Carcass wrote:
This is an amazing passage. Really. This is art at RC.
It really is hard to decipher the meaning of the passage. I even tried to re-read several times but did not get 100% of it. If you have sometimes, can you please summarize it in plain English?
I summarized how I understood as follows:
-Intuitive, rather than rational faculties, worked out well in the past (historically)
-BC was known as the founder of
new aesthetic (I suspected new asthetic means rational faculties [I started to lose comprehension here])
new aesthetic is neither related to intuition nor rational faculties. It is just a fact that is mentioned. An unrelated fact meant to confuse you. -Despite being known for new aesthetic, BC actually expressed very old idea
-Prior to the Romantics, the
frenzy of inspiration [what does this mean, how does it connect to abovementioned, I started to lose comprehension again here]
frenzy of inspiration is the same as intuition.is regarded as very important to art, but philosophers affirmed it was controlled by intellectual power (or rational faculties)
correct-Then passage went on to say on what the thought of philosophers was supported, giving examples of Gothic cathedrals & stained windows
correct-
When this bracing element of craftsmanship ceased to dominate [I can't understand what was the bracing element here, losing comprehension again],
bracing element = supporting element, in this context the supporting element of craftsmanship which supports intellectual power. new skills need to be acquired
this is your assumption and the passage does not say this. It is wrong.-Then the final sentence totally killed my comprehension, "
Such were linear perspective and anatomy," what did such refer to in this passage, what does linear perspective and anatomy even mean?
when technical skills needed to build cathedrals no longer supported the intellectual power, it was supported by linear perspective and anatomy. Linear perspective and anatomy became the bracing elements.such = new technical elements which were adopted maintain the intellectual elementlinear perspective is clearly an art term. Anatomy refers to human anatomy or anatomy of anything, which provided the harmonious order for the artists. Both are intellectual elements.