Conclusion
Piero’s books are a mass of detail—detailed arithmetic, detailed instructions. In the case ofDe Prospectiva Pingendi, though, we have another medium, the paintings, to reveal what it is really about. We see that a simplistic reading would completely miss the point. With the mathematical treatises we are not so fortunate—there is no other medium. If we want to know the real meaning, we have to construct it from the treatises alone by getting behind the superficial details and discovering the mathematical thought. Beneath the surface, the thought is surprisingly deep. Piero was a real mathematician—one can say it without apology.
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In this paragraph I paraphrase arguments culled from 18th century sources by Gino Arrighi and quoted by him in the introduction to Ref. [4].
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Peterson, M.A. The Geometry of Piero della Francesca. The Mathematical Intelligencer 19, 33–40 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03025346
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03025346