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Visible and Invisible Structures in Renaissance Paintings
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect Materials Today: Proceedings 2 (2015) 3884 – 3888
The Selected Papers of 10th International Conference on Physics of Advanced Materials, ICPAM10
Visible and invisible structures in Renaissance paintings
Gabriel Ciobanu1, Cristian Ungureanu2* 1 Romanian Academy, ICS, Str. Dr. Codrescu, Nr. 2, Iasi, 700 481, Romania “George Enescu” University of Arts, Str sararie nr.189, Iasi 70045, Romania
2
Abstract In order to emphasize the links between science and art, we analyze the Renaissance painting of the 15th century known under the name of „The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise”. This composition displays not only the artistic qualities, but also a symbolic meaning of the image following the internal geometric structure used by the Italian master when painting this masterpiece. The invisible structure is developed around three circles emphasizing the round halos of the Creator and of the Angel, as well as around the concentric circular universe depicted in the left half of the composition. A precise numerical ratio obtained through the expansion of these three circles reveals both the significance of all the elements distinguished in this wonderful piece of art. © 2015 2014Elsevier ElsevierLtd. Ltd. rights reserved. © AllAll rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility the conference committee of the 10th International onAdvanced Physics of Selection and peer-review under responsibility of theofconference committee of the 10th International ConferenceConference on Physics of Advanced Materials. Materials Keywords: Renaissance, art, geometry, scheme, composition, symbol
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +40746895912, Fax: +40232225333 E-mail address: : [email protected]
2214-7853 © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the conference committee of the 10th International Conference on Physics of Advanced Materials doi:10.1016/j.matpr.2015.08.016
Gabriel Ciobanu and Cristian Ungureanu / Materials Today: Proceedings 2 (2015) 3884 – 3888
3885
1. Introduction The geometric studies made on the methods of construction learned by observing a number of Byzantine icons, western compositions, sculptures or architectural projects from the European cultural space, have highlighted the existence of a several geometric features which has guided the formal and symbolic message of the paintings. The practice of direct analysis has structured our opinion stating that the use of geometry in painting, sculpture and architecture is a science and an art on its own, just as effective and necessary as the practice of preparing the canvases, the wooden panels or the complex mixtures of chemicals used for making (Flemish) varnish. It is very likely that these notions of geometry, canonical in its immutable character, are part of the hidden heritage of several artists, the so called secrets of the arts. Organizing the data gathered into categories has naturally led us to elaborate certain typologies of visual engines, whose characteristics are defined by the number of primary focal points and their placing in the painting. Definitely, the scientific research has very strict rules and criteria for assessing the quality of the results, different of the artistic work, from this point of view. But the extension of the research field, in a transdisciplinary perspective, could represent a way of combining multiple types of experiences that might complement and inspire each other, in an effort to generate new paradigms that could produce a significant leap forward in acquiring knowledge. We wish to investigate, in the context of this study, a series of principles and cosmological models which underlie the traditional numerological doctrine concerning the issues of the harmonic resonance, symmetry, of some structures that remind of the modern theory of fractals, the expression of the ancient law of symmetry [1, 2]. The British contemporary mathematician Jan Stewart wrote: “Something in the human intellect makes us attracted to symmetry. Our visual sense enjoy the symmetry and, as such, symmetry plays a role in the formation of the sense of beauty. However, perfect symmetry is repetitive and predictable, and our intellectual also likes surprises, such as imperfect symmetry often is considered more beautiful than exact mathematical symmetry” [3]. This principle and its variations are founded on the ancient doctrines regarding the role of numbers in the creation of the world, where numbers are regarded as living and active entities in numerous reality plans of our world, doctrines stated by the representatives of the ancient philosophical schools as Pythagoras, Iamblicos, Plato, etc., by the Jewish mystics in the Antiquity, resumed in the Middle Ages by the Christian mystics of the East and the West, by savants such as Newton, Leonardo or mystics with scientific vocation such as Jacob Bohme or more recently, Louis Claude de Saint Martin, Rudolph Steiner, Papus etc. This systematic, unbiased and academic approach towards these types of information, owed to the interest in finding out the traditional patterns and compositional practices within the art of painting, is analyzed from a physical and mathematical point of view, through computer sciences and musical composition, field where one can find multiple resonances. We believe that this type of approach of the cosmological models that regard the ordered structure of matter and energy, the generation and transmission of information to the natural kingdoms, could be a source of inspiration (at least in terms of aesthetics) for researchers working in different fields and specializations of contemporary science. Also, the rediscovery of the canons and constructive techniques used by the masters of the old traditional periods in painting history, could offer successful alternatives to the identity crisis of the contemporary art [4]. The same complexity has the issue of pictorial techniques used by Giovanni di Paolo for painting his panels. The aim of our study is to reveal the internal geometric structure used by the Italian master Giovani di Paolo in the Renaissance painting of the 15th century known under the name of „The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise”. 2. Materials and methods We can consider the scientific plan that regards the chemistry of pigments and binders and the painted surface preparation, as a reflection of geometric structure which organizes the formal and symbolic dimension of the painting. From the beginning of modern age of science and technology, the art historians have collaborated with artists and scientists specialized in conservation and restauration of art pieces (paintings on panel or canvas, sculptures, decorative arts objects, manuscripts and books etc.) in order to identify and classify the materials and the technics used by the old masters[5, 6]. In any composition, a focal point or an active centre is that specific part to which the artist draws our eye and mind,
3886
Gabriel Ciobanu and Cristian Ungureanu / Materials Today: Proceedings 2 (2015) 3884 – 3888
being marked with a certain degree of intensity. During the time, the most prevalent visual engine used by painters was the one with a single centre (“mono-core”, if we were to adopt the technical terminology of the new digital industry), which is positioned, in the most analyzed cases, in the centre of the superior side of the rectangle (or of the semicircle, when the panting is designed on a “pala d’altare” type panel). A second type of composition engine used by the traditional European painters was the one with two focal points (“dual-core”) and the example used for this is the analysis given in the manuscript pages known under the name of “God as Geometer”. In this work we identify the third type of visual engine, which means the one with three active compositional centres (“triple-core”) based on the scheme developed by Giovani di Paolo around the three circles emphasized by the round halos of the Creator and of the Angel, as well as by the concentric circular universe depicted in the left half of the composition (Fig.1). 3. Results and discussion In the situation of our type of painting, it was necessary to distinguish between the animal proteins in egg yolk and collagen, keeping carefully under observation the matter of various layers of pictorial substance. The finest animal glue (collagen) used as binding agent in the ground layer were usually obtained from rabbit or fish bones and this type of support preparation (ground layer) was an excellent support for the successive layers of pigments. The bind agent for the pictorial layers was, usually for the age of Giovanni di Paolo, the egg yolk mixed with linseed oil, honey, powdered chalk and various vegetal resin dissolved in turpentine or other solvents. For the scientists it is very important to have the confirmation of these practices with specific accuracy and to compare their experimental results with the information extracted from historical sources as painting treatises or artist private writings and notices.
Fig. 1. The first compositional, symbolic and visual centre of the paint of Giovanni di Paolo - Creation and Expulsion from Paradise (1445).
The three active centers of the visual engine are marked with different degrees of intensity. The created Universe (the structure of concentric circles which contain the “Celestial Paradise”) could represent the key to understanding and analyzing the geometry of the ensemble, while the other two elements are the circles of the aureole. Doubled nine times with the same equal ratio equal to its radius, the circle of the aureole of God reaches the middle horizontal plane of the universe of concentric circular levels and becomes tangent to the smaller circle of the aureole of the angel, circle which is equal in radius as the one pertaining to the Celestial Paradise (our originary homeland).This aspect of equality
Gabriel Ciobanu and Cristian Ungureanu / Materials Today: Proceedings 2 (2015) 3884 – 3888
3887
of measure of the created universe and of the celestial world is highlighted in the composition by the strong emphasis of the circle traced in red, the one at the bottom of the Celestial Paradise from the created universe, point in which the expansion of the aureole of the angel reaches the high nucleus of creation. Continuing the possibilities of expansion of each of the corresponding configurations of the three levels of Creation, we can observe the equality of the number of circles of the created world through the linking of concentric circles and those of the expansion of the angels aureole (14 levels), different from the Celestial Paradise which is tangent and “rotated” and is “pivoting” on the aureole of God, but it also aligned with the center on the expansion of the divine circumference, as opposed to the circles of the angels which move tangent to the bottom of the expansion of the divine aureole. In this stage of universal becoming, the Celestial Paradise has direct contact with the center but also with the great circumference of the manifestation of God (Fig. 2). A possible symbolic understanding (in a theological manner) of this would be that in which the angel (unusual from a representation standpoint, unclothed) is accomplishing the mission of expelling the primordial couple from the area of “high spheres” and highlighting, through his nudity, the drama of the post-paradise human condition.
Fig. 2. The complete compositional and symbolic configuration of the paint of Giovanni di Paolo - Creation and Expulsion from Paradise (1445)
But, maybe the centrifugal trajectory of this line, which is share by both the Celestial Paradise and the angelic area, was only a mere necessity stemmed from the need of a journey of this line, which is share by both the Celestial Paradise and the angelic area, was only a mere necessity stemmed from the need of a journey of becoming, the one that was supposed to bring the forefathers of humanity next to the four rivers of the earthly Paradise, where the “vesica piscis” of the Celestial paradise and the world of the angel is, at the opposite pole of the aureole of God, in order to “fix”, orthogonally, the end of the migration of the Great Expulsion and to recreate the Celestial Paradise, somewhere or Earth, in the hope for a “return” on the line that unites the intersected circles of the Celestial Paradise and the world of the angel. In the most optimistic interpretation of this picture, the gesture of the angel could be considered one of calling, a warning to turn back from the road which takes us further away from home and Creator. 4. Conclusion The interest that we focused on this geometric analysis and on the accents outlined the chemistry of the pictorial practices or the symbolical level regarding Giovanni di Paolo’s composition is due to the complexity of the painting
3888
Gabriel Ciobanu and Cristian Ungureanu / Materials Today: Proceedings 2 (2015) 3884 – 3888
ensemble, realised six centuries ago, under the influence of Western ecclesiastical environment. The overall aim of our studies was the extraction and classification of defining data regarding this geometric language loaded with a multitude of symbolic connotations related to each topic but also to establish a transdisciplinary perspective on this subject, to establish connections between the particular practices of visual art domain and other fields of knowledge, using our specific investigative methods of the present time. As mentioned, the symmetry is one of the most widespread in both the natural world and the visual arts, in architecture, in various fields of science, a theme that has preoccupied and fascinated humanity since prehistoric times. The oldest Paleolithic cave paintings or statues are full of examples of decorative plastic structures based on symmetrical configurations. The human mind is undoubtedly fascinated by the symmetry, no matter where it identifies and it can be considered that this is a consequence of symmetrical composition, almost complete, the human body, a true spontaneous reflex to the similarity with our own bipolarity. The traditional masters took into consideration such laws and principles of the natural world which they adapted and used to build mechanisms for their future works of art. We believed that such investigations could open a new perspective on inter- and transdisciplinary studies involving artistic projections of some data specific to other areas of knowledge. References [1] J. Briggs, Fractals, The patterns of Chaos. Discovering a New Aesthetic of Art, Science and Nature, London: Thames and Hudson, 1992. [2] R.P. Taylor, A.P. Micolich, D. Jonas, Physics World, 12 (1999) 25-28. [3] I. Stewart, Nature’s numbers: the unreal reality of mathematical imagination, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucuresti- Romania, 2010. [4] Ungureanu, C., Dialogue between Sphere and Cube [The Secret Geometry of Byzantine Paintings],Artes Publishing House, Iasi- Romania, 2006. [5] E. Z. Voras, K. deGhetaldi, B. Baade, E.c Gordon, G. Gates, T. P. Beebe, Studies in Conservation,0 (2014) 1-14. [6] A. Wallert, E. Hermens, M. Peek, Preprints Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice, Univ. of Leiden, 1995.
ScienceDirect Materials Today: Proceedings 2 (2015) 3884 – 3888
The Selected Papers of 10th International Conference on Physics of Advanced Materials, ICPAM10
Visible and invisible structures in Renaissance paintings
Gabriel Ciobanu1, Cristian Ungureanu2* 1 Romanian Academy, ICS, Str. Dr. Codrescu, Nr. 2, Iasi, 700 481, Romania “George Enescu” University of Arts, Str sararie nr.189, Iasi 70045, Romania
2
Abstract In order to emphasize the links between science and art, we analyze the Renaissance painting of the 15th century known under the name of „The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise”. This composition displays not only the artistic qualities, but also a symbolic meaning of the image following the internal geometric structure used by the Italian master when painting this masterpiece. The invisible structure is developed around three circles emphasizing the round halos of the Creator and of the Angel, as well as around the concentric circular universe depicted in the left half of the composition. A precise numerical ratio obtained through the expansion of these three circles reveals both the significance of all the elements distinguished in this wonderful piece of art. © 2015 2014Elsevier ElsevierLtd. Ltd. rights reserved. © AllAll rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility the conference committee of the 10th International onAdvanced Physics of Selection and peer-review under responsibility of theofconference committee of the 10th International ConferenceConference on Physics of Advanced Materials. Materials Keywords: Renaissance, art, geometry, scheme, composition, symbol
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +40746895912, Fax: +40232225333 E-mail address: : [email protected]
2214-7853 © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the conference committee of the 10th International Conference on Physics of Advanced Materials doi:10.1016/j.matpr.2015.08.016
Gabriel Ciobanu and Cristian Ungureanu / Materials Today: Proceedings 2 (2015) 3884 – 3888
3885
1. Introduction The geometric studies made on the methods of construction learned by observing a number of Byzantine icons, western compositions, sculptures or architectural projects from the European cultural space, have highlighted the existence of a several geometric features which has guided the formal and symbolic message of the paintings. The practice of direct analysis has structured our opinion stating that the use of geometry in painting, sculpture and architecture is a science and an art on its own, just as effective and necessary as the practice of preparing the canvases, the wooden panels or the complex mixtures of chemicals used for making (Flemish) varnish. It is very likely that these notions of geometry, canonical in its immutable character, are part of the hidden heritage of several artists, the so called secrets of the arts. Organizing the data gathered into categories has naturally led us to elaborate certain typologies of visual engines, whose characteristics are defined by the number of primary focal points and their placing in the painting. Definitely, the scientific research has very strict rules and criteria for assessing the quality of the results, different of the artistic work, from this point of view. But the extension of the research field, in a transdisciplinary perspective, could represent a way of combining multiple types of experiences that might complement and inspire each other, in an effort to generate new paradigms that could produce a significant leap forward in acquiring knowledge. We wish to investigate, in the context of this study, a series of principles and cosmological models which underlie the traditional numerological doctrine concerning the issues of the harmonic resonance, symmetry, of some structures that remind of the modern theory of fractals, the expression of the ancient law of symmetry [1, 2]. The British contemporary mathematician Jan Stewart wrote: “Something in the human intellect makes us attracted to symmetry. Our visual sense enjoy the symmetry and, as such, symmetry plays a role in the formation of the sense of beauty. However, perfect symmetry is repetitive and predictable, and our intellectual also likes surprises, such as imperfect symmetry often is considered more beautiful than exact mathematical symmetry” [3]. This principle and its variations are founded on the ancient doctrines regarding the role of numbers in the creation of the world, where numbers are regarded as living and active entities in numerous reality plans of our world, doctrines stated by the representatives of the ancient philosophical schools as Pythagoras, Iamblicos, Plato, etc., by the Jewish mystics in the Antiquity, resumed in the Middle Ages by the Christian mystics of the East and the West, by savants such as Newton, Leonardo or mystics with scientific vocation such as Jacob Bohme or more recently, Louis Claude de Saint Martin, Rudolph Steiner, Papus etc. This systematic, unbiased and academic approach towards these types of information, owed to the interest in finding out the traditional patterns and compositional practices within the art of painting, is analyzed from a physical and mathematical point of view, through computer sciences and musical composition, field where one can find multiple resonances. We believe that this type of approach of the cosmological models that regard the ordered structure of matter and energy, the generation and transmission of information to the natural kingdoms, could be a source of inspiration (at least in terms of aesthetics) for researchers working in different fields and specializations of contemporary science. Also, the rediscovery of the canons and constructive techniques used by the masters of the old traditional periods in painting history, could offer successful alternatives to the identity crisis of the contemporary art [4]. The same complexity has the issue of pictorial techniques used by Giovanni di Paolo for painting his panels. The aim of our study is to reveal the internal geometric structure used by the Italian master Giovani di Paolo in the Renaissance painting of the 15th century known under the name of „The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise”. 2. Materials and methods We can consider the scientific plan that regards the chemistry of pigments and binders and the painted surface preparation, as a reflection of geometric structure which organizes the formal and symbolic dimension of the painting. From the beginning of modern age of science and technology, the art historians have collaborated with artists and scientists specialized in conservation and restauration of art pieces (paintings on panel or canvas, sculptures, decorative arts objects, manuscripts and books etc.) in order to identify and classify the materials and the technics used by the old masters[5, 6]. In any composition, a focal point or an active centre is that specific part to which the artist draws our eye and mind,
3886
Gabriel Ciobanu and Cristian Ungureanu / Materials Today: Proceedings 2 (2015) 3884 – 3888
being marked with a certain degree of intensity. During the time, the most prevalent visual engine used by painters was the one with a single centre (“mono-core”, if we were to adopt the technical terminology of the new digital industry), which is positioned, in the most analyzed cases, in the centre of the superior side of the rectangle (or of the semicircle, when the panting is designed on a “pala d’altare” type panel). A second type of composition engine used by the traditional European painters was the one with two focal points (“dual-core”) and the example used for this is the analysis given in the manuscript pages known under the name of “God as Geometer”. In this work we identify the third type of visual engine, which means the one with three active compositional centres (“triple-core”) based on the scheme developed by Giovani di Paolo around the three circles emphasized by the round halos of the Creator and of the Angel, as well as by the concentric circular universe depicted in the left half of the composition (Fig.1). 3. Results and discussion In the situation of our type of painting, it was necessary to distinguish between the animal proteins in egg yolk and collagen, keeping carefully under observation the matter of various layers of pictorial substance. The finest animal glue (collagen) used as binding agent in the ground layer were usually obtained from rabbit or fish bones and this type of support preparation (ground layer) was an excellent support for the successive layers of pigments. The bind agent for the pictorial layers was, usually for the age of Giovanni di Paolo, the egg yolk mixed with linseed oil, honey, powdered chalk and various vegetal resin dissolved in turpentine or other solvents. For the scientists it is very important to have the confirmation of these practices with specific accuracy and to compare their experimental results with the information extracted from historical sources as painting treatises or artist private writings and notices.
Fig. 1. The first compositional, symbolic and visual centre of the paint of Giovanni di Paolo - Creation and Expulsion from Paradise (1445).
The three active centers of the visual engine are marked with different degrees of intensity. The created Universe (the structure of concentric circles which contain the “Celestial Paradise”) could represent the key to understanding and analyzing the geometry of the ensemble, while the other two elements are the circles of the aureole. Doubled nine times with the same equal ratio equal to its radius, the circle of the aureole of God reaches the middle horizontal plane of the universe of concentric circular levels and becomes tangent to the smaller circle of the aureole of the angel, circle which is equal in radius as the one pertaining to the Celestial Paradise (our originary homeland).This aspect of equality
Gabriel Ciobanu and Cristian Ungureanu / Materials Today: Proceedings 2 (2015) 3884 – 3888
3887
of measure of the created universe and of the celestial world is highlighted in the composition by the strong emphasis of the circle traced in red, the one at the bottom of the Celestial Paradise from the created universe, point in which the expansion of the aureole of the angel reaches the high nucleus of creation. Continuing the possibilities of expansion of each of the corresponding configurations of the three levels of Creation, we can observe the equality of the number of circles of the created world through the linking of concentric circles and those of the expansion of the angels aureole (14 levels), different from the Celestial Paradise which is tangent and “rotated” and is “pivoting” on the aureole of God, but it also aligned with the center on the expansion of the divine circumference, as opposed to the circles of the angels which move tangent to the bottom of the expansion of the divine aureole. In this stage of universal becoming, the Celestial Paradise has direct contact with the center but also with the great circumference of the manifestation of God (Fig. 2). A possible symbolic understanding (in a theological manner) of this would be that in which the angel (unusual from a representation standpoint, unclothed) is accomplishing the mission of expelling the primordial couple from the area of “high spheres” and highlighting, through his nudity, the drama of the post-paradise human condition.
Fig. 2. The complete compositional and symbolic configuration of the paint of Giovanni di Paolo - Creation and Expulsion from Paradise (1445)
But, maybe the centrifugal trajectory of this line, which is share by both the Celestial Paradise and the angelic area, was only a mere necessity stemmed from the need of a journey of this line, which is share by both the Celestial Paradise and the angelic area, was only a mere necessity stemmed from the need of a journey of becoming, the one that was supposed to bring the forefathers of humanity next to the four rivers of the earthly Paradise, where the “vesica piscis” of the Celestial paradise and the world of the angel is, at the opposite pole of the aureole of God, in order to “fix”, orthogonally, the end of the migration of the Great Expulsion and to recreate the Celestial Paradise, somewhere or Earth, in the hope for a “return” on the line that unites the intersected circles of the Celestial Paradise and the world of the angel. In the most optimistic interpretation of this picture, the gesture of the angel could be considered one of calling, a warning to turn back from the road which takes us further away from home and Creator. 4. Conclusion The interest that we focused on this geometric analysis and on the accents outlined the chemistry of the pictorial practices or the symbolical level regarding Giovanni di Paolo’s composition is due to the complexity of the painting
3888
Gabriel Ciobanu and Cristian Ungureanu / Materials Today: Proceedings 2 (2015) 3884 – 3888
ensemble, realised six centuries ago, under the influence of Western ecclesiastical environment. The overall aim of our studies was the extraction and classification of defining data regarding this geometric language loaded with a multitude of symbolic connotations related to each topic but also to establish a transdisciplinary perspective on this subject, to establish connections between the particular practices of visual art domain and other fields of knowledge, using our specific investigative methods of the present time. As mentioned, the symmetry is one of the most widespread in both the natural world and the visual arts, in architecture, in various fields of science, a theme that has preoccupied and fascinated humanity since prehistoric times. The oldest Paleolithic cave paintings or statues are full of examples of decorative plastic structures based on symmetrical configurations. The human mind is undoubtedly fascinated by the symmetry, no matter where it identifies and it can be considered that this is a consequence of symmetrical composition, almost complete, the human body, a true spontaneous reflex to the similarity with our own bipolarity. The traditional masters took into consideration such laws and principles of the natural world which they adapted and used to build mechanisms for their future works of art. We believed that such investigations could open a new perspective on inter- and transdisciplinary studies involving artistic projections of some data specific to other areas of knowledge. References [1] J. Briggs, Fractals, The patterns of Chaos. Discovering a New Aesthetic of Art, Science and Nature, London: Thames and Hudson, 1992. [2] R.P. Taylor, A.P. Micolich, D. Jonas, Physics World, 12 (1999) 25-28. [3] I. Stewart, Nature’s numbers: the unreal reality of mathematical imagination, Humanitas Publishing House, Bucuresti- Romania, 2010. [4] Ungureanu, C., Dialogue between Sphere and Cube [The Secret Geometry of Byzantine Paintings],Artes Publishing House, Iasi- Romania, 2006. [5] E. Z. Voras, K. deGhetaldi, B. Baade, E.c Gordon, G. Gates, T. P. Beebe, Studies in Conservation,0 (2014) 1-14. [6] A. Wallert, E. Hermens, M. Peek, Preprints Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice, Univ. of Leiden, 1995.