Venice witness.