Alberti, Castiglione, and Machiavelli Study Questions (discussed in class)

1. According to Alberti in On Painting, what types of qualities should a good painter possess? Are painters mere craftsmen? Intellectuals? Artists? What roles in society should they ultimately play?

2. Also according to Alberti, what should a good painting be able to do for or convey to a viewer? What are paintings to Alberti? Are they decorations, crafts, amusements...or something more?

3. In Book of the Courtier, Castiglione's fictional court personalities hash out their ideal male and female courtiers. What qualities do they believe each should possess? Which qualities seem typically medieval or antiquity-based to you, and which seem like more modern additions?

4. What are the primary differences between their ideal male and female courtiers? Do you see any marked differences between their "ideal female courtier"/the Duchess character and the other female types we've seen in the primary sources from earlier eras?

5. Machiavelli believes that all efficient and long-lasting "princes" or rulers should pursue a very few simple policy goals. What are they, and why are they so important?

6. According to Machiavelli, rulers should endeavor to be what kind of leader? Why? How does this type of leader tend square with the portrayals of great rulers from the past? If there are differences, how does Machiavelli account for these differences?

7. How do these three readings, both separately and as a group, seem to represent elements of the Renaissance movement discussed in the textbook? Is Machiavelli's The Prince from the same philosophical tradition as On Painting and Book of the Courtier?