Artes Pulchrae
The arts of making, each a path through the texts
The tradition sets the arts of making beside the arts of number and speech: poetry, drama, painting, sculpture, architecture and music as it is sung and played. Each page below is a reading path in the writers’ own words, from the philosophers who first asked what these arts do, through the craftsmen and critics, to the Church’s teaching on sacred art and the artists’ own testimony.
Music as number and ratio is on the liberal arts page →
PoetryPoesisMaking in words: imitation, inspiration, the sublime, and what the poets say of their own art.DramaDramaTragedy, comedy and the stage: what they do to an audience, and the case for and against them.PaintingPicturaThe painter’s craft, the ideal and nature, and the holy image.SculptureSculpturaForm drawn out of stone: the ideal figure, the sculptor’s craft and the sacred statue.ArchitectureArchitecturaBuilding as an art: firmness, use and delight, the cathedral and the house of God.Music in performanceMusicaMusic sung, played and heard: the city, the Church, the composer and the hearer.