A history of Italian painting — A Reader’s Guide

Mather's Use of Primary Sources

The excerpts reveal Mather's reliance on documentary evidence, particularly Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks. He quotes at length from Leonardo's precepts on counterpoise, composition, and the painter's solitude, including the instruction to 'make the limbs of your figures roughly and attend first to the movements appropriate to the mental state.' Mather also reproduces Peter Paul Rubens's tribute to Leonardo, noting that 'nothing escaped him that related to the expression of his subject.' These quotations are not mere decoration; Mather uses them to illustrate Leonardo's break from 'the easy-going sociable methods which for generations had held in the painter's bottega.' The author's own voice is present in the framing, but he lets the primary texts speak for themselves.

Structure and Intended Audience

Mather explicitly addresses his reader: 'the intelligent traveller in Europe and the private student.' The book's structure reflects this pedagogical aim. Each chapter focuses on a major figure or school, and the author avoids 'controversial problems' that might confuse a novice. Yet he also includes notes and hints for reading 'tucked away in the last pages where they will not bother readers who do not need or want them.' The excerpts show a balance between accessibility and scholarly rigor. For instance, the chapter on Leonardo includes both technical advice from the Treatise on Painting and Rubens's aesthetic praise, offering multiple entry points for the reader.

Limits of the Excerpts: What We Cannot Know

The excerpts cover only the preface, table of contents, and a portion of the Leonardo chapter. They do not include Mather's treatment of Giotto, Siena, Masaccio, or any later artists. The catalog subjects—'Painting -- Italy -- History; Painting, Italian'—are accurate as far as they go, but the 'Architecture' category appears to be a misclassification. The excerpts contain no architectural analysis. Additionally, the text's word count (121,943) suggests a comprehensive survey, but the available material is too limited to assess Mather's treatment of individual works or his critical judgments beyond the Leonardo section. Any inference about the book's overall argument must remain tentative.

Readers approaching this digital edition should note that Mather's preface positions the book as a beginner's guide, but his method—grounded in direct observation and primary sources—rewards careful attention. The excerpts from Leonardo's notebooks offer a glimpse of the author's scholarly apparatus. For a full understanding of Mather's narrative, one must read beyond the Leonardo chapter, particularly his accounts of earlier and later painters. The book's value lies in its synthesis of visual analysis and historical context, a combination that remains useful for students and travelers alike.

Flipping through Mather’s quiet insistence on looking, not quoting, I felt the same patient hush I once found in a treatise on Japanese brushwork. Both writers trust the eye over the archive. That older volume’s calm clarity came back to me, almost like a familiar room, when I reached for On the Laws of Japanese Painting: An Introduction to the Study of the Art of Japan — Inside the Classic—a gentler echo of the same reverence.