The Body as Principle-

An essay on how the human form inspires and corresponds to art, life, architecture and more. Brian Keeler

The relation of the parts to the whole and their successful interaction could sum up the ideal of visual virtue as expressed in the work of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius and the authors of the Renaissance who rediscovered his work.   I found these ideas intriguing and useful in how they applied to painting today as well as to many other areas of life. The human body serving as a principle that informs other art forms and life in general is explored here.

In a new book that I just finished,  "All the King's Horses-Vitruvius in the Age of Princes". by Indra Kagis McEwen these developments and revelations in Italy in the 13th and 14th century were applied to architecture mostly but with relevance to the politics of the day.   These correlations are the exciting takeaways and lessons to be gleaned.

Above- "The Forge of Vulcan" a large charcoal drawing by the author. The human figure as the underpinning of other art forms is discussed in the essay.

For starters let's take Francesco Petrarch,  the Italian poet and humanist who is credited with initiating the Renaissance.  He hated his times, at the end of the so-called dark ages and therefore embraced the work of Cicero and Vitruvius whose works he is credited with finding and bringing back to light. How Petrarch was supported by despots of the era is part of the contradictions if not moral ambiguities that are presented.  We might think of modern day actors, film makers, even artists like Lucien Freud and Edgar Degas whose personal lives and political views are understandably reprehensible to modern sensibilities.   Can or should we separate the art from the artist?  Petrarch was in the employ as spin doctor of sorts for some of the most reprehensible despots of the day including the Visconti in Milan,  Petrarch's friend and younger protege, Giovanni Boccaccio thought the elder poet to have lost his mind for being an advocate of tyrants.  

But it is the aesthetic principles of Vitruvius that I want to focus on here, as they are the essence of the art, architecture, sculpture and city planning that are relevant and rewarding.  I find these ideas of integral interaction and the concept of corporeal underpinning quite amazing.  The corporeal aspect has to do with how the human body,  (the male form more than the feminine) as the structural armature and aesthetic foundation of buildings and statues.  We may look at the basilicas and temples of ancient Rome and later Renaissance and baroque works in a new way now.  The man who furthered Petrarch's mission was the Florentine polymath,Leon Battista Alberti, 1404- 1472.   

Above- A figure painting by the author- relating the human figure to the landscape is part of the concept of this oil painting depicting a view of Umbria, near Todi in central Italy.

We may think of the other more famous Renaissance polymath, Leonardo Da Vinci and his iconic drawing of the Vitruvian Man as illustrating this idea of the harmony and geometric nature of the human male.  Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian man, the splayed figure within a circle and a square shows the proportional thinking of Vitruvius. It is also almost a visual summation or credo of the Renaissance. to bring back the wisdom and knowledge of the ancients. 

Here is a quote from Alberti's book "On the Art of Building in Ten Books"

"Beauty is the reasoned harmony of all the parts with a whole, so that nothing may be added, taken away, or altered, but for the worse."

We painters of today could easily take this saged advice as credo to be a guiding principle for the art of picture making.  

It is an intriguing part of the ideals of Vitruvius, Alberti, and later day Renaissance artists and architects is that the bricks and mortar of Renaissance Italy could have a salubrious effect on the citizenry.  How much could this be said of the buildings in the 20th or 21st centuries?   Would the strip mall qualify as an elevating spiritual entity?

According to McEwen there is a term that embodies these principles of interrelated functionality,  Concinnitas, is translated as harmony.  Here is a quote from All the King's Horses-

"Concinnitas, translated as harmony is the key term of Alberti's aesthetic,  It has  been said to correspond, roughly, to a combination of Vitruvian symmetria and dispositio- the proportional correspondence of parts combined with their proper arrangement- while at the same time transcending both. Spouse both of the soul and reason."

Well said!  And we can glean applications to painting if not life in general from the saged observations.  

And to further elaborate, here is another passage-

"Beauty is a form of sympathy and consonance of the parts of the whole in which it is found according to definite number, outline, and position as dictated by concinnitas, the absolute and fundamental rule in Nature.  Concinnitas is the main object of the art of building, and the source of her dignity, charm, authority and worth."

We artists could apply this to our paintings, but it is encouraging to note that another ancient Roman, the orator Cicero found applicaitons of this aesthetic to his work.  Cicero was revered by Alberti and Petrarch so it is not surprising that  he also applied concinnitas to writing.  Further, Cicero relates a well-formed essay or speech to that of a well formed body.  Hence the corporeal underpinnings of concinnitas.  

Here is another excerpt from McEwen's book to underscore the above-

"Concinnitas governs the perfect correspondence of parts that constitute any whole or "body." Cicero, who topped the list of writers Alberti most admired, was one of the very few Latin authors to use the term.  And well-formed speech Cicero writes, following Pato in this, is like the figure of man, or indeed of any living creature (animans), whoe "body" has no part added to its structure that is superfluous and whose whole shape has the perfection of art, not accident."

The book points out that it was not only the human body, the structure and integrity of the horse  was also plumbed for its aspects of form to function integrity.  We think of Leonardo's fascination with horses, specifically in his  mural plans, known as the Battle of Anghiari. 

The exhilarating if not intoxicating ideas if these Renaissance theorists and artists are brought to light by scholars like McEwen that benefit and inspire us all.  We can be thankful for her work