During today’s class, the first thing that we discussed was the Studio Palazzo ducale from Gubbio. This space was designed in a way that made it attractive in the eyes of humanists. For instance, they used intarsia to decorate the walls. Intarsia is when different colored or types of woods are cut with great precision and are then arranged in a seamless way. There are even words on top of the woodwork that there there to describe the Duke. You can also see that the letters mimicked ancient letters in the way that they use V for the letter u which adds to the idea that this space was for humanists. The room also appears larger than what it actually is because it adds depth to the walls by looking like cabinets that contains items. This type of illusion was possible thanks to perspective and works best when observed from a height of 175 cm because that is the height of the Duke that this space was personalized for. There were even cast shadows in the wood that were made after determining the light source. In addition to this, although all the objects look basic at first glance, when looked at closer, you can see that they are all tools of measurement.
We also looked at Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera today. This one was also interesting due to the meaning that each of the figures had. especially Mercury. Although he is not the center figure, Mercury plays an interesting role in this painting. The reason is because of his caduceus which is now the symbol of doctors. This can be connected to the Medici who commissioned this painting because Medici is plural for physician and their coat of arms even has round pills, creating an intriguing connection between the patron and the painting.