Durer's alphabet via the book 'Good Eye'

A rift, not a book review

This is the cover for Good Eye, George R. Walker and Jim Tolpin's latest book about furniture design and proportion.*

The G comes from Albrecht Durer's alphabet in his  Instructions for Measuring with Compass and Ruler of his  Four Books on Measurement (Underweysung der Messung mit dem Zirckel und Richtschelettersyt, Book 3, published in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1525. 

Good Eye uses for Durer's letters for chapter headings. It discusses the design of the letters on pages 2-4. 

I last read Durer's book during Covid, 5 years ago. I wanted to understand Durer's knowledge and use of geometry.

Now I want to know more about his alphabet.

Durer used the numbers and letters of his time and place, the script of 1525 medieval Germany.The drawings I can find via the modern, online copies of his book are fuzzy.*  So his instructions are not clear to me.

 

I want to understand the basic geometric formation of the letters: Can I find out where did he begin? 

Here are Durer's letters A, B, C, D, F and Z.

 

 

 

I chose C and D.

I am laying out only the left hand C and D.

 

 

For both I began as Durer did, with a square and its center.  I have drawn these on graph paper to make the layouts easier to follow.

 

 

 

Using the arc of the square's side, here are the steps for dividing the square into 8 parts horizontally and vertically:

1) The square is divided into 4 smaller squares using a compass and straightedge.

2) the smaller squares is divided. 3) and again. 4) and again. That smallest width is 1/8 of the width of the square. The square can be divided into 8 equal sections both horizontally and vertically.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the C. The circle within the square :

 

The second circle, its center moved one unit (1/8 of the width) to the right.

The circle cut at 1/8 of the width on the right side to create the letter C.

 

 

 

The letter D:        half the circle 

 

 

 

 

 

The second half circle with its center moved one unit to the left:

The leg of the D drawn one unit wide, set 2 units from the left side.

The serifs added: 1/4 of the circle whose radius is 1 unit wide. 

Look again at Durer's letter D to see the circles.

 

 

 

For more on Albecht Durer see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer  

*I have asked to borrow, via Inter Library Loan,  the 1977 translation into English of this book. It may be clearer. If so I will update this post after I've studied that.

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Good Eye is a good book for me, a geometer. It speaks from a different vantage point than mine. This is excellent. 

Here's why. The use of geometry in construction, including wood working, was passed down by master to apprentice, by hand.  I know of no teaching manuals for apprentices. From Vitruvius, (c.50 BCE,) to the 19th century pattern books, the writers assume the reader already knows how to use a compass, a scribe, and a line. We don't know what words they used to describe what they were teaching. We have almost lost the vocabulary as well as the skills.

Good Eye uses a different vocabulary to describe geometry. For example: the book uses focus for the center of a circle,  the point on which an arc pivots. I use Euclid's word: point. This is fine. I have watched George Walker explain geometry by sketching on a white board. I have seen Jim Tolpin's work and discussed it with him.  I know we are all exploring the use of geometry in design and construction. Good Eye helps me think more carefully. Thank you.

*Good Eye, George R. Walker and Jim Tolpin, Lost Art Press, Covington, Kentucky, 2024

William Pain's 'The Practical Builder' and Lavius Fillmore

 

 Here's the Old First Church, Bennington, Vermont.*

 

In 1803 the church elders invited the Master Builder, Lavius Fillmore, to build a new church in Bennington. He had already built 4 churches in Connecticut. The latest had been included in Asher Benjamin's first pattern book, The Country Builder's Assistant, published in 1797.**                               

Pattern books were architectural guide books for builders. Their images were studied and copied by gentleman scholars and master builders; their instructions studied and followed by apprentices, journey men, and carpenters.

William Pain, in London, had written many pattern books, 8 of which are known to have been available through book sellers and in private libraries in the States. While there is no written record of what pattern books Lavius Fillmore owned or might have seen, I think he must have studied Pain's The Practical Builder, printed in London in 1774.***

 

 

Here is the evidence:

 

 

This engraving, part of Plate XIV, The Practical Builder, explains the proper design for the 'Frontispiece of the Dorick Order'. Note the fanlight tracery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Compare Pain's tracery to that in the fanlight of the Old First Church. 
Fillmore has elaborated upon and refined Pain's design. ****

 

 The columns  however, do not match the illustration of a Doric frontispiece. They are topped by Ionic volutes. 

In this photograph they look like the ends of rolled up paper. Or maybe balls of white yarn?

 

 

This is Pain's 'Frontispiece of the Ionick  Order', part of Plate XVI. 

 

 

 

The volutes match those of the Old First Church.

 On the left side the 'entablature' (the section between the door frame and the roof) also matches that of the church.

 

 

 

Here is Pain's detail of the capital. The right side of the entablature matches the 2 sections, the 'architrave' and 'frieze' of the Old First Church door. 

The volutes on the columns in the church sanctuary also match those on the frontispiece. The columns also have the same architrave, frieze (the top part above the volutes) and the very top part with the dentils - the cornice -  as are shown in the drawing.

Notes:  

*For more about the Old First Church, see the church website: https://oldfirstchurchbenn.org/

** Asher Benjamin's first pattern book is available on line. The original can be read at the Historic Deerfield Library, Deerfield, Massachusetts. We know what books Benjamin studied; he copied their engravings and used them in his own books.

*** William Pain, The Practical Builder, or Workman's General Assistant, I Taylor, London, 1774, Dover Press reprint.

****I have drawn the practical geometry for the fanlight. See: 

https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2021/10/geometry-of-old-first-church-fanlight.html 

I also drew the geometry of the church, 10 years ago. It needs to be rewritten, made simpler and clearer.  

https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2014/11/old-first-church-and-daisy-wheel-part-3.html 

James Gibbs and the Rockingham Meeting House

This blog post assumes you, the reader, are familiar with James Gibbs' architecture. If you need an introduction or a review, check the end of this blog. You will see links to what I wrote about him and his work. See also Wikipedia.

 

Did anyone in the States study James Gibbs' books?

Yes. Gibbs' On Architecture*, published in 1723, was imported to the Colonies. We know the steeple designs were studied and copied**. 

His book, RULES for DRAWING the several PARTS of ARCHITECTURE*, was also in the Colonies. 

Both books were in bookstores and private libraries. 

 

Were the rules Gibbs drew standard knowledge? Or was he simply the first to write them down? 

Did builders follow his layout instructions?  

I don't know yet. I'm studying historic doors, leaving surrounds and architraves for later research.

 

HABS has measured drawings of the Rockingham Meetinghouse in Rockingham, Vermont. It was  built from 1787 to 1797.  The Master Builder was John Fuller. The Master Joiner - who would have built the doors - is not recorded. He could have been John Fuller.

I know the Meetinghouse well. I've studied it, given tours, taught and written about the geometry of its construction as well as how the door paneling fits by the Rule of Thirds.**

 

The main door

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The HABS drawing of this door

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That drawing with the dimensions inked out in order to make James Gibbs' geometry easier to read.

2 squares.

The width divided into 6 parts, 3 noted. Then one part (1/6 the width of the door) determining the width of the surround.  

I have used the arcs and lines that Gibbs used for his door layouts. The radius of the arc is the width and height of the square. This is a builder's 'shorthand'.

This layout matches the door on the left in Gibbs' drawing shown above.

 

A line can be divided into 6 parts using the Rule of Thirds. See Part II of my post on James Gibbs and the Rockingham Meetinghouse. The link is at the bottom of this post.**

 

 The door for the right stair wing at the Rockingham Meetinghouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The HABS drawing for the right stair wing door

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The geometry: 

2 squares and 1/6 added to the height ( the red rectangle at the top)

This geometry matches the layout of the middle door in Gibbs' drawing of 3 doors shown above.

 

 

 

 

Then, I tried using the 1/6 part of the door width  as a radius.
I placed 3 circles on the width, the red line across the middle of the door. The dimension of the circles is the radius x 2: simple geometry.

 Beginning at the bottom of the door I stepped off 8 semi-circles up  the right hand side. They are the same width as those across the width of the door. Those semi-circles lay out the height of the door surround, the beginning of the architrave and its height.

Finally, I saw that the width of the pilasters on each side of the door was the same width as the circles. See the circle on the left pilaster.

The HABS drawings are small. The dimensions were made to record the building, not to record the geometry. Either the recorder or I may have missed nuance. This year, when the Meeting House is accessible, I will measure the doors to see how close what I've drawn is to the actual doors.

 

*James Gibbs,  On Architecture, 1728, London, Dover Press reprint

                         Rules for Drawing the several Parts of Architecture, 1753 edition through the University of Notre Dame  https://www3.nd.edu › Gibbs-Park-folio-18

**   https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2021/12/james-gibbs-book-of-architecture.html

       http://www.jgrarchitect.com/2022/02/james-gibbs-steeples.html

       https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2014/04/rockingham-meetiinghouse-rockingham-vt.html 

      https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2024/05/how-to-layout-pediment-350-years-of.html