Da Vinci's Ghost (29 page)

13
“I have gathered”: Vitruvius,
De architectura
7, prologue, 14. Translation mine.

14
“Little fame has resulted”: Ibid., 6, prologue, 5. Translation mine.

15
“not adorned”: Suetonius, “The Life of Augustus,” 28.3, in
Suetonius
1, 167.

15
Rome was a sprawling warren: The details in this paragraph derive largely from Everitt,
Augustus
, 164.

16
“disease-ridden body”: Cassius Dio,
Roman History
56.39, in Dio,
Roman History
7, 87.

16
hotline to the heavens: The phrase comes from Indra Kagis McEwen, private e-mail, February 2, 2011.

16
“Roman, you will remain sullied”: Horace, Ode 3.6, as translated in Zanker,
The Power of Images
, 102.

17
“the founder and restorer”: Livy,
Ab urbe condita libri
4.20.7, in Zanker,
The Power of Images
, 104.

17
“I built the Senate House”: Augustus,
Res gestae
4.19–21, 27–29.

18
“In cities old and new”: Philo,
Legatio
149–51, in Zanker,
The Power of Images
, 298.

18
“The whole of humanity”: Nikolaos of Damascus, in Zanker,
The Power of Images
, 297.

18
“By his wisdom and skill”: Florus,
Epitome
2.14.5–6, in McEwen,
Vitruvius
, 276–77.

19
his perfect body—of empire: For fascinating detail on Augustus and the body of empire, from which much of this chapter derives, see “The Body of the King,” in McEwen,
Vitruvius
, 225–98.

19
Small and lame: Suetonius, “The Life of Augustus,” 79–80, in
Suetonius
1, 245–47.

21
“He was interested in Greek studies”: Ibid., 89, in
Suetonius
1, 257–59.

22
Cicero described it as an exemplar: Cicero,
Brutus
86.196.

22
“full of dignity and holiness”: Quintilian,
Institutio Oratoria
5.12.20–21, in Zanker,
The Power of Images
, 99.

22
“Polyclitus made a statue”: Pliny,
Natural History
34.55, in Pollitt,
The Art of Ancient Greece
, 75.

24
“Your spirit will spread”: Seneca,
De clementia
2.2.1, in McEwen,
Vitruvius
, 261.

24
a special fondness for style guides: Vitruvius,
Ten Books
(trans. Rowland), introduction, 1.

24
what Cicero had just done: Vitruvius,
De architectura
9, prologue, 17.

25
The term
architectura
itself: The earliest known use of the word appears in Cicero,
De officiis
1.151.

25
“bring the whole body”: Vitruvius,
De architectura
4, prologue, in McEwen,
Vitruvius
, 7.

25
“incomplete drafts”: Ibid.

26
“He ought to be both naturally gifted and amenable”: Vitruvius,
De architectura
1.3, in
The Ten Books
(trans. Morgan), 5–6.

27
“the use of the rule”: Ibid., 1.4, 6.

27
“a figure the most perfect:” Plato,
Timaeus
33b, in
Plato’s Cosmology
, 54.

27
“I can see nothing more beautiful”: Cicero,
De natura deorum
2.18, in Cicero,
The Treatises
, 61.

27
–28 “have the property of absolute uniformity”: Cicero,
De natura deorum
2.45, in McEwen,
Vitruvius
, 160.

28
“the power of nature”: Vitruvius,
De architectura
9.1.2, in
Ten Books
(trans. Rowland), 109.

29
“not only an inhabitant”: Cicero,
De natura deorum
2.90, in McEwen,
Vitruvius
, 160.

30
“foursquare in hands and feet”: Simonides, in Plato,
Protagoras
339a, in McEwen,
Vitruvius
, 269.

30
the words
urbs
(city) and
orbis
(circle): Varro,
De lingua latina
5.143, in
On the Latin Language
1, 135.

30
Romulus had divided: Cicero,
De divinatione
2, in Cicero,
The Treatises
, 142.

30
“the pivot of the universe”: Frontinus,
De agrorum qualitate
37, in Campbell,
The Writings
, 9.

30
“The augur, with his head veiled”: Livy,
Ab urbe condita libri
1.18, in Rykwert,
The Idea of a Town
, 45.

31
“These points are charged”: Manilius,
Astronomica
1.801–5, 147.

31
“its origin in the heavens”: Hyginus (2)4, in Campbell,
The Writings
, 135.

32
“I assert emphatically”: Vitruvius,
De architectura
1.4.9, in
Ten Books
(trans. Rowland), 27.

33
“countless varieties of juices”: Vitruvius,
De architectura
8.3.26, in
The Ten Books
(trans. Morgan), 241.

33
Philo of Alexandria had taken the analogy: Philo,
On the Allegories of the Sacred Laws
2.7, in
The Works of Philo Judaeus
1, 86.

33
“in form, order, and number”: Suetonius, “The Life of Augustus,” 80, in
The Lives
, 247.

34
“Who can doubt”: Manilius,
Astronomica
4.888–93, 293.

35
“The people of Italy”: Vitruvius,
De architectura
6.1.11, in
On Architecture
(trans. Schofield), 169.

36
“The stonecutters who wrought the stone”: Wilson Jones, “Doric Measure,” 87.

37
“the proper proportion”: Galen,
De placitis Hippocratis et Platonis
5.448, in Stewart, “The Canon,” 125.

38
“Quis locus”
: Ovid,
Tristia
2.287, in McEwen,
Vitruvius
, 198.

38
“No temple can be put together”: Vitruvius,
De architectura
3.1, in McEwen,
Vitruvius
, 195.

39
“the famous painters”: Vitruvius,
De architectura
3.1.2, in
The Ten Books
(trans. Morgan), 72.

39
“Likewise, in sacred dwellings”: Vitruvius,
De architectura
3.1.3, in McEwen,
Vitruvius
, 156.

42
“Behold the human creature!”: Hildegard of Bingen,
Causae et curae
2, in Newman,
Voice of the Living Light
, 134.

42
“In the third year of my life”: Hildegard of Bingen,
Vita
, in Dronke,
Women Writers
, 145.

43
“Poor little womanly creature”: Letter from Hildegard of Bingen to grieving widow, in Dronke,
Women Writers
, 194.

43
“I grew amazed”: Hildegard of Bingen,
Vita
, in Dronke,
Women Writers
, 145.

43
“I see them wide awake”: Hildegard of Bingen, letter to Guibert of Gembloux, in Newman,
Voice of the Living Light
, 114.

43
“When I was twenty-four”: Hildegard of Bingen,
Vita
1.2, in Maddocks,
Hildegard of Bingen
, 55.

44
“Crowds of people”: Hildegard of Bingen,
Vita
2.4, ibid., 89.

44
“Who is this woman”: Schipperges,
The World of Hildegard of Bingen
, 11.

45
standardizing the size of the water pipes: Vitruvius,
Ten Books
(trans. Rowland), 6, n. 41.

46
“In him all things hold together”: Colossians 1.17–18.

46
“As regards the peoples”: Lewis,
A Middle East Mosaic
, 30.

46
One recent inventory: Smith, untitled review of Schuler,
Vitruv im Mittelalter
, 790.

46
“Let me tell you”: Dodwell,
The Pictorial Arts of the West
, 246–47.

47
the librarian of one German monastery: Meyer,
Medieval Allegory
, 15.

48
“We use whatever appropriate symbols we can”: Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite,
De divines nominibus
1.4, in Hiscock,
The Symbol
, 30.

48
“he might lift us”: Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite,
De coelesti hierarchia
1.3, ibid., 30.

48
“to approach the heavens”: Zaitsev, “The Meaning of Early Medieval Geometry,” 531.

49
“God, the fabricator of man”: Firmicus,
Mathesis
3, prologue, 2–3, in Stock,
Myth and Science in the Twelfth Century
, 205.

49
“All things are contained”: Isidore,
Sententiae
1.11.1a, in Brehaut,
An Encyclopedist
, 62.

49
“whom the wise call a
microcosm
”: Bede,
De temporum ratione
35, in Rykwert,
The Dancing Column
, 69.

50
“A wheel of marvelous appearance”: Hildegard,
Hildegard of Bingen’s
Book of Divine Works, 22–24.

51
“In the year 1163”: ibid., 5–6.

52
“the scholar away from theology”: Tachau, “God’s Compass,” 27.

52
“the composition of the globe”: Chenu,
Nature, Man, and Society
, 10.

53
“To slight the perfection”: William of Conches,
Philosophia mundi
i.22, in Chenu,
Nature, Man, and Society
, 11.

53
“Ignorant themselves”: Ibid., i.23.

54
“riding the magic carpet”: White,
Medieval Religion
, 298.

55
“When man looks”: Bober, “The Zodiacal Miniature,” 13.

55
“I would have you survey”: Bernardus,
The
Cosmographia, 92.

55
“From the very top of our cranium”: Hildegard,
Hildegard of Bingen’s
Book of Divine Works, 97–98.

56
“The firmament”: Hildegard of Bingen,
Causae et curae
, in Dronke,
Women Writers
, 174.

58
“The body itself”:
Risa’il
3.9–12, in Nasr,
An Introduction
, 101. Translation slightly modified.

60
“Nature’s lineaments”: Alan of Lille,
De planctu naturae
6.3, in Hiscock,
The Symbol
, 130.

60
quite possibly by Benedictine nuns: Hoogvliet, “The Mystery of the Makers,” 18.

61
were produced in German monasteries: Schuler,
Vitruv in Mittelalter
, provides abundant evidence for this assertion.

61
“God created humanity”: Hildegard,
Hildegard of Bingen’s
Book of Divine Works, 121.

61
“It is the same distance”: Ibid., 94.

61
“If we extend ”: Ibid., 90.

63
“I can carry out sculpture”: Jean Paul Richter,
The Notebooks
2, 398. Translation slightly modified.

63
“There was born to me a grandson”: Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 20. The details that follow about Leonardo’s baptism can also be found on this page.

65
“He would have been very proficient”: Vasari,
Lives
, in Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 53–54. See also Vasari,
Vasari’s Lives
, 187.

66
“One day, Ser Piero took some”: Vasari,
Lives
, in Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 61. See also Vasari,
Vasari’s Lives
, 187–88.

66
“every traveler arriving”: Verino,
Description of the City of Florence
, in Baldassarri and Saiber,
Images of Quattrocento Florence
, 210.

67
–68 “Nothing is superior”: Ibid.

68
“meticulously maintained”: Dei,
La cronica dall’anno 1400 all’anno 1500
, in Baldassarri and Saiber,
Images of Quattrocento Florence
, 86.

68
“The barons must sometimes give precedence”: Salvemini, “Florence in the Time of Dante,” 320–21.

69
“Venetian, Milanese, Genoese”: Dei,
La cronica dall’anno 1400 all’anno 1500
, in Baldassarri and Saiber,
Images of Quattrocento Florence
, 87.

69
“How can I properly describe”: Verino,
Description of the City of Florence
, in Baldassarri and Saiber,
Images of Quattrocento Florence
, 210.

70
According to one period inventory: Dei,
La cronica dall’anno 1400 all’anno 1500
, in Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 63–64.

70
“The streets round about”: Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 65.

71
According to figures: Dei,
La cronica dall’anno 1400 all’anno 1500
, in Wackernagel,
The World of the Florentine Renaissance Artist
, 300–01.

71
it resembled the studios: Bramly,
Leonardo
, 65–66.

73
“First, take a little”: Cennini,
The Craftsman’s Handbook
, 4–5.

74
“system of the naked body”: Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 77.

75
“for she does not have any set proportion”: Cennini,
The Craftsman’s Handbook
, 48–49.

75
“chagrined,” as Vasari put it: Vasari,
Vasari’s Lives
, 189.

76
involved plenty of revelry: Bramly,
Leonardo
, 112–13.

76
“Full of the most graceful vivacity”: Vasari,
Vasari’s Lives
, 187.

77
“If you want to make a fire”: Jean Paul Richter,
The Notebooks
1, no. 649, 325.

77
“I am happy”: Bramly,
Leonardo
, 117.