A Latin term meaning agreement, harmony, or fitting relationship.
A Latin term meaning agreement, harmony, or fitting relationship. In classical and medieval aesthetics it describes the consonance of parts within a whole: proportions, masses, and relationships are ordered so that the work possesses intelligible unity.
Etymology
Derived from the Latin: con- — together sonare — to sound Literally: “sounding together” Originally associated with musical harmony, the term later expanded into philosophy, architecture, and art to describe the fitting correspondence of parts within an ordered composition.
Sculptor Notes
In sculpture and classical design, consonantia refers to:
- proportional harmony,
- balance of masses,
- visual unity,
- rhythm between forms.
It is not mere symmetry, but the sense that every part belongs naturally to the whole.
A sculpture may possess asymmetry and still achieve profound consonantia if the relationships between forms resolve into a unified visual order.