Do you notice the problems in the screenshot from Da Vinci’s Demons? A particularly interesting set of posts on Mark Simonson’s blog titled Son of Typecasting focuses on fonts used in film. Mark’s post Renaissance Anomaly stood out to me for pointing out the not-so-obvious errors in the image above. This is what Mark had to say:
First of all, the typeface Gotham (released in 2002) has no place in Renaissance Italy. Gotham is based on mid-twentieth century American vernacular styles. In the Renaissance, the prevailing style, if it were painted on a wall, would have been something more along the lines of the versal hand (for example, something resembling Goudy Lombardic).
That said, the idea that a large painted sign would appear on a building, as shown here, is almost more anachronistic than the choice of Gotham. Signs like this didn’t really exist until the nineteenth century after the industrial revolution and the rise of commercial enterprise and advertising.
I suggest you read the rest of the Renaissance Anomaly post and check out Mark Simonson’s beautiful fonts.
That looks so out of place, it makes me feel… dirty. I can’t…