the needs of commerce and consequently devoted consid-
erable space to the application of the new arithmetic to
book-keeping and trade; the Somma is claimed to be the
first text to cover double-entry book-keeping. He was also
responsible for a Latin translation of Euclid (1509) and a
more original geometrical text, De divina proportione
(1509), including designs after Leonardo da Vinci; the lat-
ter is also significant in the history of type design and the
evolution of the roman letter.
Paciotto, Francesco (Francisco Pachote) (1521–1591)
Italian architect
A native of Urbino, Paciotto was a pupil of Girolamo
GENGA. Around 1540 he was in Rome but in 1553 he was
appointed tutor to Alessandro FARNESE, for whose mother,
MARGARET OF PARMA, he designed the never-completed
Cittadella at Piacenza (1558). The same year he accompa-
nied Philip II to the Netherlands where he was commis-
sioned to design a palace for the Hapsburg governors of
the Netherlands in Brussels. This was never built. Paciotto
also worked on harbor defenses at Nice for the duke of
Savoy (1559) and in 1561 went to Spain where he con-
tributed to the plans for the ESCORIAL. He was much in de-
mand as a military architect, building a fortress at
Antwerp (1564) and working for several Italian princes
from his base at Urbino, where he spent his latter years.
Padua (Italian Padova) A city on the River Bacchiglione
in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua was known to the Ro-
mans as Patavium and survived to become an important
and prosperous commune in the later Middle Ages. Dur-
ing the Renaissance it was ruled by signori from the Car-
rara family (1318–1405) before being annexed by Venice
(1405–1797). Venice allowed Padua’s municipal govern-
ment considerable power and dignity, even after Padua’s
unsuccessful rebellion in 1509.
During the Renaissance Padua was an important cen-
ter of learning and the arts, and its university (founded
1222) was famous for its medical, legal, and philosophical
faculties. Celebrated figures connected with the university
include the teachers and anatomical researchers VESALIUS
and FALLOPPIO, William HARVEY, who graduated as a doc-
tor there (1602), and GALILEO, who held the post of pro-
fessor of mathematics (1592–1610). The philosophers
followed Averroes and the Aristotelian tradition and Elia
del Medigo was the leading student of Hebrew philosophy.
The BOTANIC GARDEN, founded in 1545, is the second old-
est in Europe. Great artists who worked in Padua include
GIOTTOand DONATELLO.
Surviving buildings from the Renaissance period
include the ARENA CHAPEL or Capella degli Scrovegni
(1303–05) with its Giotto frescoes, Il Santo or the basilica
(1232–1307) of the town’s patron saint, St. Anthony, which
has in front of it Donatello’s famous equestrian statue
of GATTAMELATA(1453), the rebuilt cathedral (1552), the
Palazzo della Ragione (rebuilt 1306), and the Palazzo del
Capitano (1532).Páez, Pedro (Pero Paez) (1564–1622) Spanish Jesuit
missionary
Páez joined the Jesuits in 1582 and went as a missionary
to Goa in 1588. He joined a mission to Ethiopia (1589),
but the priests were shipwrecked in southern Arabia, cap-
tured by pirates, imprisoned, and forced to serve as galley
slaves until eventually ransomed in 1596. Páez resumed
mission work in India, but in 1601 set out again for
Ethiopia, which he finally reached, disguised as an Ar-
menian merchant, in 1603. He was successful in his work
at the Ethiopian royal court, eventually converting King
Susenyos to Catholicism. From 1613 he worked on his
Historia Aethiopiae, based on oral testimonies, Ethiopian
historical manuscripts, and his own observations, which
dispelled many myths about the country and laid the basis
for an accurate map, including the origin of the Blue Nile
in Lake Tana. He died of fever in Gorgora.Paganino See MAZZONI, GUIDOpainting If the key term “Renaissance” is used in its
widest, general sense as no more than a historical label for
the two centuries of European history between about
1400 and 1600, then all paintings produced in this area
and period may be described as “Renaissance” artefacts.
However, in the context of the visual arts, this key term
has a very specific meaning which, if analysed, permits the
categorization of two hundred years of European painting
into a series of sub-groups, more or less closely identified
with “Renaissance” values.
At the heart of the matter lies the rebirth of interest in
classical antiquity which started in Italy during the early
15th century and subsequently spread to most other re-
gions of western Europe. Originally a purely literary
movement, the roots of which may be traced back to the
middle of the 14th century, its influence on the visual arts
was somewhat belated. Given that Roman sculptural re-
mains constituted its principal visual source, it is not sur-
prising that sculptors, such as DONATELLO, were motivated
by the rebirth earlier than painters, such as MASACCIO.
What made the Renaissance different from earlier, analo-
gous movements, such as the so-called “Carolingian Re-
naissance,” is that it entailed an appreciation of both
classical form and content, rather than of the one or the
other in isolation. Together with this imitation of antique
style and subject matter came a growing interest in natu-
ralistic values. In part the latter was fostered by the for-
mer. For example, there can be no doubt that Masaccio’s
study of ancient marbles assisted his portrayal of human
character and emotion. However, other tools utilized by
the Renaissance artist in pursuit of naturalistic visual
effects, such as one-point PERSPECTIVE, were original in-33554 4 PPaacciioottttoo,, FFrraanncceessccoo