One argument is illustrated in the dialogue Demeude quotes. It is that of the Cistercian who argues ornamentation does nothing to inspire virtue or piety and that, in fact, the creative urge could potentially be dangerous. This irrepressible creative urge, as Demeude puts it, proved to be much more powerful than the limits and regulations imposed on artists, such as the iconoclast’s violent objections in the Byzantine era or the later, failed prohibitions under St. Bernard. Counter arguments to these views typically promised that the surprise and interest inspired by the images would influence the reader’s attitudes toward the accompanying …show more content…
The transition to print in the Gutenberg Era brought with it a standardization of the letter, as could be assumed. Perhaps most relevant to this class is the “great paradox of the Gutenberg era” , described by McLuhan. Throughout the course of the Renaissance, the continued presentation of imagery within or as a letter began to take away from the letter’s intrinsic importance, yet the very practices that contributed to this effect expanded the modes in which a typographic letter could convey