There is something to the golden mean and Kentucky architecture, as there is to classical art in general. The proportion was long ago found to be both pleasing to the eye and functional; painters and stonemasons knew it long before the Kentucky era. Useful also is the entire, related Pythagorean Theorem and the simple geometry of the right triangle useful in gun work as well as laying roof shingles.
That's known by lots of folks. But to go on and make a spiritual quest, or worse, an absolute religion out of it, has always seemed to me to be somewhat superfluous. Similar to arguing how many divine spirits can lurk on the top of a c-scroll.
While on the subject of fine art, a most useful book for Kentucky rifle people is Stephen Grancasy's Art of the Rococo. Nothing to do with rifles, but all to do with the Rococo, the urbane, European art form of the golden age...the art motif of Versailles and other places of culture and nobility. Don't forget, that's what our masters were replicating to make their work look "classy." They had pattern books and furniture makers, cabinet makers, and silversmiths were often down the street or a short ride away. Wanna' bet they drank coffee, tea, and an occasional beer together and shared books and ideas, just like we are doing, of sorts.
