Full-text treatises on Renaissance art and architecture

Art Theorists of the Italian Renaissance (Trattati del Rinascimento Italiano) is a collection of the leading treatises on art and architecture written between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. The inclusion of a number of very rare works reshapes scholarship in a number of fields, while associated texts provide valuable information on the social, political and historical context of the Italian Renaissance.

The first and second editions of Vasariís Lives of the Artists (1550 and 1568) are included in full, with full English parallel translation. Additional texts range from Albertiís De Pictura to lesser-known works such as Vespasianoís Le Vite. Where possible these texts are provided in Latin, Italian and English. Architectural treatises such as Palladioís I Quattro Libri dellíArchitettura are reproduced complete with original diagrams and illustrations. Image handling software reveals detail not normally visible in printed editions.

You can trace the occurrence of a word or concept within a single text or author, or across the entire database. Careful division of the works into genres offers both speed and scope to research in specialisms such as iconography. It is particularly useful where reliance on a printed index could impede detailed and comprehensive analysis.

Access to these texts is particularly difficult outside the principal national and specialised libraries. A number of the texts only survive in one or two copies. Through publication in electronic form they are now made available to scholars all over the world.