ABSTRACT
Occult or dashed lines reveal what is otherwise invisible to view. Different types of lines are considered conventional, but the dashed line demonstrates that its significance is at least partly in the nature of the line. The stylus was developed to make lines by indenting the surface. Called dead lines in the Renaissance because they left no bloody ink, they were related to construction site rope lines and with the advent of printing couldn’t be reproduced. While the dashed line was in use long before the Renaissance, its status may have derived from replacing the dead line. Dashed lines are used to represent in-between conditions, both spatially and temporally and are materially related to sewn thread lines. The diagrams of Robert Fludd illustrate that Renaissance occult lines define a category of existence – the spiritual – in-between the visible and the invisible.
