Argument_144

This book is about inventions, as the title „Inventioni d'ornamenti d'architettura di Michel Angello Buonaruotti e d’altri“ (Inventions of architectural ornaments by Michel Angello Buonaruotti and others) reveals.
The title is the only written information we get about this book. It doesn’t have a list of contents, nor is it organized in chapters or sections.
Because there’s only illustrations, it focuses on the visual language. There’s no theory of why this ornament looks like that, why it has this proportion or this pattern. I think that’s because it’s talking about inventions. Of how it could be, about ideas and not about norms and rules. Ideas and inventions start with imagination. Maybe the author wanted to show the reader his imaginations in a visual way, instead of describing them. Michelangelo - the author - was one of the most important artists of the renaissance. I think the reason this book is not that written theory is because he brought his ideas through paintings. A few notes next to the drawings accentuate these ideas.
On the other side this book seems like a kind of „study of ornaments“. It analyses how many different variations exist on „the same“ topic. In mostly every page there’s one single illustration, giving this illustration within the variety an importance.
The only structure of the book one gets is the scale of the ornaments. It starts with house facades and in the end it shows very small and detailed ornaments.
The book is drawn with such care and the colors and subtlety bring in a tremendous lightness. Could this be what the authors understood as the spirit of an ornament?