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Libraries > Digital Exhibits > Bela Petheo: Images of
The Rise of the West> Designing the Diagrams
| Designing
the Diagrams
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McNeill
originally conceived of the illustrations in The Rise
of the West as abstract diagrams, with lines and geometric
shapes enclosed around words. |
| Petheo,
however, conceived of the illustrations as more figurative,
wishing instead to draw realistic depictions of people
and objects. |
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Petheo
drew his inspiration for the form of the diagrams from
Giotto’s fresco The Last Judgment (c.1305)
from the Arena chapel in Padua, Italy. The figures in
this fresco relate to each other in a manner similar to
the diagrammatic space of many medieval images, where
space is depicted not as naturalistic, three-dimensional
space (as was found after the one-point perspective revolution
of the renaissance), but rather a conceptual space, where
figures are larger because they are more important, or
figures are arranged hierarchically to demonstrate their
significance and position. This geometric spatial order
had a direct influence on the final form of Petheo’s
illustrations. |
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Petheo's
illustrations are not like timelines, which show the procession
of specific events linearly through time. Nor do they
depict a single event, like an historical painting of
a notable battle or important treaty signing. Instead,
the illustrations depict historical structures and relationships.
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