Semester
Fall
Date of Graduation
2005
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
College
College of Creative Arts
Department
Art History
Committee Chair
Janet E. Snyder.
Committee Co-Chair
J. Bernard Schultz
Committee Member
Robert R. Hopson
Abstract
The handwriting of Michelangelo Buonarroti underwent a distinct and permanent change between 1497 and 1502. The handwriting of his early letters of 1496 and 1497 is merchantescha, the gothic cursive mercantile script which he would have learned at school. The later handwriting is cancellarescha, a humanistic cursive. It is present in letters, contracts, memoranda, records of accounts, and in annotations on drawings. Both scripts as written by Michelangelo are analyzed paleographically and are compared to examples from instructional writing books of the period. The impossibility of evolution from one script to the other is demonstrated through analysis of the scripts and a review of the history of book hands. The alteration must therefore have been the result of a conscious decision by the artist to modify his handwriting. The decision was made as a result of the influence of Humanism and, to a lesser extent, Neoplatonism.
Recommended Citation
Tallaksen, Robert J., "The influence of humanism on the handwriting of Michelangelo Buonarroti" (2005). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 852.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/852