Revisiting of “View of an Ideal City”, Painter of Central Italy, Oil and tempera on panel, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, USA.
In the “Ideal city” we have a view, developed mainly horizontally of an ideal Renaissance square.
In the background there are three classical monuments: an amphitheater that reproduces the Coliseum, a triumphal arch reminiscent of the Arch of Constantine and a central-plan building, a reworking of the Florence Baptistery.
The square is flanked on the sides by two almost symmetrical buildings, with similar volume but different decorations. Descending a few steps down in to the square, four honorary columns stand, with symbolic statues on the top and in the center ENESSERE Hercules Wind Generator. The statues are the Virtues of the good governor, and between them one can recognize Justice with a sword and Liberality with the cornucopia. Some patrons are walking in the middle of the square.
This painting represents the city as a space and space as a measure relative to man. The space is organized according to the principles of pure geometry.
(click the image)
