A fundamental prerequisite for the consideration of spirited architecture is the

Renaissance theory of animate painting and sculpture, propelled by the

paragone between poetry and the visual arts. From the early Quattrocento, it is

hardly possible to find any poetic description of a visual work that does not

highlight its “life-like” qualities: epigrams on portraits which seem to speak or

ekphrases about statues filled with life bridged the gap between words and

images, putting them into direct competition. In these contexts, the revelation of

anima (soul) and spirit is the common aspiration of the poet and the visual artist.

To the credit of the artists, life-sized figural sculpture, in particular, seemed to be

a remarkably “animate” man-made work.