Ideas from 'De Re Aedificatoria' by Leon Battista Alberti [1485], by Theme Structure

green numbers give full details    |     back to texts     |     unexpand this idea


21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 4. Beauty
The beautiful is that from which nothing can be subtracted and to which nothing can be added
                        Full Idea: The beautiful is that from which nothing can be taken away and to which nothing can be added but for the worse.
                        From: Leon Battista Alberti (De Re Aedificatoria [1485]), quoted by Roger Scruton - Beauty: a very short introduction 9
                        A reaction: Scruton rejects this Platonic tradition of beauty as organic wholeness, because you can't say how it would be 'worse' without invoking beauty, which makes it circular. Scruton appears to be correct.