Today we dived into the 15th century in Northern Europe during the Quattrocento. The interaction between the humanistic goals of the Studia humanitatis, the revolutionary effect of the printing press, and advances in linear perspective has left an indelible impression on my perception of this dynamic age. The Quattrocento, or 15th century, saw a great revival in the arts, as the humanistic spirit of the era allowed for creative manifestations of the period. The emphasis on studying classical history, the humanities, and human experience clearly effected the generation’s artists and architects. This shift in viewpoint is represented by the beautiful buildings and churches we viewed, including the Florence Cathedral and the Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. The significance of the printing press in this cultural revolution cannot be emphasized. The printed word altered the way knowledge and ideas were communicated and spread. This technical revolution not only eased the worldwide diffusion of ancient books, but also allowed for the quick exchange of creative skills and ideas. To me, one of the most interesting areas of class was the discussion of orthogonals and transversals, as well as their critical significance in the evolution of linear perspective. Leon Battista Alberti’s observations, as articulated in his landmark book “On Painting,” demonstrate the tremendous influence of these linear constructions on the portrayal of space and depth in art. The mastery of these methods by Quattrocento painters ushered in a new period of illusionistic depth and spatial awareness, changing the nature of visual expression. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today we dived into the 15th century in Northern Europe during the Quattrocento. The interaction between the humanistic goals of the Studia humanitatis, the revolutionary effect of the printing press, and advances in linear perspective has left an indelible impression on my perception of this dynamic age. The Quattrocento, or 15th century, saw a great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12392,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ar112-spring2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ar112-spring2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ar112-spring2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ar112-spring2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12392"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ar112-spring2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ar112-spring2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2385,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ar112-spring2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384\/revisions\/2385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ar112-spring2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ar112-spring2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ar112-spring2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}