There he saw Piero della Francesca’s Flagellation of Christ and the painting gave him a permanent fascination for the subject.
He spent 40 years assembling a collection of books by scholars and artists from the 15th to the 20th century who were interested in the secrets of artist’s perspective. The collection is now coming up for auction in a two-day, 399-lot sale to be held by Pierre Bergé & Associés in Paris on November 14-15.
Pictured above are pages from one of the highlights, the Divina Proportione of 1509. Written by the Franciscan monk and mathematician Luca Pacioli with illustrations designed by Leonardo da Vinci, it is the first and only edition of a High Renaissance work that uses the writings of Plato, Euclid and Vitruvius to describe the visible work in terms of geometrical elements, examining the interplay of mathematics, art, architectural theory and typography.
The estimate is €60,000-80,000.
