The various arts De diversis artibus
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The various arts = De diversis artibus
(Oxford medieval texts)
Clarendon , Oxford University Press, 1986, c1961
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De diversis artibus
De diversis artibus
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Note
Originally published: London : Nelson, 1961
Includes bibliography and index
Parallel Latin text and English translation
Description and Table of Contents
Description
As far as is known, Theophilus's was the only treatise on almost all the major arts that was produced during the thousand years of the Middle Ages. In his preface he presents the philosophical attitudes to the visual arts of a thinking man of the time. In his main text, which he divides into three Books, he explains the contemporary techniques of making wall-paintings, manuscripts paintings, stained glass windows, ivory carvings, and various kinds of metalwork. The
first references to oil painting and paper occur in the treatise, which also gives the earliest known instructions for making an organ.
Theophilus's treatise has been of interest to scholars for some centuries. It was referred to by Cornelius Agrippa in the sixteenth century, and was the basis of an article by Lessing in the eighteenth. The original autograph manuscript has not survived, but the reconstruction of it by Professor Dodwell is now considered to provide its only definitive text: this comprehensive edition includes an English translation on facing pages and full introductory and textual commentary.
by "Nielsen BookData"