Plato's attitude toward painting and mathematics

In Western civilization, the material world has been a constant, virtually unlimited source of artistic inspiration and also a subject--if not the subject--of 'scientific' investigation. Since antiquity, art and science have both offered responses to questions concerning the material world, such as its origin, content, and proceedings, and assessed how all of this reflects on human life. Here, I report on what Plato had to say about painting and mathematics. Although he possessed an artistically figurative prose, he assigned painting no 'artistic' value of its own. Rather, his chief concern is to assess, through the lens of his philosophy, its ontology and ethical influence. While many scholars consider him a competent and enthusiastic follower of mathematics, I argue that his knowledge of it is not so deep nor his judgment so positive. I note affinities and differences between his accounts of the two disciplines and shall discuss how in the Renaissance he was figuratively imagined, and his treatment of mathematics received.