There is an intriguing letter in the university library of Urbino recently uncovered by Alexander Marr that provides a direct eyewitness account of the Linder Gallery from shortly after its creation. It was sent in March 1629 by an engineer, Giovanni Battista Caravaggio to his mathematical  tutor, Mutio Oddi, describing a visit to the house of the German merchant Peter Linder. Read more…

The sole surviving piece of textual evidence that sheds light on the Linder gallery interior is a letter, sent on 28 March 1629, from the architect-engineer Giovanni Battista Caravaggio to his former tutor in mathematics, Mutio Oddi of Urbino.  In the letter, Caravaggio (then in Milan) mentions a visit to their friend Pieter Linder, a German merchant who had also studied mathematics with Oddi, and who was the Urbinate scholar’s closest friend.  He describes seeing, in Linder’s study, a painting showing a picture gallery in perspective,  which is undoubtedly the Linder gallery interior.  Read more…