After seeing the exhibit “The Invention of the Renaissance” at the BNF, and the work of the humanist Petrarch I wanted to write out a quote by one of his favorite Roman writers, Cicero.

Philippe Dabasse, of Barbedor Paris, inspired me to dust off my italic at his recent calligraphy class, using a model by scribe Bernardino Cattaneo.

From De Oratore, Book III, 55 B.C. by Marcus Tullius Cicero.Cicero’s De Oratore is a detailed study of the techniques and skills required by the ideal orator.

Animi est enim omnis actio et imago animi vultus, indices oculi: nam haec est una pars corporis, quae, quot animi motus sunt, tot significationes [et commutationes] possit efficere

For all the powers of action proceed from the mind, and the countenance is the image of the mind, and the eyes are its interpreters. This, indeed, is the only part of the body that can effectually display as infinite a number of expressions and changes, as there is of emotions in the soul;

Translated by J.S.Watson (1860).

#calligraphybyraoul #CiceroQuotations #RenaissanceScribe #chancellerycursive #cursivechancellerie #italic @phildab @barbedorparis #cattaneo #calligraphy #calligraphie #calligraphiechancellerie #calligraphieitalique #walnutink #broudenoix #watercolor #aquarelle