CHAPTER 1RENAISSANCE ( 1500 – 1650 )
The Renaissance resulted in many innovations in architecture and parallel developments in tech-
niques pertaining to drawings and sketches. Exploration of antiquity, and the dissemination of
knowledge about its ideals, necessitated methods of communication and analysis. The emergence
of paper as a medium to convey information was part of this exchange of ideas. As mentioned in
the general introduction, attitudes toward sketching as a mode for exploration distinguished the
Renaissance from traditional medieval practices. Renaissance workshops acted as educational facilities,
encouraging competition and creativity. All of these factors affected architects’ media manipulation
and, consequently, the manner in which they thought about architecture.
It is important to briefly reiterate some of the sparks of early Renaissance thought that led to this
movement. The Renaissance, from Renascenta, meant a revival or rebirth of classical culture and civ-
ilization (Allsopp, 1959 ). The Renaissance represented a paradigm shift from the Middle Ages which
were considered with disdain. The Italians were reviving a period when Rome had been a powerful
empire. Its fall left the region in disarray, its culture and language degraded. Revisiting this former
age, the Italians believed, would provide standards of judgment that were indisputable. With the
reuse of a little-known civilization, the excavation of antiquities supplied models for new ideals
(Allsopp, 1959 ; Benevolo, 1978 ; Murray, 1963 , 1978 ; Trachtenberg and Hyman, 1986 ; Wittkower,
1980 ).
At this time, Italy was comprised of city-states which were loosely associated under the Emperor
and the Pope (Allsopp, 1959 ). These political units did not have the military strength to become
independent so they owed their allegiance to Rome. This relationship depended upon diplomatic
representation, requiring a certain amount of literacy; with this came scholarship. The ideal
Renaissance statesman aspired to be competent, learned and cultured. This was a part of the concept
of humanism, applied as a term many centuries later, which manifest itself in a reappearance of clas-
sical thought. Humanism suggested the civilizing qualities of being cultivated in Latin and Greek
literary works (Murray, 1978 ). With this interest in antiquity, Vitruvius’ Ten Books of Architecturewas
republished in approximately 1486 , and a subsequent Italian edition was published in 1521.
The rereading of Vitruvius reinforced the concept of architects as persons of learning and prac-
tical experience, stressing diverse knowledge in multiple fields. Again, architects were not just craftsmen
or masons, but could envision the building’s form as well as direct its construction. The Renaissance
architects studied elements of antiquity to understand their form. Brunelleschi constitutes an example;
as a student of Roman structural techniques, he was said to have sketched many buildings in Rome.
These sketches were a way to analyze and interpret antiquity, and humanists such as Alberti considered
the art of architecture as dominated by proportions and mathematics (Murray, 1963 , 1978 ). Such
architects were scrutinizing ancient artifacts by drawing and measuring; they were taking notes so that
they could reuse the imagery of antiquity; thus they were learning to speak in the language of classicism.
This learning was seen as the key to a greater level of knowledge. Alberti, in the forward to his treatise,
wrote that it was this learning that elevated the architect above the role of craftsman and identified them
with the liberal arts (Blunt, 1958 ; Alberti, 1988). In this way, the educated architect could integrate all
intellectual endeavors and could engage in diverse occupations such as observation of the heavens or
building sundials (Benevolo, 1978 ). Ernst Cassirer stresses the combination of theory and practice that
Renaissance thinking held for these artists: ‘Just as the visual arts seek plastic formulas of balance, soH5719-Ch01.qxd 7/15/05 3:16 PM Page 19