The golden section in the pictorial arts

1. The golden section in the pictorial arts

2. From Classical Age, through the Renaissance until today, whether consciously or not, a long line of artists included in their works what is called by theorists "Golden Ratio", a mathematical relationship which leads to a proportional size of the harmonic things, defined by the transcendental golden number phi approximated to 1.618034… which follows the ratio BC:AB=AB:AC Several studies on the golden section in art have shown that there is a natural and unconscious tendency by man to agree with the charges expressed by these proportions, which is pleasing to the eye and spiritual reading key of works in which is used.

4. In the "De divina proportione", Luca Pacioli's treaty, whose tables were designed by Leonardo Da Vinci, are sought in the golden ratio and in its relationship the principles of painting and architecture based on science and nature, also made ”harmonics" from this ratio. In following, the publication of the golden section will be renamed "Praxis Italica” or "divine proportion" as a unique, threefold (encompassing three terms), indefinable and invariable: it was therefore often held by a superior mind order of things.

5. Works:

7. The two images shown are respectively the "Madonna di Ognissanti" by Giotto (1267-1337) and the "Madonna Rucellai" by Duccio di Buoninsegna (1255-1319), both prior to the publication of the treaty, but yet painted in reports of height / width on a perfect golden way. It therefore seems likely, at least according to some theorists, that the "De divina proportione" has merely made explicit knowledge that was already shared in the art and passed down orally from master to apprentice.

9. Many Leonardo da Vinci's works is believed to have been realized following the divine canons, so as to lead some critics to believe that he himself was author. The analysis focuses mainly on "The Virgin of the Rocks " and the famous "Mona Lisa ". As regards the latter are really more theoretical assumptions related to the charm and mystery that this painting exudes, rather than tangible signs of proportion: the ratio should in fact be hidden in the dimensions of an imaginary rectangle around the face of the Mona Lisa, but it does not appear at all. Of "The Virgin of the Rocks " were made ​​two versions, one of which was carried out between 1483 and 86, during which Pacioli met Leonard for the first time.In any case, it can be seen even from the tables illustrated by Leonardo, in which he used the golden ratio, especially in the depiction of faces.

10. In the painting “L'Ultima Cena”, Jesus, the only real divine character, is enclosed in a golden rectangle, and so laid out according to the divine proportions.

11. "The Vitruvian Man" is the best known symbol of human symmetry. Leonardo studied the proportions of the golden section according to the dictates of the "De architectura" of Vitruvius. The artist, however, enriched the Vitruvian intuition, coming to a model that represented the ideal proportions of the human body, showing how it can be inscribed in a harmonious way in a circle and a square, perfect figures, according to the divine harmony. Leonardo also ruled that the human proportions are perfect when the navel divides the man "in a golden way”.

12. Vitruvius writes: "The center of the human body is also naturally the navel, because if a man is lying on his back, hands and feet extended, and you point a compass on his belly button, you will touch tangentially, describing a circle, the end of fingers of his hands and his feet. "

14. Even Botticelli (1445-1510) had to be fascinated by the golden proportion, since used it for his "Birth of Venus. " In fact if you measure the height of the navel height overall, their relationship will be 0.618, as well as between the distance between the neck of the femur and the knee and the length of the entire leg or the relationship between the elbow and the tip of the middle finger and arm length.

15. Also important are the paintings of nineteenth-century painter Pierre Mondrian, author of numerous abstract paintings, dominated by the use of geometric shapes. In this context, is clearly visible the setting that Mondrian Art based on the combination of the whole painting squares and rectangles gold.

16. George Seurat, the father of the current art of pointillism, has always had in mind the golden section in defining the structure of his paintings. It's easy to identify the many golden rectangles of this work, "La Parade” of 1888..

17. Increasingly, Seurat's painting “Bagnanti ad Asnières” is an example of the golden section in art.We can find many golden rectangles in the structure of this work, some of which are highlighted by the figures: the horizon is exactly equal to the gold division on the shorter side of the canvas , the characters and the trees are placed in boxes outlined by the division made smaller and smaller according to the golden section.

19. Even in "The Sacrament of the Last Supper" by Salvador Dali, 1955 , the size of the framework are those of a golden rectangle, and other golden rectangles appear in the arrangement of figures. In addition, the board is dominated by a large dodecahedron whose pentagonal faces report us back to the golden section.

20. Matilde Manara & Federica Giardino

21. Bibliography: http://www.magiadeinumeri.it/Sezione_aurea.htm http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sezione_aurea “La Sezione aurea” - Mario Livio http://www.liceoberchet.it/ricerche/sezioneaurea/sez6.htm