Animation for the study of Renaissance treatises on architecture. Francesco di Giorgio Martini’s Corinthian capital as a showcase

This paper reports preliminary results of ongoing interdisciplinary research in digital humanities and animation. This research explores visualisation techniques (e.g., motion graphics, 3D animation, Non-Photorealistic Rendering) to empower the study of depicted objects in Renaissance treatises on architecture and engineering. The aim is to pioneer a method that can be adopted by both scholars in the humanities and practitioners in animation to 1) take advantage of available editions and scholarship via interactive online systems (e.g., Engineering Historical Memory); 2) map and decode visual information and knowledge embodied in manuscripts; 3) create philologically correct 3D models and storytelling to unfold narratives embedded in drawings. As a showcase, this paper used Francesco di Giorgio Martini’s drawings of the Corinthian capital in the manuscripts Ashburnham 361 ( Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana , Florence) and Saluzzo 148 ( Musei Reali , Turin).