L'art Génératif. Complements to the book text.
Return to summmary. See Index

1.2. Middle ages

During the 13th and still more the 14th centuries, reproduction techniques progress :
- simplification of writing to answer the growing demand of text by Universities,
- xylographic process to offer cheap religious images.
These moves will create a favourable ground to the printing and engraving of the Renaissance (Gutenberg, Durer).

The inscription below the Conciergenie clock, in Paris : "Machina quae bis sex tam juste dividit horas, Justitiam servare monet, legesque tueri." (This machine, which so justly divides hours, teaches us to support Justice and protect laws).

The Conciergerie clock in Paris

Francis Bacon
Gutenberg
Durer
Alberti
Dante, in his Divina Commedia, writes about a clock.
Guido d'Arezzo invents the music with bars.
Villard de Honnecourt. Read the comments by Viollet le Duc (in French)

On this period, we have liked to read (not directly related to digital, of course) :
< The Age of the Cathedrals. Art and Society, 980-1420, by Georges Duby. Croom Helm 1981. Let's note a long paragraph (here online in French) about popular images production by xylography and theirconsequences on art.
< Gothic Architecture and Scolasticism. by Erwin Panofsky. Meridian Books 1957.