LUDOVICO DOLCE AND THE BIRTH OF THE CRITICISM OF ART. A MOMENT OF RECEPTION OF ARISTOTLE'S POETICS IN THE RENAISSANCE

The paper shows how the re-discovery of Aristotle's Poetics in the sixteenth century led to the rise of art criticism, contrary to the long-standing idea that criticism was born in the Enlightenment. The focus of the article is on the polymath Ludovico Dolce, who, in his Dialogo sulla Pittura (1557), employs the precepts of the Aristotelian poetics to assess firm criteria of judgment of artworks. Unlike many other writings of the period on the same subject, Dolce's reflections did not offer neither a history of art nor a body of rules on how to paint or sculpt, rather sought the proper ways to interpret accurately the artistic work in all its aspects, even the most subjective. Through stringent parallels with Aristotle's Poetics, Dolce outlines what can be considered one of the earliest form of art criticism.

The paper shows how the re-discovery of Aristotle's Poetics in the sixteenth century led to the rise of art criticism, contrary to the long-standing idea that criticism was born in the Enlightenment. The focus of the article is on the polymath Ludovico Dolce, who, in his Dialogo sulla Pittura (1557), employs the precepts of the Aristotelian poetics to assess firm criteria of judgment of artworks. Unlike many other writings of the period on the same subject, Dolce's reflections did not offer neither a history of art nor a body of rules on how to paint or sculpt, rather sought the proper ways to interpret accurately the artistic work in all its aspects, even the most subjective. Through stringent parallels with Aristotle's Poetics, Dolce outlines what can be considered one of the earliest form of art criticism.