A study of Salomon de Caus' manuscript commentary on the first book of Jean Martin's French translation of Vitruvius (c. 1622--1624) which takes the form of a dialogue between an Architect, an Engineer and a Mathematician. The removal of music and natural philosophy from the Vitruvion program of education; the need for the updating of Vitruvius' classical theory of founding cities and building their fortified walls; the emphasis on convenience in the planning of buildings and the separation of engineering and architecture within the Vitruvion corpus all point to a reduction in the role of architecture as cosmic analogy. A comparison with de Caus' treatises on perspective, mechanics, musical harmony, solar clocks and mensuration reveal that for de Caus, it is the engineer whose making can reconcile human and divine through a form of technical know-how that although it cannot be considered true knowledge, reveals the wonder of God to the senses.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.30139 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Spriggs, Megan. |
| Contributors | Perez-Gomez, Alberto (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Architecture (School of Architecture.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001746365, proquestno: MQ64121, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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