Teaching Euclid in a Practical Context: Linear Perspective and Practical Geometry |
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| Authors: | Filippo Camerota |
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| Institution: | (1) Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza di Firenze, piazza dei Giudici 1, Firenze, Italy |
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| Abstract: | This article explores the transmission of practical knowledge in the XV and XVI centuries. According to cosmographer Egnatio
Danti, optics and other mathematical sciences had “been banished” from the main philosophical schools of his period, and “the
little which remains to us is limited to some practical aspects learned from the mechanical artificers”. The “mechanical artificers”
were architects, painters and surveyors whose mathematical training constitutes the subject dealt with in this article. The
context of Danti’s remark was the letter to the “Accademici del Disegno” of Perugia which introduce his Italian translation
of Euclid’s Optics. After the great Medieval season of optical studies, in effect, this science progressed mainly through its practical applications,
especially through “that part of perspective which pertains to painting” (Piero della Francesca), and through the spread of
methods and instruments for measuring by sight. |
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