Taste Claritas

A formal observation framework derived from Aquinas's three conditions of beauty — integritas, consonantia, and claritas — as a perceptual checklist for composition analysis.

A taste skill derived from Thomas Aquinas's three conditions of beauty (Summa Theologica I, q.39, a.8): integritas (wholeness — nothing essential missing), consonantia (due proportion — parts relate correctly to whole), and claritas (radiance — form shines through matter with luminous intelligibility).

Style Tokens

• Luminous intelligibility — the organizing principle visible through material
• Geometric proportion as structural logic, not decoration
• Encyclopedic completeness — nothing essential missing
• Nothing excess, nothing missing — economy without poverty
• Form transparent to principle
• Even illumination revealing structure
• Architectural clarity of spatial relationships
• Ratio as method — mathematical proportion governing composition
• Legibility without simplification
• Splendor formae — the radiance of form itself

Anti-Tokens

• Decorative ornament as end in itself
• Deliberate obscurity or mystification
• Asymmetric expressionism prioritizing feeling over structure
• Rough texture valued for its own sake
• Incompleteness as aesthetic choice
• Emotional turbulence disrupting formal logic
• Baroque excess overwhelming structural clarity
• Subjective distortion of proportion
• Darkness as mood rather than structural element
• Fragmentation without governing unity

Application Rules

1. Apply integritas check: identify what is essential — is anything missing that creates deficiency? Is anything present that does not serve the whole?
2. Apply consonantia check: do proportional relationships follow a consistent structural logic? Can you identify the ratio governing spatial divisions?
3. Apply claritas check: does the organizing principle become legible through the material — can you see through surface to structure?
4. Use as sequential diagnostic: if a composition feels off but you cannot identify why, check these three conditions in order
5. Check each condition independently — failure is usually in one specific condition, not all three

Evaluation Criteria

• Does the composition achieve completeness without excess?
• Can you identify the proportional system governing spatial relationships?
• Does the organizing principle shine through the material surface?
• Is there luminous intelligibility — can you grasp the whole at once?
• Would removing any element create a deficiency? Would adding any element create excess?