Letter counting: a stem cell for Cryptology, Quantitative Linguistics, and Statistics

Counting letters in written texts is a very ancient practice. It has accompanied the development of Cryptology, Quantitative Linguistics, and Statistics. In Cryptology, counting frequencies of the different characters in an encrypted message is the basis of the so called frequency analysis method. In Quantitative Linguistics, the proportion of vowels to consonants in different languages was studied long before authorship attribution. In Statistics, the alternation vowel-consonants was the only example that Markov ever gave of his theory of chained events. A short history of letter counting is presented. The three domains, Cryptology, Quantitative Linguistics, and Statistics, are then examined, focusing on the interactions with the other two fields through letter counting. As a conclusion, the eclectism of past centuries scholars, their background in humanities, and their familiarity with cryptograms, are identified as contributing factors to the mutual enrichment process which is described here

Sources and influence of the descrittione di tutta Italia of Fra Leandro Alberti

SIGLELD:D49717/84 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Gothic Stirrings on the Georgian Stage, 1740-1780

This dissertation explores the role of theatre in the development of the Gothic genre between 1740 - 1780. The study centres around five plays, which are John Home's Douglas [1756], Hall Hartson's The Countess of Salisbury [1765 ]. Arthur Murphy's The Grecian Daughter [1772], John Jackson's Eldred [1773], and Paul Hiffernan's The Heroine of the Cave [1775]. Chapter 1 explores how the Gothic emerged from anxieties caused by the threat of war and invasion. I explore how eighteenth-century struggles with heritage, national identity, and the concept of 'authenticity' contributed to the creation of early Gothic works. I also consider how Graveyard poetry was written in reaction to concerns about religion. The chapter closes with an exploration of Walpole's The Mysterious Mother in relation to these identified anxieties. Chapter 2 reflects upon the intersection of the Gothic with the school of sentimentalism. I consider how David Hume's philosophical theory of morality inspired the Gothic experience of feeling, and how 'gothic' dramatists juggled sentimental scenes with aims of edification. I then explore how the sentimental form was combined with the voguish interest in topography to form the trope of sublime nature. Chapter 3 addresses the connection between the rise of the Gothic and philosophical debates on suicide and melancholia. I explore how discussions of suicide are presented dramatically throughout the five selected plays, and consider how the atmosphere of melancholia comes to permeate the Gothic genre. Chapter 4 considers how sentimental portrayals of women were used to address the issue of national identity. I explore the metaphorical use of the female figure in the conceptualisation of national identity, observing the birth of the Gothic heroine from this reoccurring trope. Chapter 4 closes with an examination of the highly allegorical content of John Home's Douglas, which locates Gothic origins in crises of national identity and conflict

The palace at Revere and the earlier architectural patronage of Lodovico Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua (1444-78)

After a brief introduction providing some general information about Lodovico Gonzaga and the reasons for the palace's interest to the student, Chapter II discusses the location of Revere in the territory and gives an account of works done there in the 1370s. The third chapter continues consideration of how older remains conditioned the form of the work of the 1450s. Here, planning is of primary interest and the courtyard is discussed at length. It is suggested that its present layout differs from another proposed earlier using some of the same materials. The traditional attribution of design work to Luca Fancelli is disputed. As elsewhere in the palace, two styles meet in the courtyard. This stylistic discontinuity persisted through the history of construction of the palace. Chapter IV deals with the application of stone-carved all'antica detail to the building, and Lodovico's understanding of the classicizing Tuscan style in the 1450s is discussed. The general order in which walls were built, interior spaces were enclosed and the building grew is the subject of Chapter V. Discussion of the functions of the palace leads to the question of typological identifications of the building as castle, town house and country house. The next chapter seeks to consider contemporary and near-contemporary buildings in Mantua and the t erritory. The influence of the palace is discussed. The size of the Mantuan building trade and the many projects of Lodovico Gonzaga are also indicated in Chapter VI. Among the rewards of Lodovico's work at Revere were the praises of the building bycontemporaries. These are discussed in Chapter VII. Lodovico is also considered, as a patron of architecture: how he used the visual arts as a means of political expression; how he was constrained to occupy the role of patron; and how it served as an exercise of princely erudition. In a real sense, Lodovico created many of his buildings. A conclusion follows

Leon Baptista Alberti : the philosophy of cultural criticism

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1986.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.Bibliography: leaves 355-362.This dissertation investigates Leon Baptista Alberti's cultural critique, taking into consideration a broad spectrum of Alberti's writings, including many which have remained relatively unknown and ignored. Alberti developed his cultural theories by means of a literary ontology which is based on the definition of the author, his role in society, and his function as catalyst for regeneration. His theory of art and of history, and even his views on the task of Humanism it self, are all subsumed in his comprehensive attempt to demonstrate that myth-making capabilities are central to society's self-definition. Unless society keeps alive the myths of destruction and regeneration, its historical viability, so Alberti argues, is endangered. Alberti's aesthetic theory, which has previously been sought exclusively in his treatises, De pictura and De re aedificatoria, emerges in this inquiry as inextricably interlocked with his cultural critique. For the first time, the treatises will be viewed from within the context of Alberti's own thought.by Mark Michael Jarzombek.Ph.D

On Distance: From art history to Ernest Mancoba

In this thesis the central narratives of Western art history, specifically those related to modernism and African art, are considered in light of a climate of criticism concentrated over the past thirty years in Western and South African an historiography. In considering complexities of interpretation of the life and work of the African modernist painter, Ernest Mancoba, I address a perceived need for a critical discourse pertaining to early black South African modernist art. As a way of organising both my critique and contribution, I establish and use the thematic of distance. This work argues for greater consideration of individual motivation and circumstance in our understanding of early African modernist art production

The language of gestures in some of El Greco's altarpieces

This study explores El Greco's language of gestures. The first part will explain the preconditions for the general development towards rhetorical gestures and draw parallels with El Greco's artistic development in the sphere of gestures. In addition, handbooks on gestures are introduced. The second part will analyse how El Greco applied gestures, using examples of his paintings .. It will reveal how El Greco developed some gestures over more than thirty years, and how he creates with their help an intense concentrated mood in his paintings. It will also demonstrate how he worked by means of hyperbole to evoke an inspiring atmosphere, how he created space with the help of gestures and gaze, and how he transformed the meaning of some 'model' gestures he took over from famous Italian painters. Finally, this work seeks to renew and intensify the analysis of gestures in painting as a way of approaching the paintings and revealing layers of meaning that can not be found by an analysis solely focused on iconographic topics. In this study the body is taken as a mediator of signs, difficult to read, but decipherable. This study is intended to be a step forward in approaching a deeper understanding of the codified language of gesture. It should open the way to an intensified concern with the language of gestures, with the reading of bodily signs in paintings

An essay on notation : a speculative examination of what and how architectural drawings might mean.

Thesis. 1979. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.Bibliography: leaves 75-77.M.C.P