Geometry & Art: How Mathematics Transformed Art During the Renaissance

by David G. Wade

A definitive look at how geometry changed the world of art forever.

Geometry & Art follows the artists of the Renaissance, whose search for perspective and visual depth led them to the study of geometry. Influencing the work of artists such as Paulo Uccello, Piero della Francesco, and Leonardo Da Vinci, this breakthrough quickly spread to Germany, where a passion for polyhedral-based geometrical designs flourished as a distinct new art in the mid-16th century.

A period of enormous political and cultural change, the Renaissance empowered artists to draw upon a blossoming revival of classical art, philosophy, and culture. At the same time, a wealth of new ideas and concepts were flowing into Europe from the Islamic Middle East. And it was this flood of revolutionary new thought that would lead to the syntheses of mathematics, geometry, and art that characterizes the painting, sculpture and visual language of the Renaissance.

This authoritative volume uses engaging text, compelling historical accounts, and 250 beautiful illustrations to immerse readers in the fundamental Renaissance forms which, although conceived over five-hundred years ago, still have the capacity to awe and inspire us with their beauty.

Genres: Art, Art History

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

David Wade is an artist and architect, as well as the author of Pattern in Islamic Art (Overlook Press and Studio Vista, 1976); Geometric Patterns and Borders (Wildwood House and Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1982); Crystal and Dragon: The Cosmic Dance of Symmetry and Chaos in Nature, Art and Consciousness (Destiny Books, 1993); Li: Dynamic Form in Nature (Walker & Company, 2003); and Symmetry: The Ordering Principle (Walker & Company, 2006).

He lives in Wales.

Reviews

[John Isles · Rating 1 out of 5]

It would be difficult to understate the importance of this book. While some volumes are better passed over in silence, this one is so badly written that it's the best example of the genre that I've had the misfortune to purchase in many years.

[Christopher McKee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine. It presented ideas/facts about how geometry and other math concepts influenced various eras of art/pieces, which I hadn't read before in any other piece. I was initially drawn to Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man and then Pacioli's ideas on probability and chess. And much of that is here, as well as the antecedents from Hindu Arabic numbering systems, classic Greek architecture. The book also has very attractive prints and the descriptions are succinct. In all, a good book for further reading.

[Anna Sinclair · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review is that it's neither good nor bad. It reiterates Concepts that have already been brought forth regarding geometric patterns and art but has very little new to add.