Forms
In general, there are some common features of uncial script:
- m, n, and u are relatively broad; m is formed with curved strokes (although a straight first stroke may indicate an early script), and n is written as to distinguish it from r and s.
- f, i, p, s, t are relatively narrow.
- e is formed with a curved stroke, and its arm (or hasta) does not connect with the top curve; the height of the arm can also indicate the age of the script (written in a high position, the script is probably early, while an arm written closer to the middle of the curve may indicate a later script).
- l has a small base, not extending to the right to connect with the next letter.
- r has a long, curved shoulder, often connecting with the next letter.
- s resembles (and is the ancestor of) the "long s"; in uncial it looks more like r than f.
In later uncial scripts, the letters are sometimes drawn haphazardly; for example, double-l runs together at the baseline, bows (for example in b, p, r) do not entirely curve in to touch their stems, and the script is generally not written as cleanly as previously.
Read more about this topic: Uncial Script
Famous quotes containing the word forms:
“Ye know why the forms are fair, ye hear how the tale is told:
It is all triumphant art, but art in obedience to laws,”
—Robert Browning (1812–1889)
“Painting dissolves the forms at its command, or tends to; it melts them into color. Drawing, on the other hand, goes about resolving forms, giving edge and essence to things. To see shapes clearly, one outlines them—whether on paper or in the mind. Therefore, Michelangelo, a profoundly cultivated man, called drawing the basis of all knowledge whatsoever.”
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“We find the most terrible form of atheism, not in the militant and passionate struggle against the idea of God himself, but in the practical atheism of everyday living, in indifference and torpor. We often encounter these forms of atheism among those who are formally Christians.”
—Nicolai A. Berdyaev (1874–1948)