Osservatore e spettatore nella teoria della composizione di Leon Battista Alberti
Pietro Roccasecca
In this short essay I examine the theory of composition in Leon Battista Alberti’s De pictura to question it on the roles of the beholder and spectator of painting in the theory of pictorial composition.
To this end, I first verify in the Albertian perspective method the presence of the beholder of the painting and show its orderly function in the proportions of the figures and architectures in the pictorial space. Then I examine the role of the spectator in the composition of the painted story, highlighting the function of the theory of affects as a tool to capture the attention of the viewer and activate the understanding of the story narrated by painting. Finally, I suggest links, in Albertian theory, between painted history and humanistic
comedy.