Art And Scientific Rationality:A Study Of Renaissance Perspective And Its Influences

Perspective,as a traditional means of visual art considered essential in Europe,has been playing a major role in the development of Western art and science;it is also an important research topic regarding art and scientific rationality.This dissertation,based on the ancient Greek concept of scientific rationality,their systematic ideas of the origin of the Cosmos,and the notion of developing geometry for the service of God in Middle Ages,attempts to gain some insights into PERSPECTIVE in the West.It begins by reviewing the research results obtained,their influences exerted in the area of Perspective by scholars in Greece,Rome,and of the Middle Ages prior to the 15th century.It then goes on to elaborate on the implied relations between Ptolemy's Geography and linear perspective and grid system,focusing on further geometrical space employed by such artists as Giotto and Lorenzetti shortly before the Renaissance when Perspective was rediscovered,hence the focal point:Perspective during the Renaissance.Social factors leading to the rediscovery of Perspective in the early period of the Renaissance-the Republican form of government in Florence,"visual perception" in business mathematics,enthusiasm in classical literature,jack-of-all-tradesmen held in high esteem,and the traditional religious conviction-are analyzed in the dissertation,and then Brunelleschi's experimentation with Perspective as well as Alberti's"Window" theory are dwelt upon,along with the changing ways of painting brought about by the technique of perspective from the angle of psychology.Also much investigated into in the paper is a compromise between art and scientific rationality illustrated in works of art with Perspective,by artists like Donatello,Masaccio,Ghiberti,Leonardo and Durer,to show the unity of natural perception and visual recreation,as well as the uniqueness of Perspective as a form of art creation.This dissertation discusses what the artists at the time did to have developed the application of Perspective and consequently its influence on European art,for instance,the influence the new achievements of Francesca,Leonardo and Durer and their theories had left on the artistic activities in Germany and France.In the meantime,however,Perspective is being made more scientifically precise since more sophisticated mathematical and optical theories have been developed,and as a result,the extent of scientific rationality in art is getting greater attention from both the artists and mathematicians.After a study of the persistent influence that Perspective had exerted as a result of the friendly arguments between Artists and scientists in the 17th and 18th century,this dissertation observes the changes of Perspective itself,caused by the 18th century notion of aesthetics;and problems about branched programs in education are pointed.Finally,there is a point that distinguished modern artists and art practitioners should well-balance between tradition and change for artistic innovation,and only with a compromise reached of art and scientific rationality is Art able to be gaining a new forward force.