Sandro Botticelli's Mystic Nativity (1501), cosmologically modelled

clipped from crossings.tcd.ie An idea based on the same visual model inspired Sandro Botticelli's Mystic Nativity (1500, National Gallery, London), in which he represented the skyline in the background with an elliptical line converging at the centre, which delimits the base of a hemispherical sky vault [Figure 5]. This Ptolemaic cosmological vault looks naturalistic, with an everyday sky, under which we find the Holy Family. Renaissance painters used an analogical iconic system with dramatic realism based on a scientific knowledge of vision, light and perspective. On the one hand, the representation of perspective had a scientific confirmation, and it introduced the possibility of rendering the Platonic-Christian conception of the cosmos with a Ptolemaic elliptical vault. On the other hand, realism and strong analogy augmented with iconic representations were demonstrating that the laws of vision and the Platonic conception could be fused together and serve as the interpretation keys to the world. clipped from teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us

Visual thinking has a long tradition. Today, however, access to general information on the Internet largely requires the use of textual language. We have developed a computer program that combines artistic and technological considerations to help visual thinkers use standard search engines to find information. Called the Etruscan Room, the program adopts a metaphor for its design that goes back to a pre-Roman era. However, it also incorporates philosophical ideas exemplified by Renaissance painters. The program may be of interest not only to artists and technologists, but also to people who are unable to type or who have difficulty formulating textual queries because of aphasia.