Pythagoras and Renaissance Europe : finding heaven / Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Joost-Gaugier, Christiane L.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pythagoras.

Pythagoras--Influence.

Philosophy, Modern.

Philosophy, Renaissance.

Physical Description:

xiv, 319 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Summary:

In Pythagoras and Renaissance Europe: Finding Heaven, Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier offers the first systematic study of Pythagoras the ancient Greek sage, and his influence on mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, religion, medicine, music, the occult, and social life-as well as on architecture and art-in the late medieval and early modern eras. Spanning the period between Dante and Petrarch in the fourteenth century and Kepler and Galileo in the seventeenth, this book demonstrates that Pythagoras's influence in intellectual circles-Christian, Jewish, and Arab-was more widespread than has previously been acknowledged. Joost-Gaugier shows that during this period Pythagoras admiration for was great throughout Europe. She also shows how this admiration was translated into ideas that were applied to the visual arts by numerous well- known architects and artists who sought, through the use of a visual language inspired by the memory of Pythagoras, to obtain perfect harmony in their creations. Among these were Alberti, Bramante, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Thus, she suggests, some of the greatest artworks in the Western world owe their modernity to an inspirational force that, paradoxically, was conceived in the distant past.

Contents:

Part 1 Pythagoras, Man for the Renaissance

1 Prologue: the Diffusion of Knowledge About Pythagoras in the Renaissance 15

2 The Emergence of "Saint" Pythagoras in the Early Renaissance 19

Early Fifteenth-Century Writers View Pythagoras 19

Pletho, Bessarion, Cusanus, and Alberti: An International Generation Applauds Pythagoras 24

Ficino's Pythagoras and His Significance as the Jewish "Grandfather" of Christianity 27

Pico's Venerable Pythagoras: Fountainhead of Wisdom 30

The Dissemination of Information about Pythagoras in the Late Fifteenth Century 31

3 the apotheosis of pythagoras in the sixteenth century 37

The Authority of Pythagoras in the Early Sixteenth Century 38

Reuchlin Describes Pythagoras's "Luggage": The Hebrew Patrimony of Christianity 42

Occultism, Virtue, and the "Jewish" Side of Pythagoras: The Heavenly Teacher of Wisdom 45

Mathematics, Exorcisms, and the Inspiration of Painters 51

Pythagoras: The "Prince of Italian Philosophy" 55

Part 2 The Many Faces of Renaissance Pythagoreanism

4 The Pythagorean Tradition in the Early Fifteenth Century 63

The Resurgence of Pythagoreanism in Florence 65

The Greek Factor: Pletho and Bessarion 66

Intertwined Threads of Balance, Perfection, and Frugality: Germany, Florence, and Rome 72

5 The Strengthening and Deepening of Pythagoreanism in the Later Fifteenth Century 80

Ficino's Pythagoreanism and His Proselytizing 80

Pico's Version of Pythagoreanism 87

Other Late-Century Pythagoreans in Tuscany 92

Urbino and the Mathematical Angle 93

Other Mathematical Considerations 98

Gaffurio and the Harmonia of Music 102

The Roman Connection 103

6 The Maturation and Vicissitudes of Pythagoreanism in the Sixteenth Century 108

Pacioli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Their Friends 109

Roman Perspectives 120

Venice: The Harmonia mundi of Francesco Zorzi and Pythagorean Musical Traditions 122

Esoteric Pythagoreanism: Reuchlin and His Contemporaries in Germany, Italy, England, and the Netherlands 123

International Pythagoreanism and Magic: France, Germany, England, and Italy 127

Finding Heaven: On the Brink of a New Science - From Copernicus to Kepler and Beyond 133

Part 3 Pythagoreanism in Architecture and Art

7 Renaissance Images of Pythagoras 145

8 The Search for Harmony in Architecture and Art in the Fifteenth Century 162

Early Beginnings in the Florence of Brunelleschi and Michelozzo 162

Pythagorean Concepts Develop: Alberti in Florence and His Contemporaries in Pienza and Urbino 176

Contemplating Harmony at Cortona, Prato, Milan, and Rome 192

9 Finding Harmony: Form and Meaning in Architecture and Art of the Sixteenth Century 202

Prelude: The Pythagorean Experiments of Leonardo, Early Michelangelo, and Young Raphael 202

Bramante and the Perfect Church 211

Harmonious Unities in the Maturation of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Fra Bartolomeo 218

Venice and the Divinity of Proportion 230

The Theology of Arithmetic in Spain 233

10 Conclusions: The Prince of Philosophers and the Birth of Harmony as an Aesthetic Notion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780521517959

0521517958

OCLC:

258329148