Verbal and visual abstraction: The role of pictorial techniques of representation in Renaissance architectural theory

Caroline van Eck*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book / Report / Conference proceedingChapterAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Renaissance discussions on the use of linear perspective point to underlying, implicit views on the aesthetics of architecture. In the next generation of architectural theorists, of which Sebastiano Serlio is the best known, pictorial techniques are not merely used as an instrument which helps to give visual form to the architect's inventions. A somewhat similar position was taken by Andrea Palladio, whose Quattri Libri of 1570 consist of practical and technical instructions in architectural design. For those authors who considered architectural design to be a science of geometrical construction and knowledge of the correct handling of the orders, light and shade and particular points of view are immaterial. Catarreo, L. B. Alberti, and Scamozzi took these aspects into consideration, not by means of a number of verbal instructions, but by advocating the use of visual representations of design, either by means of a model, or by means of perspectival images.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Built Surface
Subtitle of host publicationArchitecture and the Visual Arts from Antiquity to the Enlightenment
EditorsCaroline van Eck
PublisherTaylor and Francis AS
Chapter8
Pages162-179
Number of pages18
Volume1
ISBN (Electronic)9781315189352
ISBN (Print)9781138730625
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Nov 2017

Publication series

NameREINTERPRETING CLASSICISM: CULTURE, REACTION AND APPROPRIATION
Volume4

Bibliographical note

The Built Surface: v. 1

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Verbal and visual abstraction: The role of pictorial techniques of representation in Renaissance architectural theory'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this