GEOMETRY, PROPORTION AND THE ART OF LUTHERIE A study of the use and aesthetic significance of geometry and numerical proportion in the design of European bowed and plucked string instruments in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries KEVIN COATES OXFORD - AT THE CLARENDON PRESS6 Contents Introduction A mathematical background Geometry, a short history Proportion ‘Types of Proportion Rational and Irrational Numbers Golden § sctlon, and the Fibonacci Numbers The Root Proportonals The Vesiea Piscis ‘The fonie Volute in the Geometry of the Head Systems of Measurement The instruments, ‘The Drawings (Plates I-XXX1} "The Analyses Categorization Selection of Examples Analysis of instrument examples viows. Ex. L. Bass viol, Pelegrino di Zanetto ¢.1550) Bx. IL Treble viol, Glovanni Marka da Brescia (c.1575) x. IIL Bass viol, Batista Celliano (¢.1590) Bx. IV. Tenor viol, Henry Jaye (1667) Ex, V. Bass vial, Joachim Tielke (6.1700) Hx. VI. Pardessus de viole, Louis Guersan (1759) LIRAS DA BRACCIO Bx. Vi. Lira da braceto, Giovanni Maria da Brescia (.1575) Ex. VIL. Lira da braccio, Gasparo da Salo (6.1585) Ex. IX. Lira da braccio (maker unknown) (¢.1570) VIOLINS (VIOLA, VIOLONCELLO) Ex. X. Violin (small model), Andrea Amatl (1564) Bx. XI. Violin, Nicola Amati (¢.1670) Ex. XIL. Violin, Antonio Stradivari (1666) x. XL Violin, Antonio Stradivatt (1703)vine CONTENTS Ex. XIV, Viola, Giovanni Paolo Maggin! (1610) Ex. XV, Violoncello, Barak Norman (1718) VIOLAS DAMORE, Ex. XVI, Viola d'amore (maker unknown) (¢.1750) x, XVIL English Violet, Paulus Aletsee (1724) KITS OR POCHETTES x. XVIIL Pochette, Gaspar Borbon (1686) x. XIX, Pochette d'amour, Battista Genova (1760) Ex. XX. lute (drawing), Henricus Armault (6.1460) x. XXL Tenor lute, Hans Pret (.1550) bx, XXI, Alto lute, Giovanni Hieber (1580) x, XXII Chitarrone, Matteo Buechenberg (1614) Hx. XXIV. Theorho, Jacobus Henricus Goldt (1734) ix, XXV. Theorbo, Michael Rauche (1762) MANDORE AND MANDOLINES Ex. XVI Mandore (maker unknown) (¢.1640) x. XVI Milanese cLTTERNS: Ex, XNIX, Clitern (maker unknown) (¢.165 x. XXX. Bell tem, Joachim Tielke (1676) Trans bx. XXXL Guitar, Belehior Dit (1582) bx, XXXL Guitar, Christoph Cacho (1602) Ex, XXMIIL € Summary of analyses Observations Conclusions, Appendix B ‘The violin moulds of Antonio Stradivari with reference to Bex. NIL ‘and XIIL ‘Appendix C Body-outline chart of summary for development of four Cremonese violins Bibliography Index: rdoline, ate, Antonio Stradivari ( Ex, XXVIIL Neapolitan mandoline, Johannes Vinaecela (1753) tara battente)Guitar, Mango Longo (1624) ‘of geometrical and proportional information 82 86 90 a 95 100 100 103 106 107 110 m4 18 122 2 17 128 132 136 rT m1 144 147 148 150 155 1741 Introduction Beauty will result from the form and correspondence ofthe whole, with respect to the several parts, ofthe parts with regar to each other, and ofthese again to the whole; that the structure may appear an entire ana complete bod, wherein each member agrees with the other, and all necessary to compese what you intend to form. ‘This is one of ‘the several particulars that ought to be considered? with which Andrea Palladio, with ‘Vitruvius for master and guide’, begins the first chapter of his First Book of Architecture (Venice, 1570). In fact, particular ‘particular’ provides us with a good working idea of what artists mean when they talk of ‘proportion’, for although he himself does not here use the word, Palladio is really saying that where there is design- Interrelatedness—where there is proportion—there, also, will be Beauty. Such is Palladio’s view, an opinion shared by countless practitioners and theorists ofall epochs, but one also hotly contended by many others, drawn mainly from more recent ages. In writing the study which follows, Tam, of course, declaring my allegiance to the former group of ‘believers’ certainly I could never have undertaken the rigours of the work which follows without the fundamental conviction of my belief that the luthiers of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, like so many of their contemporary confederates, the architects and painters, did indeed make conscious use of numerical proportion in their designs. [in that this has long been suspected by many ‘instrumentophiles’ who like myself, have found just such a beauty” as Palladio’sin the myriad forms of stringed musical instruments, and wondered at the strength and integrity of their shapes. These are designs which I, forone, have found difficult to reconcile with the widely held chain of ideas that the luthier was an early Craftsman, and the Craftsman was a mortal born half-way between the Artist and the Workman, by the wisdom of providence lacking the undisciplined Imagination of the one, but compensated by the humble diligence of the other, enabling him to develop Special Understanding as he became Master Craftsman. This, clearly, is a wearisome, lazy-minded, apriorist view, which, whilst well-meaningly acknowledging the craftsman as a ‘medium of intuitive forces, simultancousty castrates him of any objective, directive intellect, as though it were plainly impossible that two such diverse processes could work together, and least of all through the mind ‘and products of a “manual” worker. In the al instruments, which, since the Lute or Lyre of Orpheus, have often been regarded as possessors of a particular sympa- thetic magic of their own, there isa further reluctance, seen especially in the conservative nature of the player, who has an active, rather than a contemplative, relationship with an instrument—a reluctance to accept the idea that an object as warm and “eeling” as a musical instrument may be the result, if only in part, of an agency as cold and mechanical, as" Rudolf Witwer, Archectaral Pres nthe ge of rt et paso! 1959), iNTRopveri0 positively iNMUMAN, as mathematics. Ironically, in view of the supportive evidence to follow, the power ofthis subjective rejeetion is a measure of exactly how successful the creators ofthese artefacts were, in reconciling what are commonly held to be two opposing design polarities: the calculated, numerically structured approach, and the personal intuitive vision. And iti, ofcourse, not through the agency of erft, but of ar, that this alchemical fusion is consummated, In recent years, some excellent works have been written which have sought to establish historical precedence for the principle of numerical Proportion in art and design, most particularly in architecture, where Perhaps its use can be more easily apprehended. Even the best of these studies, such asthe significant Architectural Principles of Rudolf Wittkower,! the fruit of considerable research and a profound scholarly insight, although widely acclaimed, have also not been without thei cities, whi lesser, weaker offerings become weighty missiles hutled back against the very movement of thought their authors had felt they were supporting, It is therefore with more than a litte dfdence that I make my own small contribution tothe field on the behalf of stringed musical instruments and their makers Although my aims are not dissimilar to Wittkower’s, that is, the establishment of the principle of governing proportion within a given discipline, the problems encountered in a like study of musical instru- imentsare ofa very diferent nature, engendering different approach, Not ast ofthese problems, as we have already had cause to examine, is the Popular image of the instrument-maker as ‘mere® craftsma The architectural theorist is also more fortunate in his researches in bicing able to consult, besides the existing buildings themselves, a considerable body of historical documents, often written by architects themselves, about architects and the use of numerical proportion in the formulation of their work. To my knowledge, no equivalent archival material has ever come to light concerning the use of such design processes by the luthiers of the same period, and yet the evidence that their designs were conceived with @ high degrce of dependence on formalized ‘geometry and proportional knowledge is overwhelming, as we shall come to see. Why no such ‘written’ records have emerged, despite some exhaustive localized researches, is a mystery which we will need to consider later in our discussions, ven this situation, then, this study will concern itself with historical documents ofa different but no less valid, kind. It willbe an examination, by careful measurement and design analysis, of relevant cross-section of historical stringed musical instruments, by which means | hope to establish finally the ‘proportional design approach’ of early luthiers, and perhaps to reveal a few design principles which I should like to think will be of use to modern luthiers seeking to re-create such instruments today. Above ally it is essential to understand that it will be a study of the esthetics of proportion in musical instrument design, and, as such, scoustcal considerations will not arise. It would be true to say that the acoustic success of an instrument relies far more on the correct thicknessing (and, where applicable, arching) of the most suitable wood, which will contain the proper resonant volume of alr, than it does on an aesthetically satisfying planar disposition of two of the three dimensions ofthat volume. Where the two combine, however, we have the art of the luthier.2 A mathematical background Musical instruments have, for me, always been objects of a very special eloquence, either as a player and listener to whom their mystic voices have sometimes been entrusted, or simply as a beholder to whom something of the unique richness of their personalities has been unfolded, As historical documents, they are objects too, of particular significance, revealing the technological resources ofthe art ofthe innovative designer in service 10 the art of music, expressed through a decorative art influenced by social convention. In this way, they area living rellection of the Muses, of art and society, their makers, and the generations of players who preserved and cherished them as intimates, leaving with them something of their presence and their communicated thoughts and feelings. Throughout this study, the instruments themselves have been a never-tading source of inspiration, wonder, and curiosity, and in a relationship of trust, have disclosed to me some of the mote secret aspects oftheir design make-up, Ina very eal sense have thus been privileged to share some of the previously lost thoughts and considerations of their makers ‘These thoughts, like the language of a past age, were shaped by previous custom and contemporary attitude; they will therefore be appreciated and understood better if, before examining the evidence of geometric and proportional thinking in the instrument examples, we ler the mathematical outlook ofthe age whieh created them. To do this, however, we must frst understand our own present-day relationship with mathematics, which is of a very diferent nature from that of our early luthier and his contemporaries. Indeed, so removed are the two polarities of mathematical approach, that perhaps the greatest obstacle to proving my thesis, that geometry and proportional planning were used by the early uthier ies not in demonstrating that such was the case, but inding acceptance from twentieth-century readers that such could be To be fair, itis not failing peculiar to our own age alone # viewing the achievements of a previous time, one should do so through the wrong end of a metaphorical telescope; and with our own opinion of ourselves as unsurpassed technocrats and with our comprehension of ‘mathematics as a tool of technology, itis understandable that we should be a little unwilling to credit the artisans of the technologically less enlightened past with a familiarity with, and knowledge of, mathematics, seemingly superior to our own. Itis an understandable viewpoint, but one betraying a little anxiety and much prejudice, Here we have a problem of belief, but one whose solution is only a short way beyond the prejudices of our twentieth-century education, If we can dispel our own school- engendered concept of mathematics as a lifeless bag of tools and ticks, of use to engineers and accountants, but an unheeded mystery to refined people of culture, then we shall have come at least as far as having an open ft, when* Mors Klin, Mathis in Wester Cu fue (Pelican Hooks, 1972, ft publi! SA, 1953} For ress Kline mtheratcs lstmore than asnethol a arian lange isa boy of knowl with content that serves the physica ‘Biosoper, the kitan and thecogans; content at sass the ‘roy ofthe mas who surveys the heavens fand the man who muses on the sweetness sf musa ours; and cote thats denial sometimes imperctby, shaped the course f me history A MATHEMATICAL BACKGROUND mind before the problem of understanding the mathematical beliefs of an. earlier age. For the Renaissance, mathematics was a universal language in which was expressed the sum total ofits ideas, The abstract expression of these ideas exists still in our modern culture in the form of structures of thought ‘and behaviour, whilst we have inherited their concrete expression in the form of artefacts, such as some of the musical instruments which we shall here discuss. All were united by the language of mathematics, and ‘order to comprehend any of these parts, or the whole itself itis essential to understand that language as did the culture which engendered it. As society has altered over half millennium, so too have the role and function of mathematics changed to serve mankind's needs. Those needs ‘are now overwhelming, with the very future of our existence threatened by increasing demands on ever-diminishing physical resources. Caught up in this giddy race, man sees his only hope as hypertechnology. For this technology (perhaps as offen master as saviour), the chameleon mathe- matics is once again the language—but it is a language of quantity: a terrifying measure ofthe finite, and not just of how much, but of how litte there remains, Renaissance man, however, although eagerly setting off upon the trai towards a higher technology, was, of course, blessedly free and unaware of its dire responsibilities. The soul of mathematics had not as yet been offered up to technology, but worked in harmony with, and qualified, the works of man. Just as the universe for Pythagoras and Plato was tuned to a heavenly harmony that could be ‘heard? with the divine sense of mathematics, so for the Neoplatonists of the sixteenth century the world aandits phenomena were infused with, and united by, the mystic thread of number. The ancient quadrivium itself was a doctrine of this faith; its articles—arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music—were gospels to the eternal order of number in its different modes, that is, as pure, stationary, moving, and applied number. Thus, the study and knowledge ‘of mathematics inspired the devotion due to & universal truth, and its ‘application was an act of faith that qualified the work with the grace of Universality. In short, it was a language of quality. This much has our relationship with the immutable reality of number changed from its role as a profound means of expression in the art and life of the Renaissance to its prime use in present-day technology as an expression of means. It may be helpful at this stage to consider how this climate of thought was brought about, by examining, albeit briefly the influence wielded by mathematics in the history of our culture. In this respect, I have been guided by the stimulating work of Professor Morris Kline, whose lucid study Mathematics in Western Culture? | would recommend to anyone wishing to pursue this exciting subject.3 Geometry, a short history Herodotus, that ancient ‘father of history", relates a story which accounts, for the birth of geometry through the seasonal invasions of the Nile. Following the division of land amongst the people by Kin (fourteenth century nc), a method of calculating the amount of land taken by the Nile’s overflow had to be contrived in order that the owner's land-tax could be adjusted proportionately. This led to @ formula system of land measurement—‘geo” meaning earth, and ‘metron’ meaning measure—and thus, gift of the Nile’ Although this is a somewhat fable-like explanation of the origins of our subject, much truth lies in the spirit of Herodotus’ tale, for it is generally believed that the civilizations of the Near East, those of Egypt and Babylonia, were the first fully to develop numeracy, and itis fairly easy to ine that the next step toward arithmetic and geometry should have been made by them, in order to satisfy just such a practical need as the one described by Herodotus. The Nile and its cultures, however, do not provider Sesostris e source of our ow! ith Pytha goras and his followers, who, by their philosophical approach, trans he mathematics which they had inherited from the Egyptians and Babylonians. Aristotle tells us that the Pythagoreans ‘applied themselves to the study of mathematies and were the first 10 particular study; its fountain-head lies in Classical Greece advance that science’; accor ingly, they are credited with giving the subject a special and independent status. Pythagoras did much to determine the nature and philosophy of Greek mathematics, raising arithmetic and geometry to their liberal-art rank, as pursuits of the intellect, freed of any material or commercial utility For our purpose, perhaps Pythagoras’ most important revelation was not his traditionally attributed theorem of the square on the hypotenuse of a right-angl discovery of the irrationality of the square root of two, but that ofthe analogy between music and arithmetic, Pythagoras discovered that the musical con- sonances—the prime musical intervals of an octave, a fifth, and a fourth —were produced by strings of the same thickness and tension but of ths in simple arithmetical proportion. Thus, strin aan octave, or diapason; in 3 : 2 ratio, a ith, or sesquialtera; whilst those in 4:3 ratio give a fourth, or sesquitertia. This was also found to apply to strings of similar lengt nonic’ proportion, and to the mass of the vibrating membrane, whether it be of strings bells, glasses of water, or the speaking length of pipes. Such diversity of examples is illustrated in the charming woodcut from Gufurio’s Theorica Musice of 1492, and shown here in Fig, 1. his discovery is primarily important to us because it marks the emergence of a ‘philosophy of numbers’, which was to be a corner-stone of Greek bel inspiration to Renaissance thinkers «triangle, or the consequent, deeply disturb isin 2: | ratio give of tensions in ‘hatGEOMETRY, A SHORT HISTORY Were it not for number and its nature, nothing that exists would be clear to anybody either in itself, or power ofnumberexerc all the aets and the th Us is that of the and of Proportion’, but for the present can be understood as ‘modes? of Proportion, ‘The Pythagorean theory of proportion, however, did notGEOMETRY, A SHORT HISTORY account for, or apply to, incommensurable magnitudes (amounts which could not be rationalized by whole numbers), and yet, as we have seen, the Pythagoreans did recognize their existence ; one supposes, therefore, that they regarded such phenomena as ‘anti-number’, belonging to a primitive and incomprehensible chaos, and mathematically ‘beyond the Pale’, involving, as they do, the terrifying concept of the infinite The natural heir to Pythagorean mathematics was Plato, who, although naturally more important to us for his philosophical writings, ‘was also the founder (7387 nc) of the renowned Academy, the recognized authority in mathematics, and a connecting link between Pythagoras and the later geometers ofthe University of Alexandria, and thence eventually to the scientists of the Renaissance, as can be seen by the Academy's famous motto, which reads ‘Let no one ignorant of mathematics enter Frc. 2. The Cosmic Monochord, Robert Flud, Utrusque Cor History 1617WA ver Fig 3. the Lambda 2 Hugh Tedennick,ntrauctin to Te Last ys of Sarat la lection of Plat hae logue) (Penguin, 1967), * Proc, GEOMETRY, A SHORT here’—a principle later adopted and disseminated in stern prefaces by both Copernicus (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, 1543) and Leonardo (Trawtato della Pittura). It could be said that in his mathematical beliefs Plato was more Pythagorean than Pythagoras, for the conviction that nature is precisely ordered to a mathematical rationale was given greater significance by the Platonic beliefin the supreme power of human intelligence ; this led Plato to seek beyond observable nature, to ideal nature—the true reality, ‘the most real existence’. Whereas Pythagoras was concerned with the number found in the harmony of musie, Plato, believing knowledge to be removed from sensation, sought, through a ‘chain of causation’, the harmonies of numbers themselves, harmonies heard only by the mind. For Plato, the things ofthis world are all imperfect copies of Forms which exist externally somewhere; which are the true and only objects of knowledge, but ean only be apprehended by direct contemplation of the mind, freed as far as possible rom the confusing imperfections of the physieal world.® Without question, the greatest contribution made by Plato to the mainstream of our subject was his study the Timaeus, for us one of the two ‘mostimportantliterary works of ancient times, a book that was available, in Latin, to European thought even through the Dark and early Middle ‘Ages, when its od’, as creator, was seen by Christians asanalogous with the Creator in Genesis, The Timacus is a formal embodiment of much of the Pythagorean/ Platonic number-cosmology, the spirit of which we have already glimpsed above. In describing the material and structure of the World-Soul, Plato explains its constituent divisions according to the harmony of the numbers 1, 2, 3,4, 9, 8, and 27, which is the combination of the squares and cubes of the double and triple proportion, starting from unity, that is, the two geometrical progressions 1, 2, 4, 8, and 1, 3, 9, 27. Thes numbers, often drawn in the Lambda arrangement (Fig. 3), contain i their ratios all the actual musical consonances as well as the divine harmony of proportion. ‘The square, 4 and 9, and cube, 8 and 27, are numbers of two-dimensional planes, and three-dimensional solids. Plato farther demonstrates how ‘God eternally geometrizes’ by assigning, in a mystical atomic theory, to cach ofthe four elements one ofthe four regular solids, in which form take the particles ofthat element. The fifth ‘Platonic’ solid is the dodecahedron—which, incidentally, cannot be constructed from Plato’s ‘two basic types of triangle’ —this ‘God used for arranging the constellations on the whole heaven’. ‘These familiar, truly elemental, figures are given here in Fig. 4. ‘The other important book from Classical Greece relevant to our study, and one having a most profound influence in the shaping of our culture, is the renowned filements of Euclid (c.325 nc). This master-work—the standard textbook of geometry for over two thousand years—was unification of Greek mathematical knowledge, collected and presented in aan arrangement so coherent and logical that its great and enduring Influence on civilization has been as much for its rational systematization as for its content. In fact, it contained thirteen books, the frst six and last three of which were devoted to gcometry (plane and solid) the seventh, ‘eighth, and ninth to arithmetic, and the tenth to irrationals. The title Elements, according to one ancient commentator,* means ‘beginning atGEOMETRY, A SHORT HISTORY. the beginning’; Euclid does so by giving a number of definitions or Axioms. These set out properties of points, lines, surfaces, and figures, and are carefully formulated to be accepted as unarguable truths—the materia from which the succeeding Propositions are logically built to form the entire system of geometry. This included, in book five, the theory of proportion, both commensurable and incommensurable, attributed to Eudoxus of Chidus (408-355 1c), a master mathematician/astronomer whe had also originated several theorems of the golden section of a line. ‘The achievement of the Elements was threefold: firstly, it presented in concise and accessible form the corporate Greek understanding of geometry, a body of knowledge which—philosophy and ‘Iiberal" educa tion aside—was also to prove of inestimable practical value to many of its, students. Secondly, it demonstrated, with all the irrefutability ofits own proofs, the supreme power of human reason, and its ability to deduce ‘and formulate according to systematic laws of thought. Thirdly, by its Universal acclaim as a model of pure and elegantlogie, the Elements finally elevated the study of mathematics from the merely useful to the detinitively aesthetic Euclid himself was educated in Athens, itis thought by the pupils of Plato, but with the conquering of Faypt by Alexander, and the consequent endowment of the city of Alexandria, Euclid was to become one of the founders of the great ‘museum’ and library established there under the culturally enlightened rule of Ptolemy | (306-283 ne). With the magnetism of an carly Diaghilev (further aided by some financial inducement) Ptolemy assembled the greatest minds and talents of the ancient world around a new intellectual hub, its spokes radiating out through Arabia, Greece, Asia, Europe, and Africa. Culturally the true nombrif duu monde, Alexandria achieved one of the first cosmopolitan societies, a centre not only of Hellenism, but also of Semitism. Its singularly diverse peoples mixed and freely exchanged both, culture and commerce—the great explosion of trade making the practical demands of geography, navigation, and engineering on the previously aloof and abstract art of mathematics. In this way, Hellenistic mathe- ‘matics became a very different study from the removed idealistic philosophy of the Classical scholars; instead, it embraced practical application by measuremenit, surveying, and construction, ‘The science of mechanics, particularly, burgeoned in an atmosphere hungry for the wondrous and the astonishing. Water-clocks, water- organs, pumps, and all manner of pneumatically and hydrostatically powered automata appeared, to advance knowledge, expand the eco omy, and dazzle the populace. For the Alexandrians, mathematics was a powerlul but obedient servant, and one ofits greatest masters was a man ‘whose intellect and whose fate symbolize those of his age—Archimedes (©.287-212 nc). He was born in, and returned to, Syracuse in Sicily, but studied at Alexandria. Although his most important work was in the field of geometry—extending the work of Eudoxus and Euclid, determining a value for », discovering the proportional relationship between a cylinder and its inscribed sphere, working on conoids and spheroids, on spirals and parabolas—his contemporary fame was founded neither on mathematics hor on the celebrated hydrostatic principle that bears his name, buton the ingenious mechanical devices that so fired the popular imagination, contrivances which, incidentally, his lofty Greek mind disdainfully dismissed as so many gewgaws and beneath the dignity of true 3 eam lV ame a, SeweDRON pe Pra TUSAHEDRON | ON) eam 2) a Fig. 4. The elemental poihedra, Pato, Times10 intellectual pursuit. Amongst these inventions were engines of war, built to defend Syracuse against the Roman advance; one such was a giant concave mirror used to burn the Roman ships as they came within bow-shot. Archimedes, it is well known, died beneath the sword of Roman soldier while in rapt contemplation of a mathematical figure —a ‘rievous incident, and one which sadly symbolizes the fate which was to befall the Greek spirit of learning belore the brutal indifference of Roman ignorance. Other Roman conquests in the Mediterranean included that of Alex- andria itself, Here, tire was used by Caesar to destroy the Egyptian fleet ast lay at anchor in the harbour; disastrously, the flames sweeping inward from the sea engulfed the Great Library, annihilating the most precious chives the world had ever known. Roman suppression followed Roman persecution, and the stifled people inevitably turned to the hope offered by the new Christian ethic, an appeal lodged in simple faith, and one renouncing the amassed abstract knowledge of the Greek culture as pagan. The scholars of the Museum of Alexandria had to flee the scattering with them the dormant seeds of their bright Greek culture. What remained of the Museum was callously put to the torch by the ‘Muslim invasion of 640, the remaining books and manuscipts, according to legend, supplying the furnaces of the public baths with six months of hot water and steam. Before following our summarized mathematical history into the bleak wastelands of the Dark Ages, there is perhaps one exceptional Koman 0 whom we should be introduced, and he is Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, an architect working for the Emperor Augustus. Vitruvius’ De Architeciura Libri Decem (The Ten Books of Architecture), are a rare and wonderful marriage of Greek theory, which he profoundly respected, and his own Roman practical appli taining all the Emperor of Rome should desire to know concerning engineering and architecture. In fact, Vitru- vitus’ greatest readership was probably not in his own Imperial Rome, but in the Italy of the Renaissance, when his work was to become the bible, the locus classicus, of architects and architectural theorists, He lists some basic requirements that the architect should full, such as having a knowledge of history, of philosophy, of medicine, and of astronomy’; he should also be instructed in geometry and have an understanding. of ‘music. This last is explained away to any puzzled Roman reader in suit- ably prosaic terms concerning not only the acousties of a theatre but, perhaps more acceptably, the correct “tuning” of the stretched strings of the balista, or war-catapult—Roman musie indeed, Nevertheless, Vitruvius did introduce, ifto the more receptive ears of a later audience, some concepts of profound and far-reaching influence. Not least ofthese was the idea, of Greek origin, that the human body itself was the repository of the most important canon of proportion to be found. ‘These proportions, which are straightforward commensurable ratios symmetrically deployed, he records, belore explaining in a highly significant passage how a man with limbs outstretched describes both a circle and a square. (Eilectively, man is born of these two prime figures of perfection, by the juxtaposition of their centres at his umbilicus, the point ofhis birth.) Many drawings, and indeed design philosophies, arose out of this passage from the hands and minds of Renaissance artists; two of the most beautiful drawings are included here, the now quite familiar image from Leonardo (Fig. 5), and a second, by the important architectural theorist Francesco di Giorgio (Fig. 6).GHOMETRY, A SHORT HISTORY Only one incommensurable proportion is used or mentioned by Vitravius—and that only in passing—the diagonal of the square (Fig. 7), whose irrationality had so disturbed earlier Greek authors. Vitruvius’ didactic approach embraces the fundamental principles of architecture which he sees in terms whose exact meaning we have a litle difficulty in fully comprehending, or accurately translating: ordinatio, dispositio, eurythmia, symmetria, decor, distributios that is, order, arrangement, harmony, symmetry, propriety, and economy. Many of these are, however, founded axiomatically, on the proportional basis of beauty in design, and therefore were also of great relevance to arts and disciplines other than architecture, Vitruvius’ ‘order’ is one giving due measure to the members of a work considered separately, whilst his symmetry gives balance to the proportions of the whole, by using ratios based on the size of those members—the modulus, oF unit of measurement. This, as we shall see, Is an important design process, evident in many of the instrument outlines to be discussed later in this study. Eurythmy, incidentally, is fa beauty of disposition; according to one sixteenth-century Vitruvian commentator, Daniele Barbaro: “This beautiful manner in music as well a Pic. 5. Vision figure, Leonardo da Vint (By courtesy ofthe Aecademiay Venice)R GHOMuTRY, A SHORT HISTORY Fic 6. Vitravian figure, Pranceseo iors. (Biboteca Laurenalana, Florence) as in architecture is called Eurythmia (harmony), mother of grace and delight” Before their rediscovery in the fifteenth century at St Gall, the Ten Books had been lost fora long time, a barren period in our cultural history in which Eurythmia herself withdrew unseen into the darkness, The eclipse of Greek culture and the collapse of Rome left a vacuum of ‘mathematical thought in the West. ‘the fragments of Greek knowlege were scattered in the Eastern world, but would eventually be driven to Europe to re-emerge and re-form into a structure of powerful influence. Until then, many such fragments were preserved and explicated on by a highly organized Arab culture. Indeed, the science of mathematics owes a reat deal to Arabic scholarship, as do our systems of economies, finance, commerce, and industry, not only for the invention of the algebraic approach, but also for our very number system and notation, which itself is Hindu-Arabian in origin, 2 ‘The bright torch of Greek learning was passed on to medieval Europe by the Arabs, both directly and indirectly. ‘The Elements of Euclid were tirst translated into Latin (c.11 20) froman Arabic version obtained in Spain by that brave scholar Athelhard, or Adelard, of Bath, amongst whose other Arabic translations was the Liber Algorismi de numero Indorum, a study of the Hindu numerals written in about 825 by al-Khowarizmi. A more oblique path for Neoplatonic thought came through the many works of AL Kindi (7e.873). Sometimes called ‘the Philosopher of the Arabs’, his full, glorious, name was Abu Yusuf Ya Qub Ibn Ishaq ul-Kindi, He was one of the earliest translators and commentators of Aristotle, and was in turn, he Pc. 7GROMETRY, A SHORT HISTORY translated into Latin by Gherard of Cremona’ (1114-87). Al Kindi wrote fon a wide range of topies in which mathematics can be seen as the connecting themes his Libellum sex quantitatum was apparently® referred to by Ghiberti, and was probably used by Leonardo, as well as by Daniele Barbaro. Never in our cultural history has the study of mathematics been held in lower esteem than it was during the Dark and Middle Ages. At first it seemed that practically its sole fanetion was to make astrological forecasts, and, as an understanding of astrology was an essential part of ‘medieval ‘medicine’, it was largely the physicians who received the most complete mathematical education of their day. One of the earliest universities offering this teaching was the twelfth-century University of Bologna. Such mathematics was comparatively elementary, and no doubt the basic geometry which was taught in this atmosphere of dry scholasticism achieved a metaphysical significance which was perhaps rather nearera superstitious number-mythology than a truly Neoplatonic philosophy. Neoplatonism did endure, however, and was tolerated, and even embraced, by the Church, although naturally with certain theo- logical reservations.” At the time of the miraculous twelfth-century surge of building, Neoplatonic mathematical ideas were circulated, and were to provide mystic food for the hungry imaginations of the great Gothic builders; Chartres was an early centre of Neoplatonist learning, and her treasure, the Cathedral, the subject of many interesting proportional analyses,°shelters beneath her exquisite stone portals, in the company of earthly kings and queens and heavenly saints prophets, and angels, the images of the Greek philosophers, including Pythagoras himself, complete with the bells of mathematical harmony. Europe was awakening, and awakening to a distant Greek cal. Following the first contacts with Classical works through the Arab world came further ‘exchange, now directly from Greek sources, in the manuscripts brought to Italy by scholars migrating, from Constantinople, and from Turkish tyranny. Exactly how the mighty explosion of intellectual and creative energy that we call the Renaissance came about is oo broad a subject for any but the most sketchy and economic of annotations in our short history of ‘mathematics. We can at least say that the igniting spark for this explosion was the rebirth of the power of human reason, and that much ofthe tinder was provided by the influx of ‘new’ knowledge and the new possibilities that itsuggested. Commerce and industry, and the new class of free labour which gave power to them, liberated the artisan imagination and engendered the independent incentive to improve working processes. ‘These included an invention of previously unimaginable power—that of printing, a process which amplified and spread the turbulent intellectual forces which had led to its birth.” ‘Much of the renewed belief in man’s reason was ‘borrowed faith’ transferred from the increasingly disputed tenets of Christian theology. Divided, and falling, the Church was robbed by the Catholic-Protestant schism of much of the unquestioned confidence it had previously enjoyed, forcing the new intcllectual energy to make @ new approach towards man’s position in the universe. And logically, like a child, i placed man at its centre, The Vitravian figures (Figs. 5 and 6) examined earlier are thus not only academic commentaries on. an ancient text, but contemporary ions of an unmatched eloquence and economy. hailed as a universal truth, and a universal ight be most marvello aga language, in which all was written and through which all 1B S Ako one of che cart translators of ac "TR. Witkower, Antti Prins, pal the dactincs ofthe incarmadan, the resurteton a the sth nd the creation oe ‘word inte marked the boundary ie Be tween the church dogmatic and Neonat Iams in every ether respet theologians and Neoplitonitr dew a0 sloty together tht ‘many ofthem ee-compltly atone say 0 ‘Reeplaensm’ by. Adil Horack and fon Malcolm Mitchel, Exylpande Branca, ih an) Sot Charperte, Th eof hate "the fst took tainly accep a wing een pine fm nenable pe re Gatonberg. ie, fae tan a Geu ata Pear (1485) "A Witkower, areiovtral Prins, pm ie, 121, 145, 144 Gromerry, A HORT HISTORY understood and—such was the new confidence—be controlled. This regard for the certitude of number is reflected in the words of Leonardo The utmost joyance tothe body is bestowed upon it by the light ofthe sun j the lutmost joyance to the spirit is bestowed upon it by the clarity of mathematical verity Mathematical verity was even reconecilable with Mother Church, provld- ing its application was restricted to the nature of God's earth and did not seek to reorder His heavens as Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo did. God created the world according to rational mathematical principles (the Creator is often depicted with divers in hand) and He created man so that hhe might understand and, as ‘love is the daughter of understanding’, might love His creation. Thus could a scientific study of nature's ‘mathematically defined processes be sanctified as an uct of worship, as Galileo contirms: Nor does God less adimirably discover Himself to us in Nature's aetions, than In the Scriptures’ saered dictions Ve have established, then, that the climate of the Renaissance was ‘mathematical. It was mathematical, though, not only in its beliefs, but the utilitarian aspects ofits everyday affairs. Within this community, the artist, if not a geometrical thaumaturgist, was at the very least a highly accomplished practitioner of mathematies. He had to be: frequently he was not only painter and sculptor, but also architect, engineer, balisticist, and general designer. Indeed, for Alberti, the first requirement of the painter was knowledge of geometry. The impact on this society of the newly translated Greek works was not only one of content, but also one ofform. As we mentioned earlier, a work like Euclid’s Elements—it was first printed in Latin in Venice in 1482—ha ‘profound influence on its readers, in part because of ls elegant and luc methodology. The rebirth of the spirit of Greek learning cleared the way {or a tlood of pedagogy 5 the desire to communicate research and expound philosophies of work was given further stimulation by the societies, academies, and guilds which grouped themselves around their subjects, and further opportunity for dissemination by the new wonders of publication. Asa result, ‘instructional’ treatises abounded, and with them came a comparatively easy access to proportional knowledge, Appendix A (page 171) gives a general list of early works dealing either direetly with geometry and proportion, or with specific applications, such as architec- ture, painting and sculpture, or music itself. At least some of these were sources of information available to the early Instrument-maker or to any guild society to which he may have belonged. Most of the treatises quoted are Italian, but the belief in the importance of number as a universal ‘harmonic instrument of creativity, which is their common link, was one held in other parts of Europe, including France, England, and Spain," Indeed, we may leave this aecount of the mathematical climate in which the art of the luthier established itself with a voice not from Italy, but from the north—Albrecht Diirer writing to his friend Wilibald Pirkheimer about the wider applications of his work on human proportions: «as this book deals with nothing but proportion I desired to keep all references to painting for the book which | intend to write upon that subject. For this doctrine of proportions, i rightly understood, will not be of use to painters alone, but also to sculptors in wood and stone, goldsmiths, metal-founders, and potters who fashion things out of clay, as well as to all those who desire to make figures.4 Proportion Palladio's remarks on Beauty, which opened this study, give, as we have said, a sound idea of what proportion in art implies; they suggest a quest for a ‘natural’, reposeful beauty through the virtues of unity and tified by the faith of the artist, this quest becomes the fullilment of a sacred, timeless pledge between forma and materia, a homage to the original creation of Order out of Chaos, and of Harmony maintained by the divine economy of Nature. But if the consequences of proportion may be seen as profound, its application is usually simple. Simplicity is one of the prime directives of proportionalita, and for all their significance and effectiveness, the ‘geometries and proportional schemes used in the following instrument designs are, on the whole, accordingly easy to follow, the mathematics involved being of an elementary nature. Before embarking on our own quest of proportion, however, it would be as well at this stage to acquaint ourselves with the principia of our subject, the rudimentary laws and processes of proportion which we shall meet during the course of our specific analyses. Types of Proportion In mathematics, proportion is order in relationship; it is constant ratio between three or more terms. This constancy can operate in three distinct nodes of proportion, which are called ‘means’. These are the arithmetic, the geometric, and the harmonic means, and their origins are tradition ally held to be Pythagorean. Mean, of course, denotes the intermediate term in a series, or progression, of three terms, and the above types of proportion describe the difierent relationships, each of them constant, which the two outer, or extreme, terms have with their ‘means’. ‘To explain how each of them works, I shall need to employ some simple algebra. the arithmetic proportion applies when the second term exceeds the first by the same amount as the third exceeds the second (that is, b—a=e-b). This is an additive progression, where the terms are increased by the addition ofa constant factor,so that the arithmetic mean, », is quite simply an ‘average’ of the two extremes, a and ¢, of ate > ‘The geometric proportion applies when the first term isto the second as the second is to the third (that is, a:b = bc). This is a multiplicative progression, where the terms are Increased by multiplication by a constant factor, so that the geometric mean will be the square root of the product of the two extremes, or b= Jae)16 * Plt, tome. PROPORTION sion arise in the designs analysed later in this, The third type of progression, the harmonic proportion, was not found. It is a good deal mote complex than the other two; Plato thought it 2 gift from the blessed cholr of the Muses to which mankind owes the boon of the play of consonance and measure, with all they contsibute to rhythm and melody. It can be said to apply when the first term is to the third term as the difference between the frst and second terms is to the difference between the second and third terms, Algebraically that is a_b-a cb which is to say the harmonic mean ate Expressed in numbers, with a constant mean b of 4, the respective arithmetic, geometric, and harmonic series would then be - 2 3 Rational and Irrational Numbers A progression, or series, then, I a succession of three or more numbers related by a constant ratio. Ratio itself is the relationship between two ‘comparable magnitudes, such as 3 :4. We shall be encountering many ratios which can sometimes be expressed commensurably, that sy in whole numbers, or, according to the scheme oF individual ratio, may alternatively be expressed as a decimal ratio—a single amount, obtained by dividing the larger term by the smaller. In decimal-ratio terms 3-4 would be, to the customary three places, 1.333. To be able thus to express a relationship by one term is extremely convenient, and in this way the proportions of rectangles may be perfectly described by one figure—a 1.333 rectangle, for example, would be one whose sides were in 3 :4 proportion. Here, however, the decimal system has introduced us to another puzzling aspect of numbers. Whereas we ‘know? that 1.333 is really the straightforward fraction of $ or 14, in decimal terms it is irresolvable or incommensurable, the repeating or recurring figure stretching into an infinity of decimal places, coming nearet and nearer to the ‘true’ value of 14, but never being able to achieve It—a sort of mathematical tantalism. Where a decimal amount not only cannot be resolved, but also exhibits no repeating sequence of numbers, it is called an irrational number, and is in effect a special case of incommensurability. 4 familiar example ofthe infinite irrationality of what has to be a finite quantity is 7, the formala which haunts the geometry of the circle, the sphere, and their relatives Golden Section, and the Fibonacci Numbers Another well-known and inexhaustibly intriguing irrational quantity which we shall be meeting is the Divina Proportione of Fra Pacioli’s treatise,PROPORTION the irrational 4, our so-called golden section, which measures 1.618 to three places of decimal. As can be seen from its formula Leys oa the irrational ingredient in 4 is J5,a proportional factor (2.236) which wwe shall also encounter separately. ‘The golden section, according, to Kepler one of geometry’s ‘two great treasures’, has been the subject of endless research and study, an object botl of passion amounting almost to deiication, and of derision of the cest anti-proportionist kind. Witness the lyrical waxing of Paci descriptions of its effects—essentiale, singolre, inefiabite, mirabile, inno- ‘minabile, inestimable, supremo, excelletissimo, incomprehensible, digns- simo, Despite the fascination felt by writers such as Pacioli and Piero della Francesca for the remarkable properties ofd, the golden section, it appears to have been rather neglected by Renaissance architects," although according to the analysis ofsome paintings *and a few ofthe instrument- designs which follow, it was utilized elsewhere. For Pacioli, there was ‘insufficient ink and paper in existence’ to describe all the properties of his Divina Proportione; here, however, we ‘must be less ambitious and list only a few ofits essential peculiarities. The alternative name, golden ‘cut’, most probably derives from one unique characteristic which accounts for the particular richness of resonance of the¢ proportion, and thisis the section, or ‘cut’, atthe golden mean point b,ofa line of any length, ae (Fig 8),s0 that ab: bras be : ac. I'distanceabis quantiied as 1, then be will be 1.618 and ac will be 2.618 (which incidentally also equals 4). The reciprocal of gy that is 1/s is 0.618, which with the equations gals) Bales ” te +141 1426=24641/b = 542 demonstrates something of the endless proportional consonance encap- sulated in the value of and also its fundamental affinity with both unity and /5.1f for example, a square or unity is removed from a rectangle, it leaves a reetangle measuring 0.618 x I, which in its turn therefore has ratio of fs 1.618, This relationship is exploited in w grid complex in the planning of the Alletsee viola d'amore (English Violet) which is Ex. XVIL below. Another important property of the golden ratio seen in a progression, © 0.618, 1, 1.618, 2.618, 4.236, is that it constitutes a summation series, which isto say that cach vector is the sum of the previous two terms; this, ofcourse, is perfectly ilustrated by Fig. 8, where acis plainly the sum of ab and be In this way, the golden-section progression parallels the well-known summation series commonly known as the Fibonaeci numbers, a \whole-number progression which starts 1, 1, 2, 3,5,8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, and so forth. This was first propounded by the mathematician Leonardo of Pisa, called Fibonacci, in connection with the breeding output of rabbits, and set down by him in 1202 in his Liber Abaci, which has survived inits second version of 1228, (It was also through this book that the spread of Hindu-Arabic numerals was encouraged.) 7 a & ¢ Fe 8 Withowee, Aries Yor Boy (tendon, 1953). See C Holey The Panes Sar Geo mune Mol, Mathers A18 ls We Fic. 9. Generation of the root proportions, by rule and compass 1 Jay Hamble, The tloments of Dynan Syn ae Univesity Prem, 1088 edn PROPORTION It may seem strange that a breeding pattern should follow a Fibonacci, or whole-number, golden-section series, but in fact very many natural phenomena clearly follow geometric progressions in their growth or activity patterns. ‘The number of ‘nodes’ in the contra-spirals of a pineapple or a fir-cone, or the seeds in sunflower heads or artichoke hearts, all coincide with the above series, as docs the distribution of leaves ‘around the stems of plants; this isthe ‘law’ of phyllotaxis. Similarly, the exquisite geometries found in many sea shells reflect the natural economy ‘of form engendered by this and other ‘pleasing’ geometric progressions. ‘The Root Proportionals In the geometrical discussions to follow, irrational proportional systems other than ¢ will be encountered, as well as straightforward ratios of whole numbers found in the commensurable schemes. Specifically, these are 4/5 (to which we have previously been introduced by its golden section cousin), and also the J 3 ratio, which appears but once asa major proportional element. ‘The root proportions, which each possess their own individual characteristics, ae best explained first in diagrammatic form. Fig. 9 shows the simple geometric generation of the root rectangles (V/2; 4/3, y'45 and .J/5) {rom the original unity of the square. We have already met the value of ./2, as produced by the diagonal of a square, as Vitruvius’ only Irrational proportion (Fig. 7); by dropping this diagonal down and retaining a short side of 1, our new rectangle will have a ratio of /2 (1.4142), The diagonal of this rectangle will promote a J/3 (1.732) rectangle, which in turn promotes a y/+ (2) rectangle (the double square), whose diagonal will give us a ,/5 (2.236) rectangle in the same way, and so on. In Fig, 9 these ratios are expressed as rectangles, and as suchs «3s V4, and 4/5 appear in some of the grid schemes which occur in the instruments, while (5 is also occasionally utilized in governing series, oF progressions. ‘A simple rule-and-compasses method of generating both the ¢ and /5 rectangles directly from a square is given in Lesson 2 of Hambidge’s Elements of Dynamic Symmetry.!® Hambidge explores the structure and characteristics of various fundamental rectangles in a way which, although not totally relevant to the particular applications which here follow, may give the reader a fuller understanding of rectilinear propor- tion than I have room to give. The Vesica Piscis Another important geometrical device, one which has consistently ‘appeared in the analysed designs, is the figure commonly called the Vesica Piscis, the vessel or bladder of a fish. It is formed (Fig. 10) by drawing, with compasses ofa fixed radius, first one circle, centre A, then a second of the same radius, centre B, on the circumference of circle one, whose centre, A, it will intersect. The two circles cross at points V and P, and itis, this described shape which has earned the figure its name. The eye of the fish is situated at point“C, the eye of the ,/3 rectangle DEFG which contains the vesica. The whole-number and 3 resonances ofthis figure ‘are discussed further in the design of Bx. XXX. VBPA Is a rhombus of two,