Examine the sources. What does it say about classicism (the love of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome)?

Examine the sources. What does it say about classicism (the love of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome)?

A. Leonardo da Vinci s Vitruvian Man Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man (c. 1490) shows the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in his De Architectura. Vitruvius described the human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the Classical orders of architecture. Vitruvius (born c. 80 70 BC, died after c. 15 BC) was a Roman author, architect, and civil engineer during the reigns of Julius Casear and Emperor Augustus. Vitruvius is the author of De architectura, known today as The Ten Books on Architecture, a treatise written in Latin on architecture, dedicated to the emperor Augustus. The work is important for its descriptions of the many different machines used for engineering structures such as hoists, cranes and pulleys, as well as war machines such as catapults and siege engines. He describes the many innovations made in building design to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants. Foremost among them is the development of the hypocaust, a type of central heating where hot air developed by a fire was channelled under the floor and inside the walls of public baths and villas. His book De architectura was rediscovered in 1414 by the Florentine humanist Leon Battista Alberti (1404 1472). Alberti made this work widely known in his seminal treatise on architecture De re aedificatoria (c. 1450). This book then quickly became a major inspiration for Renaissance.

B. Alberti s Church of Sant Andrea In Rome, Alberti had plenty of time to study its ancient sites, ruins, and objects. His detailed observations, included in his De Re Aedificatoria (1452, On the Art of Building), were patterned after the De architectura by the Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius (b. 46 30 BC). The work was the first architectural treatise of the Renaissance. It covered a wide range of subjects, from history to town planning, and engineering to the philosophy of beauty. De re aedificatoria, a large and expensive book, was not fully published until 1485, after which it became a major reference for architects. The Church of Sant Andrea was designed by Leon Alberti in 1462. He based the design off of two visible Roman structures: The Arch of Titus is a 1st-century honorific arch. It was constructed in c. 82 AD by the Roman Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to commemorate Titus' victories. The Roman temple motifs popular throughout Rome. (Note: The Columns)

C. Leonardo Bruni, On Learning [LOVE FOR GREEK LITERATURE] Then first came the knowledge of Greek, which had not been in use among us for seven hundred years. Chrysoloras the Byzantine, a man of noble birth and well versed in Greek letters, brought Greek learning to us. When his country was invaded by the Turks, he came by sea, first to Venice.I burned with love of academic studies, and had spent no little pains on dialectic studies, and had spent no little pains on dialectic and rhetoric. [ON LEARNING AND LITERATURE].The foundations of all true learning must be laid in the sound and thorough knowledge of Latin: But we must not forget that true distinction is to be gained by a wide and varied range of such studies as conduce to the profitable enjoyment of life, in which, however, we must observe due proportion in the attention and time we devote to them.first amongst such studies I place History: a subject which must not on any account be neglected by one who aspires to true cultivation. For it is our duty to understand the origins of our own history and its development; and the achievements of Peoples and of Kings From History, also, we draw our store of examples of moral precepts.the great Orators of antiquity must by all means be included. Nowhere do we find the virtues more warmly extolled, the vices so fiercely decried.in oratory we find that wealth of vocabulary, that clear easy-flowing style, that verve and force, which are invaluable to us both in writing and in conversation I come now to Poetry and the Poets.For we cannot point to any great mind of the past for whom the Poets had not a powerful attraction. Aristotle, in constantly quoting Homer,.Hence my view that familiarity with the great poets of antiquity is essential to any claim to true education.poet, Orator, Historian, and the rest, all must be studied, each must contribute a share.

D. Raphael s School of Athens In 1508, during the High Renaissance (c.1490-1530), the 25-year old painter Raphael was summoned to the Vatican by the Pope Julius II, and given the largest, most important commission of his life - the decoration of the Papal Apartments. Raphael painted his famous fresco The School of Athens in the library. This fresco painted in represents natural Truth, acquired through reason. Under the arched vault of an immense Basilica with lacunar ceiling and pilasters, (inspired by Constantine's in the Roman Forum), decorated with statues of Apollo and Minerva, a crowd of philosophers and wise men of the past, along with High Renaissance artists and patrons, argue heatedly among themselves or mediate in silence. In the center we see Plato (long white beard and the features of Leonardo da Vinci), text in hand, the other hand pointing to heaven, the "seat of all ideas". At his side is Aristotle, in turn holding his Ethics and pointing to the earth. The two philosophers and their gesturing make a point which is the core of the philosophy of Marsilio Ficino: Aristotle's gesture symbolizes the positive spirit; the vertical gesture of Plato alludes to a superior quality, the contemplation of ideas. On the left, cloaked in an olive mantle, is Socrates, arguing in a group that includes Chrysippus, Xenophon, Aeschines and Alcibiades. Facing the venerable Venetian scientist Zeno, is Epicurus, crowned with grape leaves, presumably defending the principle of hedonism. Attentively followed by his pupils, Pythagoras teaches the diatesseron from a book. In tribute to his great rival, Raphael portrayed Michelangelo in the guise of the philosopher from Ephesus. Further to the right, calmly reclining on the stairs, is Diogenes, the object of the remonstrations by the disciples of the Academy. Over to the right, identified by the crown he wears, is the geographer Ptolemy, holding the globe of the earth. Facing him is the atronomer Zoroaster, holding the globe of the sky. The young man at their side and facing the viewer is supposedly Raphael himself in the company of Sodoma (white robe), the artist who preceded Raphael in the decoration of the ceiling of the Signature room.

E. Castiglione s The Courtier I would have him more than passably accomplished in letters, at least in those studies that are called the humanities, and conversant not only with the Latin language but with the Greek, for the sake of the many different things that have been admirably written therein. Let him be well versed in the poets, and not less in the orators and historians, and also proficient in writing verse and prose, especially in this vulgar [vernacular] tongue of ours. And do not marvel that I desire this art, I remember having read that the ancients, especially throughout Greece, had their boys of gentle birth study painting in school as an honorable and necessary thing.

F. Michelangelo s David On 16 August 1501, Michelangelo was given the official contract. He would work on the massive statue for more than two years. It is a 4.34-metre (14.2 ft), 5.17-metre (17.0 ft) with the base marble statue of a standing male nude. The statue represents the Biblical hero David, a favored subject in the art of Florence. The statue is a Renaissance interpretation of a common ancient Greek theme of the standing heroic male nude. In the High Renaissance, contrapposto poses were thought of as a distinctive feature of antique sculpture. This is typified in David, as the figure stands with one leg holding its full weight and the other leg forward. This classic pose causes the figure s hips and shoulders to rest at opposing angles, giving a slight s-curve to the entire torso. Because of the nature of the hero it represented, the statue soon came to symbolize the defense of civil liberties embodied in the Republic of Florence, an independent city-state threatened on all

G. Brunelleschi s Dome Duomo of Florence was the new cathedral of the city, and by 1418 the dome had yet to be defined. When the building was designed in the previous century, no one had any idea how such a dome was to be built, given that it was to be even larger than the Pantheon's dome in Rome and that no dome of that size had been built since antiquity. Because buttresses were forbidden by the city fathers, it was unclear how a dome of that size could be constructed without it collapsing under its own weight. In 1418, a competition to solve the problem was held and Brunelleschi won. The dome would occupy most of Brunelleschi s life. Brunelleschi used more than 4 million bricks in the construction of the dome. He invented a new hoisting machine for raising the masonry needed for the dome, a task no doubt inspired by republication of Vitruvius' De Architectura, which describes Roman machines used in the first century AD to build large structures such as the Pantheon and the Baths of Diocletian, structures still standing which he would have seen for himself. He also issued one of the first patents for the hoist inspired by the Vitruvius in an attempt to prevent the theft of his ideas. Brunelleschi was granted the first modern patent for his invention of a river transport vessel.