Proportional Design Systems in Seventeenth-Century Holland

Abstract

This article focuses on architectural drawings, some only recently discovered, that contain indications of authentic proportional systems from the ‘inner circle’ of Dutch seventeenth-century classical architecture. These drawings demonstrate how these architects used arithmetical grid systems as well as geometrical constructions in the hope of achieving their classical ideal of beauty and harmony. In light of these proportional systems we may propose a method for analysing other drawings from this period that do not have any proportional systems inscribed.