Giovanni Mazzaferro
The First Spanish Translation
of The Book of the Art by Cennino Cennini:
of The Book of the Art by Cennino Cennini:
a small Italian-Argentine miracle
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| Firenze - S.Maria Novella - Spanish Chapel (Andrea di Bonaiuto 1365 circa) |
The first edition in Spanish language of the Book of the Art by Cennino Cennini was printed in 1947 in Buenos Aires (for all the printed editions see my 'Cennino Cennini and the "Book of the Art": a Check-list of the Printed Editions'. The translation is by Ricardo Resta, the introduction by Aldo Mieli (Argos publisher). Virtually never mentioned in any of the bibliographies on Cennini, the Resta-Mieli version, however, has its importance because it allows us to observe that the text of Cennini has been studied not only by philologists and art technicians, but also by historians (Mieli) and philosophers of science (Resta).
When I managed to examine a facsimile of El Libro del Arte (reprinted by Editorial Maxtor, isbn 8497613902) I was amazed reading the preface of Aldo Mieli. An absolutely excellent text, from a man who demonstrates a vast culture. I confess that I had never heard of him. I then started to look for information on his life, as well as on that of Ricardo Resta (the translator). I found out information that is so interesting and so appealing that I was captured by these two personalities. For this reason, after an initial section devoted to the description of the Spanish edition of 1947 and that (again by the binomial Resta - Mieli) of La Divina Proporción (About the divine proportions) by Luca Pacioli, published a year before, the rest of the post is dedicated to the extraordinary (and tragic) life of Aldo Mieli. Believe me, it deserves to be read.
CENNINO CENNINI: 'EL LIBRO DEL ARTE' (1947)
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| Cennino Cennini. El LIbro del Arte. Buenos Aires, 1947 |
The name of Ricardo
Resta does not even appear in the title page. The preface of Aldo Mieli is an
epitome of culture and an example of rare clarity. Mieli knows all previous
editions and the all few known personal details about Cennino, as well as the
principal manuscripts of art techniques published up to that time. [1]
A few elements: citing
previous editions of the Book of Art, the scholar from Livorno names the
translation into English by Daniel Varnish Thompson, and does not limit himself
to just provide bibliographic references, but also express some reservations
about the translation: "Translation
indeed excellent, despite some slips, and some questionable passages, due more
than anything to variants in punctuation of which the text of the codices is
susceptible." (p. 15). A judgment to which he adds, later on, the
information that the same Thompson had published in his magazine Archeion, in Volume XV of 1933, the Recepte
daffare più colori di Ambrogio di Ser Piero da Siena (Recipes to produce
more colours, by Ambrogio di Ser Piero from Siena (p. 19). [2] The author of
the preface also cites a number of manuscripts of art techniques that are
available in its Panorama general de
historia de las ciencias, II, El mundo islámico y el Occidente medieval
cristiano, (General Outlook of the History of Sciences, II, The Islamic
world and the Mediaeval Christian West), Buenos Aires, Espasa Calpe, 1946.
Finally he announces that it is about to publish, always for Espasa Calpe
publishers, a volume entitled Leonardo daVinci, sabio (Leonardo da Vinci. The Wise). In short, a whole series of
traces that make clear that Mieli was certainly not a layman in this field.
The year before, the
pair Resta-Mieli had produced the Spanish translation of La Divina Proporzione by Luca Pacioli, with an unpublished sonnet
by Rafael Alberti, for the types of the Losada publishing house. [3] The same
publisher has proposed in 2013 the facsimile version of the work, which I have
here with me (isbn 978-950-03-9835-0). If, at the end, El Libro del Arte was a small book, the publishing project behind
the edition of Pacioli was far more ambitious. The approach by Mieli was, once
again, really clear, from the very first page of his Preface, which begins thus
: “Vida y Obras de Luca Pacioli y su
posición en el desarrollo de la Ciencia, en el Renacimiento” (Life and
Oeuvre of Luca Pacioli, and the role he played in the development of sciences,
in the Renaissance). Mieli was a
historian of science and his entire commentary concerned the scientific aspects
(mathematical in this case) of Pacioli’s work.
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| Aldo Mieli (1879-1950) |
ALDO MIELI
AND THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN ITALY
Aldo Mieli was born in
Livorno (Italy) in 1879 [4]. He graduated in chemistry and became a university
professor in Rome in 1908. However, soon after, the scope of his interests
extended itself to include the history and philosophy of science, as well as
the relationship between science and art. Mieli fought for making of history of
science an autonomous discipline, taught in Italian universities. He
contributed to several journals, until, in 1919, he founded and directed the Archives of the History of Science
(since 1927 called Archeion). In one
of the earliest numbers (the second), he published a Bibliografia degli scritti a stampa e delle riproduzioni dei manoscritti di Leonardo da Vinci (Bibliography of the
writings in print and reproductions of the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci).
[5] The interest in Leonardo da Vinci, the artist - scientist par excellence,
was one of the constants of his biography. Two years later, for example, in
1921, Aldo Mieli founded the Leonardo da Vinci Editions, which will publish Archeion. Mieli is one of the best-known
figures in the world of Italian science in the early twentieth century, along
with Giovanni Vailati and Federigo Enriques. Strangely enough, his relations
with the latter were certainly not friendly; they had different ways of
thinking on their discipline and the differences emerge powerfully in the
context of the Scientific Committee responsible for the creation of an
Institute for the History of Science [6]. Anyway, Mieli was a very well-known
and well established figure in the elite of Italian culture, which however did
not seem to take him into account for too noble purposes, sometimes. This is
the case of the below letter of Giuseppe Prezzolini to Alessandro Casati on 1st August 1924 [7] (Casati was, at the time, and only for a few
other months, the Minister of Education in the Mussolini Government):
"Dear Casati,
In confidence, I am adding that Mieli is a very wealthy person, he has no children nor close relatives, and is a little crazy and ambitious for his own specialisation; so that, if you are able to convince him, he could one day leave his beautiful library, his home and his collection to a museum, provided it would somehow remind (and would be polite to) him. "
I forgot the day before yesterday to ask you if you could please hold a meeting with Prof. Aldo Mieli ... He has a plan for a Museum of the History of Science that would not cost the State anything, and is wishing to present it to you.
Nothing like that materialised. In 1928, suddenly, Aldo Mieli abandoned Italy and moved to France. Why this veritable escape? Definitely not for his Jewish origins. We are in 1928, the racial laws are still far to come and, at that time, a large part of the Italian Jews are either fascists or agnostic, just like the majority of their fellow citizens. The most reliable assumption is of course due to political problems. Mieli was avowedly socialist. In the Central Political Criminal Registry a file is stored on Mieli, with his mugshot of 1930, which defines him as a 'dangerous socialist', and orders to stop immediately in the event of a return to Italy. How much then his open homosexuality may have influenced Mieli’s decision is something that in our opinion borders on gossip (but which even created serious problems with his fellow party: Mieli was expelled from the Socialist Party in 1902 for 'passive pederasty'); we speak on it just because, even in matters of sexuality, Mieli had a very scientific approach. In 1921, he founded the Rassegna di studi sessuali (Review of sexual studies), which he directed until his escape to France. Ferdinando Abbri writes: "In Mieli’s conception the Review was to be the expression of sexology research and had to produce, as the Archives of the History of Science, a bibliography and a series of studies and translations of works by leading scholars in the time. The fact that the Archives and the Review would promote cultural initiatives such as bibliographies and series can be explained by Mieli’s belief that the history of science and sexology were related fields "(cited). More generally, on his militant homosexuality, see what was written by Giovanni Dall'Orto [8], with valuable information from the archive and the library of Livorno,
ALDO MIELI IN FRANCE
Mieli arrived in Paris at the age of 49. He found reception at the Centre International de Synthese, to which he gave as a deposit its extremely rich library in exchange for an annuity; he organized in 1929 the first International Congress of History of Science and continued to publish Archeion (by a strange twist of fate, however, the Rassegna di studi sessuali will continue to live in Italy, albeit with a slightly different title, becoming, in the dark years of the racial laws, a magazine - founded by a Jew - defending the purity of the race). The indices of the journal Archeion between the years 1928 to 1943 are available (at a price of inhuman efforts), on the site of the Digital Library of the Museo Galileo (http://www.museogalileo.it/). [9] We had a quick look at the contributions: the French years are, in our opinion, the best ones of the magazine, with prestigious international collaborators; Mieli made the lion's share, however, and wrote hundreds of reviews and articles. In the field of art (or, rather, of art and science), he continued to constantly review papers on Leonardo. As far as art techniques are concerned, in the issue 15/1933 (pp. 339-347) the Review published ‘The Ricepte daffare più colori of Ambrogio di Ser Pietro da Siena’. The author is Daniel Varnish Thompson, i.e. the Yale University professor who in 1932 had published the fourth Italian edition of the Book of the Art by Cennino and in 1933 the third, highly successful edition in English.
We do not know how Thompson had come into contact with Mieli (or vice versa), but it is certain that the two knew each other (additional search indexes of the indexes crossing the name "Cennini" did not give satisfactory results). However, four years later, in 1937, in the volume 19, pages 102-104, appeared a review of the Materials of Medieval Painting published by Thompson in 1936. The review was signed by Dorothea Waley Singer. [10 ]
To upset the Parisian life thickens the Nazi threat. In 1939, on the eve of the outbreak of World War II, fearing the Nazi invasion and the ensuing racial persecution, Mieli decided to run away again, and this time, he moved from France to Argentina.
ALDO MIELI IN ARGENTINA
AND THE BORTH OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN SOUTH AMERICA
The one to Argentina
was a real escape (the second one, in Mieli’s life). He was certainly not
alone: at that time the Italian intellectuals fleeing racial persecution either
moved to Argentina or the United States. In addition to Mieli, by way of
example, moved to Argentina mathematicians like Beppo Levi and Alessandro
Terracini, the linguist Benvenuto Terracini, physicians like Renato Segre and
Amedeo Herlitzka , physicists like Andrea Levialdi , lawyers like Renato
Treves, Gino Arias and Camillo Viterbo , the philosopher Rudolf Mondolfo and
the sociologist Gino Germani [11]. And most importantly, it was a somehow
organized escape. [12] Thanks to his scientific work, Mieli had liaisons in
Argentina and could offer his drafting skills, as an organizer of a University
Institute of the History of Science. Awarded if not a certainty, at least a
hope, he moved to Santa Fe, at the Universidad
Nacional del Litoral. He brought with him, of course, his vast library and
an unchanged desire to continue to further pursue his magazine and his subject.
Archeion, after a pause in 1939,
resumed publications in 1940; the University reserved a chair and opened an
Institute of History and Philosophy of Science. Around Mieli gathered, in a few
years, a small group of university professors, students and fans of the discipline.
At least two names are worth naming: José Babini, who was really his right arm
and the continuer of his work for decades, and Ricardo Resta, philosopher of
science, who began to write assiduously on Archeion.
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| Universidad Nacional del Litoral Santa Fe |
Mieli was nearly sixty
years old, his health faltered, and his budget had worsened dramatically
compared to twenty years before. He seemed, however, to have found a solution
by giving up ownership of his library to the University and ensuring for
himself the tranquillity necessary to teach and publish his research.
Fate is cruel. In
1943, a military coup overthrew the government of Argentina. A military group
of pro- fascists came to power. One of the first things the regime will do (it
lasted only a few years, to be replaced by the rise of Peronism in 1945) was to
secure the control of universities: the Institute of History and Philosophy of
Science and History was closed; Archeion
ceased to exist.
Now, we can only try
to imagine what a man could feel who had escaped twice from the ghosts of the twentieth
century, just trying to keep alive his dearest creatures, his magazine and his
beloved library, when a third misfortune hit him, almost as if he were a
character of a Greek tragedy. Anyone would emerge destroyed. This was a severe
blow. Mieli moved to a Buenos Aires’ suburb, Florida; he was seriously ill and
in grave financial difficulties. Yet he could not stop dreaming: he carried
some collaborations (precisely, the prefaces to Pacioli and Cennini we
mentioned at the beginning). The real project, now, was however to write a Panorama general de historia de la ciencia
(General outlook of the history of science). He will be able to publish only
the first two works, before death will seize him in 1950.
RICARDO RESTA
Much less we know
about Ricardo Resta, if not that he too, first collaborator of Mieli in Archeion, and then philosopher of
science, had problems of a political nature. In a biographic essay (Laura Levi,
Beppo Levi: Italy and Argentina and the life of a mathematician), Beppo Levi
(who had moved to Argentina at the same time as Mieli) tells us: " My sister, who had studied architecture in
Rosario but had worked in Buenos Aires for some time, had married Ricardo
Resta, a philosopher closely related to the academic circles in Argentine.
However, he opposed the then prevailing Peronism, and this created problems at
work for him. So, he accepted an invitation to take a professorship at the
University of Panama." (P. 81). Therefore Ricardo Resta’s academic
career took place for the most part in Panama, where he taught philosophy for
decades. He returned to Argentina, where he died in 1965. The encomium of
Ricardo Resta and some personal recollections by his students have been
published in Panamanian journals of the subsequent years.
It seems useful to
add, however, that Resta should be recalled also for an intense activity of
translation from Italian to Spanish: besides Pacioli and Cennini, we found on
the Internet also his translations of the works of Kepler and Schiaparelli in
science and Guido De Ruggiero in the field of political science.
NOTE
[1] There is only one mistake in Mieli’s preface, where he says that there are only three
manuscripts of the Libro dell'Arte,
forgetting the fourth (the Palatine Code 818) of the National Library of Florence.
Miely simply follows Renzo Simi's foreword (1913)
[2] See note 10.
[3] The publisher
Losada has been one of the most important publishing houses in Argentina.
Set-up in 1938, at the initiative of some anti-Franco Spanish exiles (but also
thanks to Italian ones). For a brief history of the publishing house see:
The publisher
specialized in the early years in translation of literature (also artistic)
from Italian. Of 1943 is, for example, the translation of the Treatise on
Painting by Leonardo da Vinci.
[4] "Mieli, Aldo.", By Maria Luisa Righini Bonelli , Complete
Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008. Encyclopedia.com . 22 Feb. 2014 <
http://www.encyclopedia.com
"Mieli, Aldo”, by Ferdinand Abbri, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Vol 74 (2010) http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/aldo-mieli_(Dizionario-Biografico)/
[5] The text of the
monograph is available at the Internet address
http://www.franuvolo.it/sito/doc/Leonardo-in/153.pdf
[6 ] Sandra Linguerri.
Storia della scienza in Italia
(History of science in Italy), with unnumbered pages, in
http://www.storiadellascienza.net/archivio/
[7] Alessandro Casati, Giuseppe Prezzolini. Carteggio II 1911-1944,
edited by Dolores Continati, p. Editions of History and Literature, 1990
[8] Giovanni Dall’Orto Aldo Mieli (1879-1950): un pioniere gay
dimenticato (a forgotten gay pioneer) (http://www.giovannidallorto.com/biografie/aldomieli/aldomieli.html#15a)
in La Gaya Scienza (http://www.giovannidallorto.com/).
The materials collected by
Dall'Orto are as precious, as unpleasant the person is. Dall'Orto is in
possession of photocopies of autobiographical notes by Mieli. Having learnt it,
I contacted him to ask for information. He replies : "The ‘bibliographic
scribbles’ are still unpublished, but I own a bad photocopy, almost unreadable
[which discourages me from ever proposing a transcript] but they are really
autobiographical, and do not speak of Mieli’s bibliographic activity, but only
about his life (there are endless pages about the ills that would lead him to
death, or of a time when he was accidentally locked inside the house... little
signs of senility by a man who was great, and had been reduced to living from
day to day, with no prospects)." I asked him whether I could read them.
He replied: "Certainly, as soon as I will have published the transcript of
these autobiographical scribbles, it will be my concern to inform you
immediately." As I point out that the answer is silly and irritating, his
final answer is: "Thank you. If you want me also to write your essay,
while you will place in return a link to my site, please ask, ask as well. You
would not be the first one to do so, I assure you." The person can be judged
by himself.
[9] Only part of the
magazine is available online. To search without the need of starting from the
indices use the following link
http://193.206.220.110/Teca/Viewer?an=000000903332. Beware, though: not all
years contain all issues: 1933, for example, is not complete. Better to start
searching here:
http://colombo.imss.fi.it/IMSS/?q=uniformtitle130730:%22Archeion%20%5Bspogli-analytical%20entries%5D.%22.
Next to each essay is written whether it is available online or not
[10] The Recepte are available only for a fee.
The review is available online at no cost, instead: http://colombo.imss.fi.it/IMSS/?uilang=it&hreciid=|library/marc/amicus|000000378817
[11]Riccardo Campa, Tra due culture (Between two cultures)
http://www.esteri.it/mae/ministero/pubblicazioni/allegati/20111205_rivista_StudiItaliani_Cordoba.pdf
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