https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/solid-objects * Home * Essays * Collections * Explore * Shop * Support PDR * About * Blog Search Search The Public Domain Review [ ][View All Results] The Public Domain Review The Public Domain Review PDRSupport PDR * Essays * Collections * Explore * Shop * About * Blog * * * * Sample two page spread Rendering of book showing cover and spine AFFINITIESA book of images to celebrate 10 years of The Public Domain ReviewPre-Order Today500+ images - 368 pages - Large-format - Cloth-bound hardcover Rendering of book showing cover and spine Sample two page spread Collections / Images Solid Objects: 16th-Century Geometric and Perspective Drawings This sequence of increasingly complex geometrical figures and perspective drawings -- collected in a sixteenth-century watercolor manuscript and preserved at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbuttel -- comes with no author's note, editor's preface, or running commentary. We know very little about its origins. All we have are shapes and color, with the occasional totem (eagle, rooster, and even a putto holding something like a pinwheel) dwarfed by the immensity of lines and angles. When compared to other geometric images contemporary to the manuscript, it inhabits a middle ground between the sober studies found in Augustin Hirschovogel's Geometria (1543) and Lorenz Stoer's ethereal geometric landscapes (1567). While the manuscript remains a mystery, certain pages share a strong resemblance to the etchings by Jost Amman for Nuremberg goldsmith Wenzel Jamnitzer's Perspectiva corporum regularium (1568) -- and one image bears the inscription "Geometria et Perspectiva Corporum Regularium" (Geometry and Perspective of the Regular Bodies), though this was a somewhat common descriptive name for studies of this kind. Indeed, the manuscript displays the German Renaissance fascination for geometrical solids demonstrated by Jamnitzer, Albrecht Durer, Johannes Kepler, and Hans Lencker, which paralleled similar experiments in Italy conducted by Piero della Francesca, Paolo Uccello, Leonardo da Vinci, and several others -- part of a larger "rise of perspective" in visual art and the renewed mathematical fascination with polyhedra. According to Thomas Christensen, it was thought that one could derive, from geometric solids, "God's secret design for the universe". Without a precis or introduction, we might find ourselves adrift in a world of forms, were it not for the intuitive logic exhibited in the order of these drawings. After the pyramid and cube, we find an icosahedron -- a polyhedron with twenty sides, the progressive extrapolation of those earlier shapes. Then a beautiful, ruby-painted variation of the "great dodecahedron", which contains pentagrams in its excavations. And suddenly, compounds: combinations of octahedrons and cubes, faceted and almost stellated in certain instances. As the geometry becomes more complex, the drawings gain worldly details: a spherical surface covered with a triangular mesh is staged on an angular stand, the kind that you might find attached to a globe, situating the abstract realm of mathematical possibility against solid ground. A beautiful example in this regard features a pale-yellow sphere, which has been grooved like a paper lantern or an ornamentally peeled orange. It sits on an irregular jade barrel, stacked on a low pink table. The tower of shapes leans slightly rightwards, lending a profound sense of movement to the otherwise meaningless collection of surfaces. On the left, leg raised, a white wagtail sounds its approving chisick. The concluding pages create a grand finale: lattice spheres; elongated pastel pyramids that resemble someone's dream of an ancient city; two tori, cut, interlinked, and set upon a pedestal, like a surrealist sculpture of donuts hugging; a very unexpected and realistic lute, floating over a lily-padded toad; and then, the manuscript's penultimate perspective drawing -- a carmine book, whose cover is inscribed with an abstract shape, opened to show a cross resting on a stand. At this point in the series, steeped in curves and surfaces, the singular Christian symbol summons a sense of geometry both profane and sacred: although many are utterly commonplace, the forms in this manuscript seem to transport us just beyond the realm of comprehension. Medium * Images Theme * Geometry & Diagrams * Design & Typography Style * Manuscripts * Paintings Epoch * 16th Century Tags geometry20perspective4birds14 Source Source Herzog August Bibliothek Rights Underlying Work PD Worldwide Rights Digital Copy Attribution Rights Download Download Right click on image or see source for higher res watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. watercolor geometrical illustrationScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Affinities Cover Imagery from this post is featured in Affinities our brand new book of images created to celebrate 10 years of The Public Domain Review. 500+ images - 368 pages Large format - Clothbound hardcover Pre-Order Today If You Liked This... Hand holding envelope Get Our Newsletter Our latest content, your inbox, every fortnight Privacy Policy More Info [ ][ ] HP[ ] [Subscribe] Become a Friend of the PDRPostcardsWe rely on our annual donors to keep the project alive. Perks include receiving twice-a-year our very special themed postcard packs and getting 10% off our prints.Find Out More Prints for Your Walls Explore our selection of fine art prints, all custom made to the highest standards, framed or unframed, and shipped to your door. Start Exploring The Public Domain Review * Essays * Collections * PD Remix * Conjectures * Curator's Choice * Bibliography * Shop * PDR Press Books * Support PDR * About * Contact * Blog * Contributors * Sources * Submissions Subscribe to Our Newsletter * * * * Using Material * Rights Labelling * Terms and Conditions * Privacy Policy * Returns Policy * Shop FAQ The majority of the digital copies featured are in the public domain or under an open license all over the world, however, some works may not be so in all jurisdictions. On each Collections post we've done our best to indicate which rights we think apply, so please do check and look into more detail where necessary, before reusing. Unless otherwise stated, our essays are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license. Strong Freedom in the Zone. The Public Domain Review is registered in the UK as a Community Interest Company (#11386184), a category of company which exists primarily to benefit a community or with a view to pursuing a social purpose, with all profits having to be used for this purpose. Pantagruel Sign Up for Our Newsletter! The latest wonders from the site to your inbox. Once every two weeks. [ ][ ] HP[ ] [Subscribe] Privacy Policy | More Info You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the provided link in our emails. * * * I have read and agree to the Terms and Conditions --------------------------------------------------------------------- {{ number }} {{ $localize("payment.title") }} {{ $localize('payment.no_payment') }} {{ $localize('payment.place_order') }} Pay by Credit Card --------------------------------------------------------------------- Pay with PayPal {{ $localize('cart.summary') }} {{ $localize('actions.edit') }} --------------------------------------------------------------------- Click for Delivery Estimates --------------------------------------------------------------------- Click for Delivery Estimates {{ $localize('cart.shipping_taxes_calculated_at_checkout')}} {{$localize ('errors.order_validation.custom_fields_validation.description')}} {{ $localize('actions.checkout') }} Sorry, we cannot ship to P.O. Boxes. Sorry, we cannot ship to P.O. Boxes.