Art and Mathematics Before the Quattrocento: A Context for Understanding Renaissance Architecture

This present paper briefly discusses Neolithic speculative geometry; the beginnings of history in the Middle East; the Greeks, first true mathematicians; the Romans, masters of engineering; and the Middle Ages. In the years immediately preceding the Renaissance, the qualitative view of neo-Platonic metaphysics slowly gave way to a more quantitative view of reality that would eventually allow science to progress at a steady pace. This transition was slow, and Renaissance scholars were still heavily influenced by long-held ideas on number symbolism and sacred geometry. As did their predecessors, Renaissance artists sought to incorporate meaning into their design by using a rational approach towards aesthetics. Theorists such as Barbaro, Pacioli, and Dürer focused their efforts largely on concerns of geometry and proportion, often doing so within the context of the ideas presented here.