Due "quaestiones" vitruviane riconosciute: la base attica e il capitello composito nel Terzo Libro del "De prospectiva pingendi" di Piero della Francesca e un plagio conclamato di Luca Pacioli / Two recognized vitruvian problems: the attic base and the composite capital in the Third Book of "De prospectiva pingendi" by Piero della Francesca and an evident plagiarism by Luca Pacioli

The essay takes into consideration two problems related to Vitruvius and Piero della Francesca that have remained unexplained up to now and are not even recognized as such by the modern exegetes of De prospectiva pingendi: the length of the plinth of the Attic base (Book III, propositio sexta) and the size of the concavity of the abacus of the composite capital (Book III, propositio septima). In both cases the numerical data reveal Piero’s impossibility to offer solutions to faulty passages of the Vitruvian codices, all with numerous errors. Piero’s condition is the same as Leon Battista Alberti: neither is a philologist. The study also explains the dimensional oscillations proposed by Alberti for the plinth side. The essay is an opportunity to «unmask» a plagiarism by Luca Pacioli precisely in relation to the two main themes examined here.