August 28, 2018 Tuesday
Bedtime Story
Giotto and Dante Alighieri
Scrovegni chapel in Padua and the frescos
inside it are worth a view even if you do not happen to be religious or a
Christian as these are not only masterpieces of Western Art but in a way, a
progress from previous Byzantine and Gothic form of art though progress here is
rather ill-defined.
If you do not have the time or the money
(or both), then you can search for these paintings on Google images.
You will be able to virtual walk through
this chapel sitting in the comforts of your sofa or bed.
Of course, as I stated earlier, I do not
know if Giotto actively and intentionally used mathematics or some kind of
algebraic method and used distant lines for creating perspective and
foreshortening though some claim him to have used it.
As an aside it is said that Giotto was a
short and an extremely ugly man and there is a story (not sure if true or anecdotal)
that Dante Alighieri (of Divine Comedy fame which is a portrayal of an
imaginative afterlife probably influenced by Biblical notions) once visited
Giotto who was working his way on the walls and ceilings of Scrovegni Chapel.
Giotto’s children were present too and on
seeing them with utmost unseemliness asked aloud as to how a man who painted
such beautiful pictures could have such plain children.
It was to Giotto’s humility, magnanimity
and wit that the reply came, “I had them in the dark.”
What we know for certain that some hundred
years later after Giotto another Italian designer, engineer and architect for
certain used mathematics of linear perspective in his works.
It was Filippo Brunelleschi of Florence who
would actively use the geometry of linear perspective for his art and for the
construction of the majestic dome of the Florence Cathedral which is now a
UNESCO world Heritage Site.
Brunelleschi is an important figure in the
history of early European Renaissance and yet very little is known about his
early life and childhood.
Brunelleschi is most popular for the
construction of the magnificent dome of Florence Cathedral which in those days
was a tremendous challenge.
To the Western world and civilization,
Brunelleschi is seen as the first modern engineer, construction supervisor and
one of the founding fathers of the entire Renaissance that is its seminal seed.
Brunelleschi was born to a notary father
and he was given an education in mathematics and literature, specially groomed
to become a civil servant like his father.
Yet, his natural talent lay in art and he
soon joined the silk merchants’ Guild and groomed himself to become an
extremely skilled goldsmith.
He would have done great as a goldsmith and
a merchant but then something happened.
He by pure chance happened to take part in
a competition that was meant to test the architectural acumen of young men (the
task was to design a set of new doors for the Florence Baptistery) and in it designed
a gilded bronze panel depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac, a scene from the
chapter Genesis 22 of the Hebrew Bible.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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