This characteristic is closely related to the atrophy of the mind.
Thought takes place exclusively through visual conceptions.
Everything that is expressed is couched in visual terms. The absolute lack of intellectual content in the allegorical recitations and poems was bearable because satisfaction was attained through the visual realization alone. The tendency to express directly the external aspect of things found a stronger and more perfect means of expression through pictorial rather than literary means. In the same way, it was able to express itself more forcefully in prose than in poetry. This is the reason why the prose of the fifteenth century constitutes in several respects the middle term between painting and poetry.