User:Kelton T Back/Taccola

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In one example, Taccola detailed the design of a defense system for forts that used a water line and a suction line. Both ends of the water and suction line would be open, allowing water from a lower reservoir to flow up the water line and fill an upper reservoir in the fort. Then, if under attack, the fort can release the water through a discharge hole in the side of the fort's wall, presumably so that the force of the water could push attacking forces away from the wall.

De machinis and De ingeneis
Taccola wrote De machinis across 10 books, and De ingeneis across 4 books. In 1432, Taccola met with Sigismund of Hungary in Siena, and then traveled with him to Rome for Sigismund's coronation to become Holy Roman Emperor. While at Sigismund's coronation, Taccola dedicated Books 3 and 4 of De ingeneis to Sigismund, the then protector of Taccola's native Siena, possibly as a means of gaining status and notoriety as an designer. On the contents of the books, Taccola's goal was to shed light on old Greco-Roman machines, as opposed to writing about his own designs. Unfortunately for Taccola, many engineers did not see any practical purpose for the designs he elevated. On a case to case basis, Taccola would cite the earlier designs imagined by Vegetius and Kyeser.

Taccola Interviews Brunelleschi
The conversation between Taccola and Brunelleschi is described as an "interview" mainly because Taccola wrote Brunelleschi's answers to questions verbatum. The contents of the interview covered the issue of protecting intellectual property from thieves, during a time when few governments in Europe had any laws on patenting. Initially, Taccola was open to the idea of sharing his ideas with others, but his interview with Brunelleschi influenced him to become more cryptic, drawing more symbolic imagery in De ingeneis and explaining to the reader, "My speech has been veiled... I say what I say because of the ingratitude of some people, and not of all men.". Taccola and Brunelleschi also discussed the installation of bridge and pier foundations of which Taccola had previously made two inventions for. However, Brunelleschi was more modest about Taccola's inventions, telling him that he also needed to consider the availability of resources close to the body of water, highlighting Brunelleschi's experiences as engineer, whereas Taccola had mostly dealt with imagining new inventions, more akin to a designer.

Drawing Style
Due to the political rivalry between Siena and Florence, Taccola was never exposed to linear perspective, a growing graphical style in Florence. Moreover, Taccola drew his machines based on what looked proper to him, not based on geometrical considerations. While Taccola did provide proportional text descriptions to his drawings in Books 1 and 2 of De ingeneis, he focused less on providing text to his images in Books 3 and 4.

Peer Review Response: To AMCWiki1591
I don't know how much information Trtwe34 found in his sources, but the sources I have do have some information related to that, and I plan on providing some of those details (see above example from Ein Werk der italienischen Frührenaissance). I was not sure to add dates to the information I have found, but if my partner Trtwe34 is doing it, I will follow suit to remain consistent. One issue I may have is that I am primarily taking information from a single source, mainly due to it's comprehensiveness on Taccola. However, my partner has four different, which may overlap in information, and I will differ to his sources for any information overlap as to dilute my one source. I will also try to get down some more information from Ein Werk der italienischen Frührenaissance.