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(Early Renaissance in Italy)*

‘The Renaissance began in Italy where there was always a residue of Classic feeling in architecture. A Gothic building such as the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence continued to use the large round arch instead of the usual Gothic pointed arch and preserved the simplicity and monumentality of classical architecture. The Renaissance might have been expected to appear first in the city of Rome, where there was the greatest quantity of ancient Roman ruins; but during the 14^th and early 15^th centuries [ce], when the Italians were impelled** to renew Classicism, the political situation in Rome was very unfeasible for artistic endeavour. Florence, however, under the leadership of the Medici family, was economically prosperous and politically stable.’

***

I’m sure that hundreds, probably thousands, of treatises have been written on the question of why the Renaissance occurred when it did **** (the answer to where it did appearing self-evident).# The point about Rome raises the question acutely.#*

#**

*2048u~m~|J~G~1408[ce]

64R~1400|U~1496

**NB “impelled”

*** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:] 997

(& read on re Brunelleschi)

****{cf↓[[Redbook9:237][19910501:0800oo]{The Renaissance (again)}{Gothic and Renaissance Art}[30th April 1991],]237}

#[See fn=#*** below]

#*?

#**{cf [[Redbook9:214][19910430:1230d]{Renaissance Sculpture (and Classical Influence) [continued (4)]}[30th April 1991],] 214}

#***& see... [next ts journal entry]

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‘Knowledge of the Classical style in architecture was derived during the Renaissance from two sources: the ruins of ancient classical buildings, particularly in Italy but also in France and Spain, and the treatise “De Architectura” (c[irca]27BC[E]) by the Roman architect Vitruvius. For classical antiquity and, therefore, for the Renaissance, the basic element was the order, which was system of of traditional architectural units. During the Renaissance five orders were used, the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite,* with various others prevalent in different periods.

**

*{See [[Redbook9:225][19910501:0800m]{Renaissance Architecture [continued (13)]}[1^st May 1991],] 225}

** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:] 996

( → ‘For example, …’, then 2^nd extract on p220↑ [[Redbook9:220][19910501:0800b]{Renaissance Architecture [continued]}[30th April 1991]])

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‘The Renaissance was also the great moment in the history of architecture for the expression of architectural theory.... It was during the last three-quarters of the 16^th century that architectural theory flourished.’

*

* – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:] 997

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‘In part because of the interest in proportion, architecture during the Renaissance was raised to the level of a liberal (or fine) art. During the Middle Ages it was considered simply a mechanical art, and architects were basically craftsmen,* their anonymity only occasionally dispelled by the fortunate preservation of building accounts.

‘In the Renaissance the varying systems of proportion were dependent on a knowledge of geometry; architecture became materialisation in space of the principles of geometry and thereby an equal of geometry, which had been a liberal art during the Middle Ages.’

‘Renaissance architecture was produced no longer by craftsmen but by educated men. In Italy during the 15^th and 16^th centuries, the architect gradually acquired social standing through his knowledge and education, which were concerned with the theory and principles of design more than with the craft of building.’**

***

*U~

**

?

s~
	↑\
		m~
	↑/
u~

*** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:996] - 997

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‘The concern of those architects for proportion caused that clear, measured expression and definition of architectural space and mass that differentiates the Renaissance style from the Gothic and encourages in the spectator an immediate and full comprehension of the building.*

**

*{Gothic – Complex, v[ersus] Renaissance – Simplicity?}

** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:996] - 997

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‘For the Renaissance, proportion was the most important determining factor of beauty. The great Italian Humanist and architect Leon Battisti Alberti (1404-72[ce]) defined beauty in architecture as:

“a Harmony* of all the Parts in whatsoever Subject it appears, fitted together with such Proportion and Connection, the nothing could be added, diminished, or altered, but for the Worse.” (Ten Books on Architecture, trans. by J. Leoni, book VI, Ch 2, 1755).’**

***

*s~

**{also quoted above []}

[reference not found]

*** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:996]

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*

‘… The ornate, decorative quality of the Corinthian order was embraced during the early Renaissance, while the masculine simplicity and strength of the Doric was preferred during the Italian High Renaissance.’

**

One might feel that naturalism had little or nothing to do with a revival of classical forms and ornaments, and that the order of the [Classical] Orders suggests a predominantly i[nner] c[ircle] rotation. But we shall see.

***

*{(Read here last extract on [[Redbook9:222][19910430:1230g]{Renaissance Architecture [continued (7)]}[1st May 1991],] p222↓)}

** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:996]

{(immediately followed by first para[graph] on [[Redbook9:225][19910430:1230l]{Renaissance Architecture [continued (12)]}[1st May 1991],] p225↓)}

***{The Corinthian came after the Doric (& Ionic) in Classical Greece, after all.

(See [[Redbook9:225][19910430:1230m]{Renaissance Architecture [continued (13)]}[1st May 1991],] 225)}

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*

(Renaissance Architecture)

‘The Renaissance style in architecture originated in Florence, Italy, in the early 15^th century [ce] and thence spread throughout most of the Italian peninsula; by the end of the 16^th century [ce] the new style pervaded almost all of Europe, gradually replacing the Gothic style of the late Middle Ages. The concept of the Renaissance, whose goal was the rebirth or re-creation of ancient Classical culture, dates from the period itself. This meant a revival of naturalism, seen in Italian 15th-century [ce] painting and sculpture, and of classical forms and ornament in Architecture, such as the column and round arch, the tunnel vault, and the dome.’

***

*It’s actually rather painful to write** – the slipped disc, I mean – which will perhaps encourage me to be more selective.

[ref [[Redbook9:214][19910430:1230d]{Renaissance Sculpture (and Classical Influence) [continued (4)]}[30th April 1991]fn=#,] 214]

**(initially at least)

*** – E[ncyclopaedia] B[ritannica] 13:996

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{The Explosion of Literature}[30th April 1991]

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[continued]

Alexander Murray, Fellow of University College Oxford, and the author of “Reason and Safety in the Middle Ages’, refers to “a massive explosion in literature from c[irca]1100[ce] onwards’, in the latest T[imes] L[iterary] S[upplement].*

* T[imes] L[iterary] S[upplement] 19910426:4, ‘Making a gesture: Table manners and body language in the Middle Ages’, A. Murray.

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{Renaissance Sculpture [continued (17)](High Renaissance and Mannerism [continued (7)][Mannerist sculpture outside Italy [continued]][30th April 1991]

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(France, 16^th century)

‘In his later works Pilon achieved a freedom of plasticity and feeling for texture that anticipated Baroque developments.’

*

* – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 27:98]

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