Discuss Alberti’s Argument That, ‘Grace of Form Could Never Be Separated or Divorced from Suitability for Use.’ Bk Vi, 2.
Discuss Alberti’s argument that, ‘Grace of form could never be separated or divorced from suitability for use.’ Bk VI, 2.
Abbot Suger believed that he existed ‘neither in the slime of the Earth nor the purity in heaven.’ Suger’s writings expose the contemporary medieval mind-set of Earth as foul, sinful and ‘slimy.’ Yet moving forward to the Renaissance era of the 14th Century, prolific archaeologist, humanist and aficionado of the ancient and modern arts- Leon Battista Alberti- characterises the new way of thinking. In his account of Florence Cathedral (Figure 1) he writes, ‘this temple in itself has grace and majesty.’ He uses ‘robust’ and ‘slender’ as optimum properties of gracefulness and stability, and associates architecture with its ability to conjure natural sensations; audio, oral, visual and nasal. Henceforth we see Alberti as a naturalist; one who experiences nature with delight, whereas two hundred years previously we see Suger who is a super naturalist; one who wants to escape the modern world. Alberti believed that we praise God implicitly by praising creation and the variety and abundance of it, and in the act of praising creation we are performing a religious act. His point was that the concord of things harmoniously- in other words, nature- was the definition of beauty.
Thus we turn to Alberti’s argument that, ‘grace of form could never be separated or divorced from suitability for use.’ In short, it summarises his belief that what we construct should be appropriate to its use- and it is this that makes a building ‘graceful’ or beautiful. This is the underlying dispute that forms the basic foundations of Alberti’s De re aedificatoria (On the Art of Building), written around 1440 and arranged into ten books. Alberti’s treatise on architecture eventually became his most influential work in Latin, and it is believed to have begun as a commentary on Vitruvius’ De aedificatoria. It was also the assimilation of other writers ' ideas since antiquity,
Abbot Suger believed that he existed ‘neither in the slime of the Earth nor the purity in heaven.’ Suger’s writings expose the contemporary medieval mind-set of Earth as foul, sinful and ‘slimy.’ Yet moving forward to the Renaissance era of the 14th Century, prolific archaeologist, humanist and aficionado of the ancient and modern arts- Leon Battista Alberti- characterises the new way of thinking. In his account of Florence Cathedral (Figure 1) he writes, ‘this temple in itself has grace and majesty.’ He uses ‘robust’ and ‘slender’ as optimum properties of gracefulness and stability, and associates architecture with its ability to conjure natural sensations; audio, oral, visual and nasal. Henceforth we see Alberti as a naturalist; one who experiences nature with delight, whereas two hundred years previously we see Suger who is a super naturalist; one who wants to escape the modern world. Alberti believed that we praise God implicitly by praising creation and the variety and abundance of it, and in the act of praising creation we are performing a religious act. His point was that the concord of things harmoniously- in other words, nature- was the definition of beauty.
Thus we turn to Alberti’s argument that, ‘grace of form could never be separated or divorced from suitability for use.’ In short, it summarises his belief that what we construct should be appropriate to its use- and it is this that makes a building ‘graceful’ or beautiful. This is the underlying dispute that forms the basic foundations of Alberti’s De re aedificatoria (On the Art of Building), written around 1440 and arranged into ten books. Alberti’s treatise on architecture eventually became his most influential work in Latin, and it is believed to have begun as a commentary on Vitruvius’ De aedificatoria. It was also the assimilation of other writers ' ideas since antiquity,
Bibliography: Alberti L.B., 1404-1472. De re aedificatoria. Translated from Italian by J.Rykwert (Michigan: MIT Press, 1991) Alberti L.B., Profugiorem ab aerumna (Italy, c.1450) Drake S., Anthropomorphism in Architecture (Canberra: University of Canberra, 2003) Grafton A., Leon Battista Alberti: Master Builder of the Italian Renaissance (Harvard University Press: Massachussets, 2002) Hays K.M., Architectural Theory Since 1968 (Massachussets: MIT Press, 2000) Hearn M.F., ed., 1990. The Architectural Theory of Viollet-le-Duc (Michigan: MIT Press) Panofsky E., Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis and its Art Treasures (Princeton: Princeton, University Press, 1979) Tatarkierwicz W., History of Aesthetics (London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005) Tavernor R., On Alberti and the Art of Building (Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1999) Wittkower R., ‘Alberti 's Approach to Antiquity in Architecture,’ Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, vol. 4, No. 1/2 (1940), pp. 1-18. Figure 2. ‘Ivy Leaf’ from The Architectural Theory of Viollet-le-Duc. Hearn M.F., ed., 1990. (Michigan: MIT Press), p.132 Figure 3 [ 2 ]. A.Grafton, Leon Battista Alberti: Master Builder of the Italian Renaissance (Massachussets, 2002), p.262 [ 3 ] [ 4 ]. L.B. Alberti, 1404-1472. De re aedificatoria. Translated from Italian by J.Rykwert (Michigan, 1991), p.158 [ 5 ] [ 16 ]. S.Drake, Anthropomorphism in Architecture (Canberra, 2003), pp.55-56 [ 17 ] [ 18 ]. R.Wittkower, ‘Alberti 's Approach to Antiquity in Architecture,’ Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, vol. 4, No. 1/2 (1940), p.2 [ 19 ]