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roman script
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roman script The phrase Homini consilium fortuna is written in elegant humanist minuscule calligraphy, featuring rounded, evenly spaced letters in a style known as lettera antiqua.
Quick Facts
Also called:
Antiqua Script
Italian:
Lettera Antica
Related Topics:
calligraphy
roman
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roman script
roman script Roman script designed by Nicolas Jenson, from an edition of Laertius, printed in Venice, 1475.

roman script

calligraphy
Also known as: antiqua script, lettera antica
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

roman script, in calligraphy, script based upon the clear, orderly Carolingian writing that Italian humanists mistook for the ancient Roman script used at the time of Cicero (1st century bc). They used the term roman to distinguish this supposedly classical style from black-letter and national hands. It was upon the model of antica, or roman, scripts that Renaissance scribes evolved the varieties of roman and italic, or cursive, styles of handwriting, upon which the corresponding typefaces of Nicolas Jenson and of Aldus Manutius were patterned. See also italic script.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.