Constructing the past

Constructing the Past Computer-Assisted Architectural-Historical Research The application of image-processing using the computer and Computer Aided Design for the study of the urban environment, illustrated by the use of treatises in seventeenth century architecture, Utrecht 1991. Ronald Stenvert More and more, computers are used in art and archtecturai historical research and management. In this study the potentuals of computer use are cntically evaluated from a more theoreucal and scholarly point of view. The theorcucal implications of the conversion of visual matersal dating from the past into machine-readable information are discussed. The three strategies of conversion involved, translation into text, conversion into raster graphics and conversion into vector graphics, are presented. After a discussion on the use of text as representation of visual material, the value of the more direct method of translation, using raster graphics, is shown to be very limited, while the use of vector graphics Is largely restricted to specific fields of rescarch. The use of the strict and precise computer inevitably leads to a struggle with the theorcucal and methodological basis of art and architectural history, while the scope of research is also shiftng. To test whether, in spite of this, the computer can be used for computerassisted analysis on a well-defined subject, an extensive pilot project was carried out using the vector graphic technique called Computer-Aided Design. In this project the use of the Classical orders as prescribed in various treatises (eg. by Serlio, Vignola, Palladio and Scamozzi) was compared to the use of the orders in a specific group of still existing buildings in The Netherlands dating from the late sixteenth and entire seventeenth century. After an introduction of the twentyone selected treatises and their editons, some interesing results of their comparison are presented. Comparison of the treatises with the buildings, largely consisting of portals, led to a more precise assessment of the shifung use of the various treatises in that period and of their adaptatuons by local architects. The results of this pilot project, valuable in their own right, also prove the usefulness of the computer as tool in computer-assisted analysis on a well-defined, architectural historical, subject.