THE plan to publish a short series of studies on Venetian human-
ism originated in two seminars which were held in 1945 and
1947 at the Houghton Library at Harvard University, under
the auspices of the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts. The sub-
ject of these discussions -- The Dream of Poliphilus and Titian and Pietro
Aretino -- will be presented in two subsequent studies. The present essay,
which is based on a lecture delivered at the National Gallery of Art, is
inseparable from the others both in theme and method, and is here in-
cluded with the consent of the National Gallery.

In a study of this kind, it is impossible to uphold the boundaries be-
tween art and literature; the subject demands that we trespass. While it
may be natural for a library to be tolerant of this offence, a prejudice in
favor of books is generally suspect among connoisseurs; it smacks of that
'literary approach to art' of which we have been happily cured by a
militant generation. But I fear that literature behaves very much like
Horace's Nature: it returns even if you drive it out with a pitchfork. It
would be far more convenient if art were pure. A literary allusion
obstructs our vision -- until it is understood.

The footnotes to this essay may be ignored by readers who trust
my argument on sight, but I am confident that there will be few of these.
And as I hope that there may be some who would wish to pursue the
subject further, I have made the references sufficiently critical and ex-
plicit to spare them some of my own trouble.

The help I have received cannot be matched by adequate thanks. I
am indebted first and foremost to the director and staff of the Houghton
Library, in particular to Philip Hofer, who planned the publication of
this essay and nursed it into print. His assistant, Dr. Weinberger, has
helped me over many a bibliographical hurdle. For generous aid in ob-

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