The sculptor and architect Filarete (Antonio Averlino) used Greek letters and words on his relief sculpture more than any other Quattrocento artist in the Western world; examination of the five instances of Greek in his work shows that, prior to c. 1450, he used the kind of Greek letters employed by the Byzantines, just like his contemporaries in the West. During the 1450s, however, he switched to classical, all’antica letters, like those used in ancient fifth-century Athens. This discovery helps to date these five works.

Furthermore, by using antiquarian letters, Filarete forms part of ‘the return of Greek to the West’, i.e. the gradual increase in the study and knowledge of Greek in Western Europe that led to its incorporation in the humanist educational program.

Lastly, the article studies Filarete from a new angle, as an artist who loved words and scripts.  All of the objects examined have multilingual inscriptions in at least two different alphabetic systems. The artist’s logophilia is evidenced not only by his use of different alphabets and different styles of Greek letters, but also by how he used words in unusual and meaningful ways.