«L’ULTIMO ORIZZONTE»: LEONARDO, IL «TERMINE» E IL «PUNTO»

Starting from a text by Leonardo, this paper examines its various interpretations in the first French, English and German translations of the Treatise on Painting. These translations reveal several aspects of the text, especially the relationship between horizon, point and infinity. On this basis, it is shown that for Leonardo, the image as a set of finite and commensurable elements is made possible by the real and physical existence of infinity, which guarantees and, at the same time, renders unstable its mathematical necessity. Consequently, in Leonardo’s late writings, a new conception emerges based on the crisis of mathematical necessity as a paradigm of nature and the affirmation of a method attentive to the differences, nuances and dynamic aspects of reality.