From Introduction: The balance between practical and theoretic components in the total submission bears relation to the title of this essay where aesthetic advantages are largely theoretical and where technical advantages refer mainly to the practical component. The historical significance of this structure is to be found in the earliest treatises on painting, Cenninni's treatment of painting as a purely practical matter is in accord with medieval tradition. His recipes are aligned according to the various individual techniques, tempera painting being the most significant to this essay. Practical recipes are interspersed with directions for the representation of various pictorial themes, and in the resultant conglomeration, the subdivisions are discernible only as basic premises. In contrast to him, the Renaissance authors beginning with Alberti make a significant innovation in that they divide their material into a theoretical and a practical part . The inter-relationship of practical and theoretical - aesthetic and technical aspects are un-avoidable when it comes down to realities. This is clearly illustrated in the notes of Leonardo da Vinci. Plans for the organization of the treatise are vaguely formulated .