Inscribed lay out lines
The most obvious of these lines can be seen bisecting the cupid figure in the centre of the composition. Included among thes incised lines are pairs of short arcs, which suggest that the painter established the horizontal with the aid of a plumb-line in the manner recommended much later by Cennino Cennini*. Indeed the general sequence of operations appears to follow fairly closely the methods outlined by Chennini more than a thousand years later.
*Chennino d'Andrea Chennini. Il Libro dell'Arte (ed.Danial Thompson,Jr.1933), chapter LXVII.
Photographs of these inscribed lines are shown below.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The incision of vertical and horizontal layout lines. Traces of these incised layout lines can be seen in several places on the painting.
An attempt has been made to emphasise these lines in the figures on the left. They are to be seen marked in red in the figures on the right.
Return to
