Sebastiano Serlio by Ashley Blake

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Sebastiano Serlio

Published on Dec 15, 2016

No Description

By Ashley Blake

Birth date: September 6, 1475
Locations where he lived and worked: Bologna, Italy, Rome
Occupation(Job or what he did for a living): Italian Mannerist architect, painter, and theorist.

(Describe this person’s major achievement)
Sebastiano’s treatise on architecture (8 books, each released separately from 1537 to 1575), originally purposed as an ‘illustrated series of handbooks for architects’, were a major influence in several countries, including; ~France ~The Netherlands ~England His treatise was also highly influenced in theater designs & lighting.

(Why is this Artifact he created an example of HUMANISM?)
This is an example of humanism because of how his work inspired others and taught them valuable lessons as well. Being influenced by multiple countries, and key essential to theatre, he was able to extend what he already knew to those that didn’t. This, being shown when he once said; "The greater the hall, the more nearly will the theatre assume its perfect form". That, being the basic definition of humanism itself.

(why did he create his artifact?)
Again, his original purpose of the treatise was as a series of illustrated handbooks for architects. He used Vitruvius's De Architectura as inspiration and created based on his own perspective, the model for what a theatre should be. He was able to accomplish this while working for Peruzzi (his principal tutor) in Rome, using the ruins of ancient Romans as a muse for his current & soon to be future works of art for architects everywhere.

(What are His Humanistic Beliefs, Feelings, Ideas?)
He believed in perspective (the art of representing three-dimensional objects on a flat surface), and also in the idea of the ‘vanishing point’ (being one of his many theories). Any information that he’d know about different subjects (specifically architecture), he’d either turn them into theories that would eventually be used in his work, or share that knowledge with the rest of the world (or at least as far as it could spread out to at the time). Doing this specifically made him a ‘humanist’, because of how his work that he shared impacted architects everywhere.

(Quote to support that he is a Humanist)
"The greater the hall, the more nearly will the theatre assume its perfect form."

(Explanation of quote and why it is proof he is an humanist)
When he said this (also written in his second book in his series, Architettura), he was implying that his theory of certain perspective could change the world of architecture. He being the (renaissance) man that he was, took upon his words and taught others everything that he knew. His ideas of imagination and creation spread to beyond where he’d expected it to, for many architects STILL use Serlio’s work as inspiration on new upcoming projects. He wanted people to know what he thought, why he thought it, and how it can impact lives (which of course for the Renaissance Age, it did). He not only is a humanist, but also defies it as something more than what’s already there.