Book contents
- Learning through Images in the Italian Renaissance
- Learning through Images in the Italian Renaissance
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Editorial Note
- Abbreviations
- Chapter One Introduction
- Chapter Two Two Youths
- Chapter Three Mental Images
- Chapter Four Virtues, Sins, and the Senses in the Fior di Virtù
- Chapter Five Serving the State in the Fior di Virtù
- Chapter Six Dealing with Others in the Esopo Volgarizzato
- Chapter Seven The Flesh in the Fior di Virtù and the Esopo Volgarizzato
- Chapter Eight Mathematics, Body, Form, and Metaphor in Libri d’Abbaco
- Chapter Nine The Cosmos in Goro Dati’s Sfera
- Chapter Ten Navigation and Geography in the Sfera
- Chapter Eleven Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Plate Section (PDF Only)
Chapter Nine - The Cosmos in Goro Dati’s Sfera
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 June 2020
- Learning through Images in the Italian Renaissance
- Learning through Images in the Italian Renaissance
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Editorial Note
- Abbreviations
- Chapter One Introduction
- Chapter Two Two Youths
- Chapter Three Mental Images
- Chapter Four Virtues, Sins, and the Senses in the Fior di Virtù
- Chapter Five Serving the State in the Fior di Virtù
- Chapter Six Dealing with Others in the Esopo Volgarizzato
- Chapter Seven The Flesh in the Fior di Virtù and the Esopo Volgarizzato
- Chapter Eight Mathematics, Body, Form, and Metaphor in Libri d’Abbaco
- Chapter Nine The Cosmos in Goro Dati’s Sfera
- Chapter Ten Navigation and Geography in the Sfera
- Chapter Eleven Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Plate Section (PDF Only)
Summary
In the previous chapter, we have seen how geometry problems are illustrated in libri d’abbaco. In this chapter, I explore how diagrams constructed using simple geometrical figures served to demonstrate the mechanisms of the cosmos as described in the poem the Sfera by Goro Dati. As mentioned in the previous chapter, a knowledge of geometry was essential to many occupations, including those of artists and merchants. But the art of geometry had uses for more elevated subjects: as we learn in Quintilian’s Institutio oratoria, ‘geometry soars still higher to the consideration of the system of the universe’. Capturing celestial bodies in geometrical figures was the only known method for exploring their physical laws.
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- Learning through Images in the Italian RenaissanceIllustrated Manuscripts and Education in Quattrocento Florence, pp. 190 - 208Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020