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Cennini’s  Theories of Artistic Materials and Techniques

….Far from being a mechanical set of rules, the book is charged with human warmth, and the author takes great pains to find the exact words for his step-by-step descriptions of the artist’s task. From every instructive page, beyond technical rules and precepts, there breathes an almost sublime sense of the value of the artist’s work. This work is essentially linked to the seasons of the year, to nature and animals, and to the lifeblood of man, all of which in turn, dominate the artist’s function in the eternal cycle of change and renewal.

“ Your life” - Cennini says to the artist, whether painter, goldsmith, or artisan-”should be ordered as if you were engaged in the study of theology, philosophy, or any other branch of learning.” Art was thus seen as the product of rational activity, not merely of chance inspiration and this principle did indeed guide many artists of the period, and Botticelli in particular. His Primavera amounts to a summa ordinata, an epitome, of his beliefs, as if it actually were a textbook of “theology, philosophy, or any other branch of learning.” Yet, at the same time, the painting is just as much an epitome of technique.

Essay by O. Casazza

From Primavera- the Restoration of  Botticelli’s Masterpiece by Umberto Baldini 

English translation copyright 1986