Feb 16 History of GD Chapter 6-7

Chapter 6

Uncunabula, meaning cradle or beginnings, caused Gutenberg’s invention of typography to adopt the name during the seventeenth century. As printing spread rapidly, it reduced the cost of books as the shortage of books increased greatly. One person who aided to the reformation, Martin Luther, posted his ninety-five theses on the Catholic Church and was able to get his information spread rapidly due to printers. Besides Luther, another important person during this time period was Albrecht Durer. Creating the Apocalypse, he created graphics with volume, depth, texture, and shadows.

One person in specific that I find important is Durer. He added many changed to the way text was created and positioned on a page. The illustrations done in The Apocalypse portrayed highlighting and shadowing with extensive detail. This illustration gives you a whole different interpretation than the first “Apocalypse” created. He aided greatly in this new style of manuscripts and created books that explained typography and the construction of geometric drawing.

Chapter 7

The renaissance, or revival, marked the period of transition between the medieval to the modern world. Many great designers stepped forward during this time period to create new styles and fonts as well as extensive floral designs. Designers during this time period include Jenson, Aldus Manutius, Griffo, as well as Tory and Garamond. Tory likely fit the description of the term “renaissance man” due to the fact that he had a wide range of fields that he mastered. He created Roman capital letters as well as his most influential work titled Champ Fleury. Consisting of three books, this work corrects ways from speech and pronunciation, to geometric construction. Turning back to Claude Garamond, one of the first punch cutters, his fonts were created with high quality and ease in reading. But as time went on, the age of French typography began to spread to neighboring countries.

One person that I found fascinating is Geoffroy Tory. Being named “renaissance man” he was skilled in over twelve different fields: professor, scholar, translator, poet, author, publisher, printer, bookseller, calligrapher, designer, illustrator and engraver. Mastering these different fields took time, knowledge, and energy. It is amazing to me that he accomplished so much in his lifetime. The wide variety of skill that Tory had influences me to do the same by not limiting myself to one skill.

As manuscripts became more and more popular, it is important to remember why they were derived in the first place. Religion played an important role by bringing people to knowing God by creating these beautiful illuminated manuscripts to do so. We begin to see throughout readings that manuscripts were created for many different reasons: announcements, philosophy, poetry, fictional stories. How did the change in the purpose of the manuscript affect churches and other religious affiliations during this time period?