Basilica di Sant'Andrea di Mantova

On Painting by Leon Alberti is, in essence, a book of guidelines for novice painters. Alberti explains that since paintings are meant to represent things that are seen, they need also be approached this way. In his theory, he breaks up the way of painting into three important components circumscription, composition, and the reception of light. Within these three are guidelines for the portrayal of subjects, spaces and emotion. In the historia, or the work of the painter, there is circumscription