{The Nature of the Romans}[1st May 1991]

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*If Islam’s generally right-wing and anti-artistic character is related to its starting point at c[ica]M~U~, why isn’t Rome the civilisation of wonderful artistic originality that we perceive in classical Greece? – The G~ factor in Rome is detectable only in its republicanism, and its sense of justice (and even that** is at least as much m~ as G~).

I don’t really have an answer to this: the Romans were interested in art, but by common account not original.

Perhaps one answer is that [whereas] a military strategy can spring, as it were, fully-armed from the head of Man, a cultural flowering requires centuries of preparation. The Romans simply weren’t around, racially or culturally, in *** sufficiently identifiable state at least for their culture to be seen as the ripening stage of a much longer cultural cycle.

Well, it sounds plausible.****

*{cf [[Redbook9:182-183][19910423:0920b]{The Nature of Islam}[23rd April 1991],] 183}

**[The sense of justice, presumably]

***[sic]

****{But still not very convincing in C[ircles] A[nalysis] and S[ynthesis] terms.}

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{Renaissance Architecture [continued (38)]}[1st May 1991]

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‘England. The Renaissance style of architecture made a very timid appearance in England during the first half of the 16^th century, and it was only from about 1550[ce] that it became a positive style with local qualities. In fact, the Gothic style continued in many parts of England throughout most of the 16^th century [ce], and English Renaissance architecture was a very original fusion of the Tudor Gothic and Classic styles. This style flourished until the early 17^th century [ce] when Inigo Jones created a much more Italianate style that gradually replaced the English Renaissance style.’

*

*– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:] 1011-12

(& see rest of [source] section re English architecture of the period)

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‘Germany. Only by the middle of the 16^th century [ce] was the Renaissance style manifestly important.... The style lingered in Germany until about the middle of the 17^th century [ce].’

*

*– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:] 1010

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‘In Spanish America the high quality as well as the great quantity of colonial architecture established it as a major contributor to the New World civilisation.’

*

*– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:1009]

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{Renaissance Architecture [continued (35)]}[1st May 1991]

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[(Spain and Spanish America)]

( – Herreran)

‘The classicism of the Palace of Charles V was succeeded by an extremely austere and cold style, named after the greatest Spanish architect of the 16^th century, Juan de Herrera.’

*

*– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:1009]

(& read 3 para[graph]s on the character of Phillip II and his Escorial palace-monastery)

(illus[tration] 1010)

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{Renaissance Architecture [continued (34)]}[1st May 1991]

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[(Spain and Spanish America)]

( – Classical)

‘The palace [of Charles V in the Alhambra]* is square in plan with a huge central circular court (100 feet (30 metres) in diameter), which was intended for bullfights and tournaments. The plan is, therefore, fully Renaissance, being centralised and symmetrical; it is organised on cross-axes formed by the four entrances, one in each side. The facade shows a full understanding of the principles of Italian Renaissance design in its superimposition of orders (ie Ionic pilasters or half-columns above Tuscan, and Corinthian above Ionic) and in the alternating rhythm of of the triangular and segmental pediments above the windows of the second story.** The interior court is surrounded by a colonnade with a similar superimposition of Doric and Ionic.’

***

*(which has never been completed)

[Square brackets per ms, indicating insertion in ms]

**(sic)

***– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:] 1009

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(Spain and Spanish America)

(– Plateresque)

‘The richness of the classical decoration imported from north Italy blended effectively with the elements of the Moorish and Flamboyant Gothic styles to form the new Plateresque style. The luxuriance of its ornament was a fitting expression of the splendour-loving culture that Spain developed as the wealth of the Americas began to pour in during the early 16^th century.’

*

*– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:] 1008-1009

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*

* – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:1006]

(external illus[tration], 1007)

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‘The most notable feature of the interior elevation of the wing of Francis I [(built 1515-24[ce], at the château at Blois)] is a great octagonal open staircase, five sides of which project into the court. Within* is a spiral staircase ** sat on a continuous tunnel vault that is supported by radiating piers. On the surface of the piers are panels in low relief of Arabesque decoration, of a type that is found often in Lombard Renaissance architecture. The richness of the Lombard style blends very well with Flamboyant Gothic, which had always been characterised by intricate rich decoration.

*Within what?

**This is hard to envision.

*** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13]: 1006

& PTO [next ts journal entry]

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‘The Renaissance outside Italy’

‘France. The Renaissance style of architecture appeared in France at the very end of the 15^th century and flourished until the end of the 16^th century. As in other north European countries and in the Iberian peninsula, the new Renaissance manner did not completely oust the older Gothic style, which survived in many parts of France throughout the 16^th century [ce] (See above[,] the section Late Gothic). French Renaissance architecture is divided into two periods: the early Renaissance, from the end of the 15^th century until about 1530[ce], and Mannerism, dating from about 1530[ce] to the end of the 16^th century [ce].’

*

* – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13]: 1005

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*’This period of free and decorative Mannerism was followed by a more restrained Classical architecture seen to perfection in one of the greatest architects of the Renaissance, Andrea Palladio....** [His] Villa Capra or Rotonda (1550-51[ce];** with later changes) near Vicenza is magnificent in its simplicity and massing. In the centre of a cubelike block (a cube is typical of most Palladian villas) is a circular hall, and on all four sides are projecting Classic temple fronts as porticos, resulting in an absolute Classic rigidity in the plan.’

****

*(In Venice?)

**{cf [(presumably)[Redbook9:312][19910510:0904#]{Baroque Architecture [continued #] (England)}[10th May 1991],] 312}

***64M~1552[ce]

**** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13]: 1004-5

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