CHAPTER 1
RENAISSANCE (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 Architecture was 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
philosophy seeks intellectual formulas of balance between the “medieval faith in God and the self-confidence of Renaissance man”’ (1963, p. 76).
SKETCHES
Renaissance ideals, supportive of creativity and speculation, allowed sketches to become a common media for recording, communicating architecturally, visualizing, evaluating, and designing. As a brief preamble, this discussion presents some commonalities between the techniques and intentions of architects’ representational media that can be observed through their sketches.
Drawing became the basis for the artistic endeavors of Renaissance architects. It was through the act of drawing that advancements in visual perception were developed. Brunelleschi’s lessons, which described perspective construction, changed the way architects presented their proposals. It also changed their conception of the architectural artifact and, subsequently, architectural space. It proved easier for them to visualize the spaces they intended, since these were three-dimensional views rendered with relative spatial accuracy. The new (or renewed) codification of perspective construction greatly influenced painting as well as architects’ methods of design.
The ‘elevation’ as a drawing convention dates to the early 1400s. It revealed the dominating fea- tures of the façade and made proportioning easier to explore with drawings (Murray, 1978). Remnants from medieval forms of representation, these drawings did not have contemporary con- cepts of construction as part of their language. In the mid-1500s, Leonardo was producing a prolific number of sketchbooks, evidence that the Renaissance artists/architects accepted drawing and sketching, and many practiced their skills with intense regularity. These skills were attained through maturity, allowing eye –hand coordination to be developed with practice. These architects recog- nized the value of such skills in allowing them to visualize unseen aspects of their architecture, but it was not until the end of the century did architects begin to draw monuments from antiquity for evalu- ation or recording (Murray, 1978). ‘The development of such a technique of descriptive drawing is of fundamental importance to the way in which an architect visualizes buildings – to the very process of his thought – and the technique of architectural (as distinct from pictorial) drawing was in a crit- ical stage of development at the end of the fifteenth century’ (Murray, 1978, p. 12).
Humanism encouraged architects to believe in their identity as God-given rather than God- inspired; thus, they were less inhibited in the use of sketching as a creative act. As an artistic com- munity they continually shared information and skills through the publishing of treatises, which were basically books of rules and advice for practice and theory. Through this collaboration, they perpetuated a collective interpretation of classicism. The rules supplied them with the basic elem- ents, but drawing encouraged their interpretation and manipulation of these elements. The treatises prescribed architectural rules such as the orders – but they were indirectly advocating a theory of drawing.
The Renaissance architects obtained large commissions that they could complete in the span of their lifetime; thus, they needed the forethought provided by sketches and drawings to command many craftsmen and masons. The necessity to conceptually understand a building before its erection defined a new role for the master builder. Unlike the craftsmen of the gothic cathedrals, the Renaissance architect supervised construction partially because the project could not be finished by relying entirely upon traditional methods – innovative elements and details required intellectual foresight.
The Renaissance architects held allegiance to their individual patrons who were responsible for funding such large projects. The educated clients expected to be convinced of the validity of a pro- ject before it was undertaken. This required the architect’s skills to both convey conceptual ideas and delineate convincing presentations. Comparatively, the patrons also felt the pressure of competition; their personal prestige was often tied to self-aggrandizing monuments of their accomplishments.