text:
Dürer's "Melencolia I": Plato's Abandoned Search for the Beautiful Author(s): Patrick Doorly Source: The Art Bulletin
, Vol. 86, No. 2 (Jun., 2004), pp. 255-276 Published by: College Art Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3177417 . Accessed: 27/06/2013 06:35
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The literatureon Melancholia is moreextensive than that on any other engraving by Durer: that statement would probablyremain true if the last two words were omitted.-Campbell Dodgson, 19261 Anyone familiar with the history of Western printmaking will find nothing surprising in Campbell Dodgson's statement, except, perhaps, that it predates so much twentieth-century scholarship on the subject. By 1991, Peter-Klaus Schuster required two volumes to survey and engage with the literature in his monograph on Melencolia 1.2 The persistent enigma posed by Albrecht Dfrer's engraving (Fig. 1) is curious, for its author would appear to have left a sufficient number of clues for us to interpret his unusual subject matter. Not only did he date the engraving and sign it with his monogram, but he also inscribed the wings of the batlike creature flying through the
sky with the legend
MELENCOLIA I. It is reasonable
that this label, reinforced by the melancholic pose of the female figure seated in the foreground, is the key with which Diirer intended the meaning of his image to be unlocked. Furthermore, we can supplement the evidence of the engraving with six preparatory drawings, one of which contains an important inscription.3 One hundred years ago, Karl Giehlow proposed the interpretation of Melencolia I that attracted the widest support throughout the twentieth century.4 His thesis rested on the claim made by Marsilio Ficino in De vita triplici(1489) that outstanding individuals were prone to melancholy and subject to the planetary influence of Saturn. Given his exceptional talent, Dfirer might have recognized his own temperament in that connection. While it has never been established that Diirer had read Ficino's book, a derivative manuscript, De occultaphilosophia by Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim, was circulating within German humanist circles a few years before the date of the engraving.5 In 1923 Erwin Panofsky and Fritz Saxl published their research into the sources of Diirer's image, building on the foundation laid by Giehlow.6 Panofsky incorporated that material into his authoritative book The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer (1943), where he concluded that the engraving "is in a sense a spiritual self-portrait of Albrecht Diirer."7 After Saxl's death, and in collaboration with Raymond Klibansky, Panofsky published their last word on the subject in Saturn and Melancholy (1964).8 That immensely learned survey of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance allusions to melancholy, while reaching far beyond Melencolia I, endorsed the earlier interpretation. Panofsky's view of Diirer's engraving remains the one most often paraphrased in catalogues of his work, but it has not prevented numerous alternative, or supplementary, explanations of the image from being published during the subsequent forty years. Giehlow, however, had originally adopted a different ap-
proach to the interpretation of an engraving by Diirer with an obscure subject. In a brief note of 1902, he had shown how many of the peculiar features of Diirer's Nemesis (Bartsch 77, Fig. 2) were explained by a Latin poem written by Angelo Poliziano.9 When holding this text against the engraving, Giehlow observed, Diirer emerged as a "very scrupulous illustrator." The goddess "walks aloft, floating in empty air"; her loins were "girded with a cloud"; she resounds with "whirring wings"; and she carries a bridle and bowl, a pairing of attributes in a Nemesis unique to Poliziano. Although this engraving has been revisited by a number of scholars, most notably by Panofsky in 1962,10 the link between image and text has not required major revision. The source Giehlow hit upon to elucidate Melencolia I, on the other hand, did not supply the visual motifs of the engraving. Giehlow had to cast Diirer as a speculative thinker, who drew from De vita triplici the Neoplatonism, theology (both Christian and pagan), astrology, and ancient medicine on which to base his own views, which he then promoted with imagery culled from other sources. On no other occasion did Direr adopt such a role. Indeed, in a draft introduction to his Four Bookson Human Proportion,he wrote, "... I myself had rather hear and read a learned man and one famous in this art than write of it myself, being unlearned."" In the printed dedication, Diirer again described himself as "an untaught man of little learning."12 His three publications are technical treatises, a point noted by the Latin translator of the Four Books on Human Proportion (1532).13 As an engraver, Diirer restricted himself to working from established texts. This paper will argue that Melencolia I, like Nemesis, is based on a text. Our reading of Direr's masterpiece will be simpler than the one promoted by Giehlow and Panofsky and will more closely reflect Diirer's interests and practice, particularly in 1514. It will argue that Diirer's subject is not melancholy but beauty, and that his label "Melencolia I" in the background represents the end of a story unfolded before our eyes in the foreground. It rejects a link between the image and the ideas of Marsilio Ficino, or Florentine Neoplatonism, in favor of a close association with Plato himself. For Melencolia I is based on Plato's longer dialogue between Socrates and the sophist Hippias, the GreaterHippias, or Hippias Major (Hippias Meizon). In this dialogue, Socrates repeatedly asks Hippias, "What is the beautiful?" Hippias offers a number of answers, all of which Socrates is able to discredit. Socrates then presents his own answers, each of which Hippias initially concedes, until he is forced to discard them when Socrates points out their inadequacy. Diirer has scattered emblems of these abandoned solutions throughout his print. The dialogue ends with both men accepting their ignorance, a state for which Diirer needed a visual metaphor. Only then did he draw on the imagery of melancholy. We will first consider how Greater Hippias may have become
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27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. London. Department of Prints and Drawings (photo: ? copyright The British Museum)
This content downloaded from 192. engraving.? rA
t..18 on Thu.227.
1 Albrecht Direr. 74.. The British Museum. B. MelencoliaI.256
227.18 on Thu. owned a copy of both books.DURER'S
A. "I cannot anywhere hear of any Greek books recently published. "A book-printer."'8 The letters from Pirckheimer that must have prompted these replies have not survived. Any that he comes across he has promised to let me know of. Plato. The British Museum. 3). London. Durer wrote to him from Venice. 77. 1501-2. On August 18.M'LEN'.B."17 On October 13 of the same year Durer wrote again. ca. but he clearly was eager to purchase Greek books as
soon as they came on the market. Durer's close friend and collaborator (Fig."'9 By 1506 Pirckheimer had established himself as a translator of Greek writers. Vitruvius. Nemesis(LargeFortune). Then we will examine the iconography of the engraving in order to disclose Plato's themes. including Aristophanes.
This content downloaded from 192.14 The first printed Greek edition of Plato's works was published by Aldus Manutius in September 1513.COLIJA1
2 Diirer. in a Latin edition based on the translation completed by Marsilio Ficino some fifteen years earlier. Department of Prints and Drawings (photo: ? copyright The British Museum)
available to Durer and why he would have been eager to read it.15 Willibald Pirckheimer (1470-1530). 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. Lucian. and Pliny Plato's CompleteWorkswere first printed in 1484. of whom I enquired. engraving.16 We do not know when Pirckheimer acquired either volume. 1506. so that I can write to you. On October 28.43. tells me that he knows of no Greek books having recently appeared. Desiderius Erasmus wrote to Aldus from Bologna that most scholars were eagerly awaiting his Plato "in Greek type. Homer. 1507.
is born of both practice and theory ("scientia. music.ETIN
after its publication.20 Of the twenty-nine books by ancient Greek authors published by Aldus between 1494 and his death in February 1515. philosophy. Xenophon. In particular. when his son and Durer were in their teens. For the next quarter of a century Diirer sought instruction in those topics that offered ratiocinatione to his practice as a painter..43. In 1507 Diirer summarized this passage in notes accompanying a drawing of a Vitruvian man inscribed in a circle and square.258
ART BULL. Furthermore.2).27 Direr dated a drawing of a woman marked up with a system of proportions in 1500. he asked Pirckheimer to mention in his preface to the Four Books on Human Proportion"that I give the Italians very high praise for their naked figures and especially for their perspective." 1. a native of Venice and a lovely painter.25 Thirty years later. B. "Neither natural ability without instruction nor instruction without natural ability can make the perfect artificer [neque enim ingenium sine disciplina aut disciplina sine ingenio perfectumartificempotest efficere]"(1. if not actual.1..23 Given the need to recover the substantial capital investment required for printing Plato's entire corpus. he pursued beauty through Messung (measurement). 1524. and in 1523 he published his own translations of eight pseudo-Platonic texts under the title Dialogi Platonis. as we shall see. when Diirer was twenty-three. law. He showed me how to construct man and woman based on measurements. and astrology (1. London.29 In the introduction to De architectura.1). 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. corresponded with Pirckheimer. there can be no principle ("rationem") in the design of a temple (De architectura. which are dated 1494. the architect should be lettered.Without the sort of symmetry and proportion apparent in a well-shaped man. and know history. Vitruvius then gave a number of simple numerical relationships by way of example: the height of a man is measured by the height of eight heads. 1) according to Vitruvian proportions.1. WillibaldPirckheimer. which is therefore the probable year of their meeting. His knowledge. which had built up a notable library over several generations.. Pirckheimer owned twenty-six. with similar relationships for other parts of the body (3. Vitruvius wrote. and geome-
3 Diirer. B. be instructed in geometry. The British Museum. engraving. I would rather have come into possession of his knowledge than of a kingdom. Pirckheimer came from a patrician Nuremberg family. Diirer's word for perspective.28 A few years later. 106. His father.1). and Aristotle. who describes the proportions of the human body to some extent. 1440-1501)..3). Department of Prints and Drawings (photo: ? copyright The British Museum)
Thucydides.1. When he told of this. the Dominican who lived and worked in Aldus's household. The quest that led him to Plato was probably driven by his conviction that the beauty of Italian representations of the nude was achieved by applying a system of proportions. Diirer revealed how his interest in "human measurement [menschlich mas]" had been awakened: I found no one who has written about a system of human proportions exceptJacopus.1. subscribers.18 on Thu. so I went ahead on my own and read Vitruvius. His admiration for such figures is first attested by his drawings after Andrea Mantegna and Antonio Pollaiuolo. Direr would have encountered Vitruvius's advice on the education of the architect. 2) and Adam and Eve (1504.3). 3.21 Pirckheimer was quoting Plato in his letters by 1502.1.22 Johannes Cuno.24 Diirer's knowledge of Greater Hippias is apparent in his manuscript notes of 1512-13. when Jacopo de' Barbari was resident in Nuremberg.227.. Vitruvius had made his brief statement on the proportions of a human body in Book III of De architectura. nascitur ex fabrica et ratiocinatione. Dr. Johann Pirckheimer (ca. proportions or commensurability. Aldus must have had the wealthy Pirckheimer high on his list of potential. We may take as a working hypothesis that the Aldine Plato recorded with Pirckheimer's bookplate at a Sotheby's sale in 1925 was delivered to Nuremberg just weeks after its publication in September 1513. Fig. know how to draw. ButJacopus I noticed did not wish to give me a clear explanation. he wrote. Diirer constructed the figures in the engraved Nemesis (1501-2."26 In a celebrated draft introduction to that treatise. or of ten faces from chin to hairline. a distinguished scholar who had himself taught the young Willibald. is the most likely purchaser of the Latin Plato shortly
This content downloaded from 192. so that he may leave a lasting memorial in his treatises. medicine.
by conducting experiments in Messung. he wrote to Pirckheimer from Venice that his Feast of the
Rose Garlands had refuted those who had claimed he was a good engraver but unable to use color. Diirer knew Mantegna to be the greatest painter of the antique nude in northern Italy.43.41Its texts.. 2). the author of The Elements (probably ca.. as we noted above.. 4) and published in Venice in 1509.
gara (ca.. I should like to ride to Bologna to learn the secrets of the art of perspective. If an artificer's knowledge were on display. Andrea was dead. "was the first painter highly educated in all branches of learning.E. was preserved in ancient statues. whom "Apollo had pronounced through his priestess at Delphi to be the wisest of men." Socrates had wished that there were windows in a man's chest."38 It seems likely that Diirer reached his teacher in that city (where Michelangelo was working on his bronze statue of Pope Julius II). especially arithmetic and geometry.33 In the preface to Book III of De architectura. Pliny the Elder's Natural History.published posthumously. The error may have given Durer another nudge toward Socrates and Plato. so that his knowledge and feelings should be visible to all (3. he wrote that the art of measurement ("die Kunst der Messung") is the correct grounding of all painting ("der recht Grundt ist aller Malerei"). Pamphilus. "in order to instruct Albrecht's facility and certainty of hand in his own understanding and skill. just before the Vitruvius had introduced his on human proportions." Durer also turned to the other main source on ancient art.E.. including the Elements of Geometry title page announced "[The works] of Euclides of Megara/ Platonic philosopher/doorkeeper of mathematical disci42 the Renaissance. but Durer never realized that the beauty he sought."35 This was the view adopted by Diirer. 1). Pacioli. Vitruvius implied that in writing "on the excellence of our science [nostrae scientiae virtutem]. we read that the latter's teacher. "But before he could reach Mantua. As an example. Truth only comprehends that which might be the most beautiful form and measurement of a man and nothing else. some would give answer: according to the judgment of men. .. and the detailed body measurements elaborated in his Four Books on Human Proportionfind a precedent in the unpublished treatises of Piero della Francesca.C. an ability to represent bodies consistently in pictorial space does not necessarily make them beautiful. merit would no longer be judged by uninformed opinion. his mind had taken on a distinctly Platonic cast: But if we were to ask how we are to make a beautiful figure. For Andrea often lamented in conversation with his friends that those qualities had not been granted to him. Polycleitus. told very knowingly in writing how a well-built man's figure might be measured out.227. Pheidias.31 In his dedication of the former to Pirckheimer.. which also managed to associate Socrates with the fame of sculptors and painters. when that quest proved fruitless. and that these proportions had once been known and subsequently forgotten. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
.. Others would not agree thereto and neither should I. On September 8.36 Earlier that year. nor his knowledge to Albrecht. and Lucian Vitruvius and Pliny lent authority to two of Direr's assumptions: that beauty in a drawn figure depended on a system of measurement. Others no less knowledgeable and skillful had been forgotten. Planes and Solid Bodies (1525) and the Four Books on Human Proportion. For who will give us a right understanding in this matter without true knowledge? . he described how "Pliny writes that the old painters and sculptors." he was following Socrates' advice (3.. The old painter sent for him. Pacioli seems to have studied mathematics with Piero
This content downloaded from 192. Now he wrote to Pirckheimer. Protogenes. without the aid of which he maintained [the] art could not attain perfection. revile [my work] and say that the style is not antique and so not good. In his search for "how we are to make a beautiful figure. for the lack of such prestigious endorsement.30 The fruit of this research appeared in two of his treatises. apparently intended for his projected Foodfor Young Painters (Speis der Malerknaben). and the rest. and might therefore have wanted to meet him. Diurer's perspective studies must have encouraged him to read De divina proportione. Durer bought a copy of the first Latin translation of Euclid's surviving Greek and the Optics. He searched for a theoretical grounding to painting in ancient books and. for the knowledge of perspective revealed in his Instruction in Measurement shows a sophosticated grasp of Italian theory. such as Apelles. 450-380
try. 59c).. insofar as it could be recovered. Vitruvius informs us. Lysippus and the others who attained fame by their art") had enjoyed the patronage of great cities and kings. For his part."40 In the following year." Euclid. which a man is willing to teach me.32 By then. preface. Here was a model for Dfirer's ambitions as a technical writer. passage readers to Socrates.
one of the companions
at his death (Phaedo. Euclides of MeThroughout plines.. Instruction in Measurement with the Compass and Straightedge of Lines. The crowded outdoor space in The Feast of the Rose Garlands had allowed him to dispense with linear perspective. and [Albrecht] used to say that this was the saddest [tristius] event in all his life. 325-250 B.).the mathematical treatise written in Italian by Fra Luca Pacioli (Fig. In a draft of 1512-13. however. Andrea Mantegna heard that Diirer was in Italy. ". However. But first he would need to discover "which might be the most beautiful form and measurement of a man. There were Italian painters who ". That summer."37 We may understand "not antique" to mean not based on antique sculpture. Mantegna was the only first-rank Italian painter to have engraved a significant number of copper plates. he had reported a less easily rebutted complaint. was mistaken for Euclid. while still in Venice. preface. These beliefs preyed on Durer's imagination for the rest of his life. 1506. Vitruvius explains that the ancient painters and sculptors whose names will last forever ("Myron."34 Immediately before Pliny's account of Apelles. Camerarius cannot have known what Mantegna said to his friends."39 The story comes from the preface by Joachim Camerarius to the 1532 Latin edition of Diirer's first two books of Human Proportion. but his account sounds very like the way Diirer might have interpreted such a summons.). while lying ill in Mantua.C. He would certainly have recognized in Dfirer's engravings the work of a consummate master.18 on Thu.
27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. given the way his interests had developed (Fig. they have not come down to us.45 which
must have been inspired by Zeuxis's famous painting of a female centaur suckling her young.18 on Thu. Durer reminded the latter of their discussions on "the various arts": "When. Sculpture. Plato has Socrates discuss the love of an older man for a boy. before describing the chariot ride to heaven where Ideas maybe contemplated Hippias is now considered to be one of Plato's directly. the subject of Piero's third manuscript treatise.44 Before he confronted Plato directly. Pacioli was in possession of at least two of his three mathematical manuscripts. 1495.46 In that year Durer was busy completing his books of woodcuts. His 1505 engraving Musical Satyr and Nymph with Baby (B. including the geometric construction of the Roman alphabet and illustrations of the five regular solids (taken from Piero della Francesca's treatises and redrawn.or on justice". to Giorgio Vasari's later disgust). Sepolcro.227. In Phaedrus. Perspective. Painting. Pacioli tells us.ETIN
4 "JACO. The title page alone must have sounded irresistible to him. a draft translation by Pirckheimer survives of Lucian's "Charidemus or of Beauty. amongst other things. before he had elaborated his theory of Ideas. either in Borgo S. as we shall see. 69) derives from his two drawings of a centaur family. by Leonardo da Vinci). Greater earliest works. for he incorporated them into his own published books (without acknowledgment. "Gorgias.43 In De divina proportionePacioli argued that perspective. or in Urbino. and throughout it the two speakers pursue "the beautiful itself [to kalon auto]. More to our purpose.47 In a draft dedication to Pirckheimer for his later treatise On Human Proportion. where each had stayed. where every student of Philosophy. with various questions of the most secret knowledge. The first such drawing with a date is of 1513. before devoting himself to an intense study of human proportions between 1512 and 1513. Architecture. will acquire and delight in a most delicate.43.both in his writings and in Melencolia I.BAR. as described in Lucian's Zeuxis or Antiochus."48 In late antiquity Plato's dialogues were given subtitles indicating the topic that each addressed: "Republic. There is abundant internal evidence that Durer knew De divina proportione. 5): "Divine Proportion: A work necessary to all perceptive and curious wits." Unlike
This content downloaded from 192. or on rhetoric".I. Naples." Portraitof Fra Luca Pacioli with a Pupil. like music.VIGENNIS. Museo e Gallerie di Capodimonte (photo: Soprintendenza Speciale per il Polo Museale Napoletano)
della Francesca." probably dating from 1511. though without doubt there had been such. entitled painting to be considered a mathematical discipline. he and Durer would have found two dialogues subtitled "on the beautiful": Phedrus de pulchro and Hyppias maior de pulchro. Music. Strauss has suggested that Direr's adoption of a new system of progressive proportions in his figure studies may reflect the direct or indirect influence of Pacioli. Walter L." Pacioli treated many subjects later addressed by Durer. it was presumably Pirckheimer who had introduced Direr to this text. The dialogue remains earthbound.260
BUI. After Piero's death in 1492. Durer was exposed to yet another ancient writer who had discussed painting. and other Mathematical disciplines. where both had been born. As the translator from Greek into Latin of a number of Lucian's essays. If in response to Durer's questioning. when he also wrote the notes for his Foodfor Young Painters. Pirckheimer had read out the table of contents from his Latin Plato. I enquired of you whether there were any books which treat of the manner in which the human body should be depicted. you answered me that. and so on. subtle and admirable doctrine.
but what the beautiful is [ho ti esti to kalon]" (287e). 1509. though it adheres to many things. University of Oxford. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. M. For it would be quite possible to make two different figures. the man would say. was printed in book 3 of his Four Bookson Human Proportion. One must bring it into every single thing. In these essays. Durer had written drafts for the text. Greater Hippias. When we wish to bring it into our work we
find it very hard . but on Plato's GreaterHippias. De divina proportione. pulchra difficilia esse]" (303e7). neither of them conforming to the other. "But is not the most beautiful maiden ugly compared to the gods?" counters Socrates. only God knows that.50
Apart from the references to human figures. The topic reminds Socrates that a man had recently asked him what the beautiful was. which survive among his manuscripts. Ficino:.18 on Thu. and he had been unable to reply. each sentence in this passage takes up a theme from Greater Hippias. Socrates makes clear that the man asked "not what is beautiful... "What is the beautiful itself?" (287e289c). The dialogue ends when Socrates remarks.. so would it be with the wise men of the past. Now he can ask Hippias.51 It is time for us to turn to Plato. Just as sculptors say that were Daedalus to come back to life. his works would be laughed at compared with recent works. he returned repeatedly to the subject of beauty. The beautiful and the more beautiful are not easy to discern.. How about a beautiful pot? Hippias is irritated.227. They were too simpleminded to know that wisdom is to be measured by the amount of money one makes (281d283b). one stouter and the other thinner. Hippias tries again: gold is the beautiful. which reflect Durer's own interests. Venice. When gold is added to anything. so it cannot be used to shed light on the Melencolia of 1514. Hippias replies that a beautiful maiden is beautiful. it is made beautiful. not to have made his Athena of gold rather
This content downloaded from 192. Hippias had not answered the question. the "aesthetic excursus" to modern scholars. and yet we scarce might be able to judge which of the two may be more beautiful. is not a beautiful mare beautiful? And a beautiful lyre? Hippias agrees with both suggestions. or On the Beautiful In the first section of GreaterHippias (281a-286b). according to circumstances. Yet sixteen years earlier.49 Diirer's essay on beauty. as scholars persuaded themselves throughout the twentieth century. we learn that Hippias is the ambassador to Athens from Elis and a peripatetic teacher of excellence (arete. for in some things we consider that as beautiful which elsewhere would lack beauty. Socrates retorts. "I think I know what the proverb means: 'Beautiful things are hard [chalepa ta kala. "Then how much has the art of wisdom progressed!" Socrates exclaims.What the beautiful is I know not. Paganius Charadfcr Paganinus accuratifsi. Pirckheimer saw that work through the press shortly after Durer's death in 1528.52 Hippias (who is deaf to the heavy sarcasm) then invites Socrates to attend a lecture in which he is to speak of beautiful pursuits for young men.. AA 69 (2) Art
(286c-e). Who was this uncultivated person to introduce such base objects to a serious discussion? A well-made pot may be beautiful. How beauty is to be judged is a matter of deliberation.43. Diirer's references to Plato and to beauty in his notes of 1512 and 1513 depend not on Florentine Neoplatonism. but not compared to the beauty of a mare or a maiden. This passage of 1512 is typical: There lives also no man upon earth who could give a final judgment upon what the most beautiful shape of a man should be. the investigation of beauty in Greater Hippias evidently impressed Diirer deeply. buselegantiffimis me imprimebart
5 Title page from Fra Luca Pacioli. "Then is Pheidias a bad workman. "Did not wise men in the past refrain from public affairs?" Socrates asks. Bodleian Library. Hippias replies that their wisdom could not encompass both public and private matters. traditionally translated as "virtue"). To that answer. for whom the answer will be but a small example of his wide learning
tecenrentent eruditiff. AntonioCapella A.DURER'S
the conventional anecdotes praising beauty in Lucian's Charidemus. Socrates has him boast of the money he has made as a tutor of wealthy young men while on public business for his city.
and he happened to have a stick. and a millstone at that. some 35 designs for Sebastian Brant's Ship of Fools (1494). ". purse means wealth.. "How so?" he will say. of an age to be writing at all. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. protests Hippias.43. If I gave this reply to the man. according to Panofsky's attributions.e)53 This passage marks the climax of the first half of the dialogue.262
ing [panti mathemati]? For what I am asking is this. Propped up next to the foreground figure. .55 That Diirer conceived of the objects in his print as symbols for abstract concepts is suggested by another drawing with a putto holding a plumb line and quadrant (which Diirer did not use)56 and an inscription (Fig. too.58The 15 magnificent gewalt
6 Diirer. both stone and stick and man and god and every act and every learnpewtell reichtum "Keys mean power. is a golden ladle more appropriate than one of fig wood? (289e-290e). The appearance of a millstone in both Melencolia I and Greater Hippias is striking because a millstone is an unusual object to encounter without a plausible context. by which everything to which it is added has the property of being beautiful. 6).. and honored by the Greeks. a brilliant expedient to illustrate a millstone having neither ears nor brain? The tot is not. and. If we recall that last exasperated clause. man: what is the beautiful itself? and I cannot make you hear what I say any more than if you were a stone [lithos] sitting beside me.. let every man beware that he make nothing impossible and inadmissible in nature." (292d. 7): schlissel betewt than of ivory for the face. Is the illustration of an ancient Greek text the sort of task Diirer might undertake in 1514? If so. we will notice a millstone.. translated by Ficino as decorum). From now on. responds Socrates. to draw a face on the millstone would have been "inadmissible. Before investigating the significance of these things to GreaterHippias. he would give me a thrashing. If we deem its eyes to be closed. when Hippias was offering examples of particular beauties. writing on a tablet pressed close to its chest. it is most beautiful to be rich and healthy. are the millstone and putto in keeping with his approach to such illustrations? Horus Apollo Durer had been a book illustrator since his apprenticeship.227. and of stone for her eyes?" asks Socrates. Presumably.. Hippias tries a different track: "For every man and everywhere. having neither ears nor brain.. and justly. Oxford)
This content downloaded from 192. to be beautifully and splendidly buried by his own offspring" (291d-e). hands and feet. In his later "aesthetic excursus" Direr was to describe the approach that is characteristic of all his work: "." Is Durer's device of seating a putto on the millstone.890 woodcuts to illustrate the NurembergChronicle (published in 1493).18 on Thu. I cannot make you hear what I say any more than if you were a stone sitting beside me. Socrates will propose more general definitions of the beautiful. But these things must be appropriate (prepon. enlarged detail of MelencoliaI (photo: Ashmolean Museum." and turn to Direr's engraving.57 As a journeyman in Basel. and a millstone [mulias] at that. after providing a beautiful funeral for his deceased parents. So is the appropriate the beautiful? When boiling a beautiful soup in our beautiful pot. and drew on 146 blocks to illustrate the Comedies of Terence. the parallel with Plato's words is even closer (Fig.. we should be satisfied on two points. having neither ears nor brain. it is surmounted by a seated putto.. he designed 40 woodcuts for Marquant von Steyn's Rittervom Turn (1493). The coincidence is only one of numerous parallels we shall discover between dialogue and print. when his master Michael Wolgemut had directed the preparation of 1." A purse and keys hang from the belt of the female figure in Melencolia.. to reach old age. after all. "are you not able to remember that I asked for the beautiful itself."54 The problem posed to an illustrator by Socrates' metaphor is that a millstone with or without ears and brain is not found in nature. he who would make anything aright must in no wise retract aught from nature. neither must he lay what is intolerable upon her.
his annus mirabilisfor book publishing. 8). "To denote a horoscopist."62 Dfirer shows a man with an hourglass in his mouth (Fig. Durer has kept the dog.1
I. De Divina Proportione We return to the key passage in Plato's dialogue. Horapollo writes. seated Maximilian on a bundle of papyri (denoting his ancient descent." will become the modern "mathematics.64 So in 1514. which was to be vital to Diirer's interpretation of the text. including the vast woodcut Triumphal Arch. "When they denote a magistrate or judge." but that Latin word would obscure the "mathematics" from Diirer and Pirckheimer. 60 (photo: By permission of the British Library)
Loeb edition of the dialogue translates the phrase used by Socrates as "every acquisition of knowledge. made up of 192 blocks and dated 1515 (B. has Diirer adopting exactly the same procedure with Plato's GreaterHippias. when Socrates is exasperated with Hippias: ". was printed by Aldus Manutius in 1505." but it had a broader and looser meaning in Greek. quoted above. they draw a man eating the hours. who was keen to trace his genealogy to hitherto undreamed-of antiquity. Our reading of Melencolia.DURER'S
woodcuts for his own Apocalypseof 1498 demonstrate that he could find visual equivalents for the most unpromising literary material. Add.227. Durer issued the Small Woodcut Passion (37 woodcuts) and reissued with additions the Apocalypse(now 16 woodcuts). framed by an aedicule against the crowning dome.43.60 Eight sheets of Direr's illustrations survive. above feet walking through water by themselves (which everyone had thought impossible). This Greek manuscript. according to the Hieroglyphica). no." or Horapollo.with a Putto with Quadrant and Plumb Line. first recorded in 1419. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. they place the royal stole beside the dog. The illustrated translation was presented by Pirckheimer to Maximilian in Linz in April 1514. both stone and stick and man and god and every act and every learning." so the
.5229 fol. and so on. while he holds a scepter encircled by a snake (he is master of a great part of the terrestrial globe). to be illustrated by Diirer." Durer draws a dog with a stole around its neck (Fig. it seems that
This content downloaded from 192.. which he engraved in the same year. Not that a man actually eats the hours.18 on Thu. At the top of that fantastic edifice. and the Large WoodcutPassion (now 11 woodcuts). I asked for the beautiful itself.63 In 1512 Diirer had embarked on Maximilian's ambitious projects for printed monuments. Strauss. 28. 9). 138). for Emperor Maximilian I. but because food is prepared for man according to the hour. When we encounter an unusual print by Durer. together with a complete copy.61 Durer's drawings follow the text very literally.. for that is impossible.59 A contemporary parallel to Melencolia I as an illustration of Greater Hippias lies in the collaborative project undertaken by Pirckheimer and Diirer to illustrate a little book claiming to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Life of the Virgin (20 woodcuts). London. Diirer was producing very literal illustrations to a Greek text translated by Pirckheimer and applying the resulting emblematic imagery to a major work of public art. advised by Pirckheimer and other scholars. who is naked. The word mathemati. Inscription." Ficino translated it correctly as "disciplina. "I learn. perhaps our first suspicion should be that he is interpreting a hitherto unidentified text. The word is a cognate of manthano. by which everything to which it is added has the property of being beautiful.here rendered as "learning. 1514. Hieroglyphicaby "Horus Apollo. is a woodcut portrait of Maximilian surrounded by emblems taken from the Hieroglyphica (Fig.
7 Diirer. The British Library. For instruction in the meaning of mathemati." By "stone and stick and man and god and every act" Socrates may be referring to Hippias's previous answers. In 1511. 8). drawing. Pirckheimer undertook a translation into Latin.
This second chapter of De divina proportione. geometry.which is to say "disciplinabile. 1513. admittedly a foolish and lowly one ("benche imbecille e basso").
This content downloaded from 192.Man Eating Hourglass.69 This famous phrase ultimately derives from Plato." as Pacioli maintained." Leaning against a wall in the center of Melencolia is a ladder. in future they will reach a much larger public. arithmetic." subjects that can be taught. regarding the rest as subordinate. for "they are the foundation and ladder that gives access to every other science [sieno fondamento e scala de pervenire a la notitia de ciascun altra scientia]. Pacioli began his second chapter by quoting "the master of those who know" (Aristotle) that there is nothing in the intellect that has not in some way first passed through the senses: ". Berlin. no. the wise conclude that the most noble is sight.a panegyric on mathematics.67 Pacioli goes on to assure his patron. geometry. music. astronomy [sic]. the mathematical underpinning of painting. why not perspective? Which of us seeing a lovely. He wrote immediately after his notes from Pliny referring to Apelles and Protogenes (quoted above) that since the noble books of these ancient painters had lamentably been destroyed in the
8 Diirer. it stands on a raised platform supporting the geometric solid. we would expect it to rise from a mathematical foundation. "the wise" accept just the first four (arithmetic. But if music is to be included in these four. architecture. 15. music). in a space full of mathematical symbols. or. We shall examine them in the sequence adopted by Pacioli. illustration for Horus Apollo." In this chapter Pacioli explained that the word comes from the Greek mathematios.65He wanted a place to be found among them for perspective. geometry. geometry.43. Pacioli understood the mathematical disciplines to be arithmetic. including music and perspective. However. who in book 10 of The Republic (602d) castigates illusionistic scene painters for exploiting our weakness for being deceived. Kupferstichkabinett. perspective. "What This Name Mathematical Signifies and Means [Quello che significa e in porti questo nome mathematico]. yet Durer took up the challenge. there should either be five mathematical disciplines. For his part. drawing. and proportions.Fire and Water.264
and cosmography. if that proved unacceptable. he continued. "Quodomnia consistunt in numero. Lodovico Sforza. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (photo: ? Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz.68 Pacioli continued. In Pacioli's judgment. If it gives access to "every other science.227. or three. and of the senses. Hieroglyphica. "Have not measuring and numbering and weighing proved to be most gracious aids to prevent the domination of our soul" by appearances? It is not a remark liable to commend Plato to painters. gave Dfirer at least seven loosely mathematical themes that reappear in Melencolia I (an eighth became the subject of his third treatise66). Indeed. silhouetted against the distant landscape.Strauss. astrology. for music to be ejected as equally subordinate. .pendereet mensura". Pacioli was not consistent: in chapter 2 of book 1 he had on three occasions referred to a trio of arithmetic." "This art of painting is made for the eyes." echo Dfirer's notes in 1513. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. And it is written in wisdom. Pacioli's four mathematical disciplines are the antique and medieval quadrivium. well-drawn figure that lacked only breath would not judge it a thing more divine than human? It was impossible to imagine the Apostles in Leonardo's Last Supper better painted.. 2003)
Direr turned to De divina proportione. It would be impossible without knowledge of [the mathematical disciplines] to understand properly any other [science]. weight and measure.18 on Thu. and astronomy. that while the mathematical disciplines may have been restricted to scholars in the past.Pacioli's table of contents describes chapter 3 in book 1.House-Guard. for the sight is the noblest sense of man.that signifies that everything that is revealed in the universe below and above must necessarily be subject to number. detail of Dog with Stole.
the doctrine of the bodies and the aspects of the heavens. not as "fine art.227. nor ". he who puts his mind to it will find it thus hereafter. the waters. the description of the universe both maritime and terrestrial. and in 1515 he was to make woodcuts of the earliest accurate celestial globe to appear in print. . 1515. "The measurements of the earth. for in whichever direction one counts.. 138. 152). weight and measure.DURER'S
9 Diirer and others. he has introduced the "magic" square of sixteen. including "all the mechanical arts. a reference to Plato. his "cosmography. but not the last of Pacioli's mathematical disciplines.43.." He was living in the first age of modern cartography.." made visible. but Direr linked these objects more directly to the text of GreaterHippias.. A hidden beauty is revealed in the numbers when they are added up. he was moved to make known his own ideas. and an hourglass-Pacioli's "number." ultimately. who in turn had taken them from the writings of "wisdom. The British Museum. woodcut. B.71 That is how the baton of culture is passed down the generations." refer to "the universe below and above" that in Pacioli's words (quoted above) "must necessarily be subject to number. Department of Prints and Drawings (photo: ? copyright The British Museum)
early days of the Church. weight and measure. Pacioli declared that he would not speak of the sweet harmony of music.." Music."73 Diirer viewed painting as the means for representing the world.] . perspective. under the "rainbow" and "comet. "And I will undertake my task according to measure. scales."70 We need not be surprised if Durer had taken his "own ideas" from a memorable phrase written a few years earlier by Luca Pacioli.18 on Thu. Durer made the phrase his own by illustrating it. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
.72 Still in his second chapter." In 1512 Direr wrote. and architecture are also
absent from Melencolia I. nor the supreme beauty of perspective and architecture. and the stars have come to be understood through painting and many more things will become known to men by means of painting. Perhaps the distant sea and coastline in Melencolia I."74 Pacioli continued his second chapter by declaring that he would omit other "practical and speculative" sciences dependent on mathematics. number and weight. Pacioli's paean to mathematics was summarized by what "the wise express magisterially in the proverb: Aurum proba-
This content downloaded from 192. arranged in two hemispheres (B. [la descritione de luniverso maritimo e terestree doctrina de corpi e celestiali aspecti. detail of The TriumphalArch. 151. as we shall see." We shall have to return to "the doctrine of the bodies. the total is always 34. London.75 The mechanical arts may be represented by the tools and instruments in Melencolia I.. To the right of the ladder. ." in order to be less tiresome to the reader.
Ficino: "instrumenta."78 In the engraving. ad artes alias pertinentia"].B. a beautiful horse or cock or quail. how it has been enacted-the call beautiful. of the link between Melencoliaand De divina proportione. 57. scales. and the motions of the intellect by the mathematical disciplines. and for the purposes for which it is useful.. and after 1509.B.. Socrates dismisses Hippias's last two attempts at defining the beautiful by showing. that the appropriate may appear beautiful without actually being beautiful (294e). that it would not be beautiful for Achilles and the gods to be buried by their children (293b).227. for in his notes of 1512 he wrote. This precise illustration of Pacioli's proverb is evidence. "the divine philosopher"-Dfirer might by then have been eager to learn if Plato could give him "a right understanding" of "how we are to make a beautiful figure. and mathematics the intellect]: that is. London. So from Pacioli's imagery in praise of mathematics. Department of Prints and Drawings (photo: ? copyright The British Museum)
cal disciplines give access to every other science. He now for the first time proposes a definition of his own: perhaps whatever is useful (chresomon. geometry has pride of place among them. (295c-d) Hippias agrees with these claims (though Socrates will soon discard them). this time with Pirckheimer translating Plato's own words. Therefore what is useless in a man. hupo tais allais technais. he conjured up Melencolia's emblems of mathematical beauty. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
." Given all the incidents in the second chapter of De divina proportionethat Direr seems to have illustrated-the ladder. eperi tou kalou. Durer also accepted the last suggestion. If in 1500 or shortly afterward. useful we how it is wrought. the title page of Durer's Euclid announced that the supreme authority on geometry was a Platonic philosopher. and in 1507.Dfirer has interpreted Plato's phrase "panti mathemati" according to Pacioli's explanation and praise of mathematics." We may suppose that he would "rather have come into possession of [this] knowledge than of a kingdom. panel of numbers. the value of gold is tested by fire. detail of SaintJeromein His Study. and at the time when it is useful. and. in the excitement that must have attended the arrival of the first ever printed Greek text of Plato's works. part for wrestling. detail of Saint Eustace. landscape and seascape under aspects of the heavens." Before September 1513. The phrase "panti mathemati" may have sounded as different to Ficino's "disciplina" in Durer's ears as Erasmus's Greek New Testament would sound to the Vulgate in Luther's. For example.18 on Thu. is not beautiful. engraving. 1514. London.. and that which is in all these aspects useless we say is ugly."76 Opposite the ladder. in the same way the whole body is beautiful. hourglass..266
10 Dfirer.43. part of it for running. Vitruvius had drawn Diirer's attention to Socrates. and on Plato's authority. in which a goldsmith's crucible is set. and beautiful in the way in which it is useful." . first. and second. Luca Pacioli's praise of mathematics had concluded with the example of Plato. we do not call eyes beautiful that appear beautiful while being unable to see. Ficino: "apparatus omnes"] and land vehicles and on the sea freight-ships and ships of war. more convincing even than the ladder. engraving. but only those "able and useful for seeing. on the other side of the irregular solid. The magnificent female figure holding dividers in the foreground of Melencoliahas long been recognized as belonging to a tradition of personifications of Geometry. The British Museum. The British Museum. "the wisest of men". and all utensils [ta skeue panta. Socrates on the Beautiful We return to Greater Hippias.77 Pacioli concluded his second chapter by repeating the old story that "the ancient and divine philosopher" Plato forbade those ignorant of geometry from entering his most celebrated "gymnasium": "He did that because in [geometry] every other hidden science is to be found [El chefeci perchein lei ogni altra scientia occulta se retrova]. with a pair of tongs lying beside it. and crucible of gold-perhaps he also accepted the main thrust and conclusion of Pacioli's argument: the mathemati-
This content downloaded from 192. customs and laws also-pretty well all these we call beautiful in the same way. and again all the animals. After September 1513. if you like. which crucially lacked the reference to mathematics. perhaps the two friends reread Hippias Meizon. and all instruments in music and in the other arts [ta organa panta. "Usefulness is a part of beauty. Pirckheimer would have translated GreaterHippias for Diirer from Ficino's Latin text. Department of Prints and Drawings (photo: ? copyright The British Museum)
tur igni et ingenius mathematici [Fire proves gold.. 60. Ficino: "quod utile est") is beautiful.. It confirmed Dfirer's belief that beauty in painting should be sought in Messung. looking at each of them-how it is formed by nature. the passage finds its first parallel in the whites of
11 Duirer. Diirer has introduced a small brazier of burning coals.
81 At Geometry's feet are scattered "utensils": the nozzle of a bellows. Diirer wrote of his Instruction in Measurement (1525). Socrates has Hippias agree that "[t]he beautiful is the part of the pleasant that comes from sight and hearing" (299b) before revealing the logical contradictions that phrase entails. Socrates had encouraged Hippias to boast of all the money he had made from wealthy pupils: it had not helped Hippias to discover the beautiful. 1514." In his dedication to Pirckheimer." Nonetheless." (304a). plane. is cursed to be always perplexed. so we should consider whether they referred to
This content downloaded from 192. Sachsische Landesbibliothek-Staats. saw. But as the illustrator of Greater Hippias. That which has power to accomplish anything is useful. molding board. the ability to produce a speech well and beautifully [eu kai kalos logon] . 22. 7).227.. but that other ability is beautiful and of great worth. joiners. ". sculptors..79 The preparatory drawing for the irregular polyhedron contains a fox. If the keys hanging from Geometry's belt are a reference to Socrates' claim that "Power is beautiful. Fig. Diirer had to give visual expression to the concluding admonition: When you are ignorant of the beautiful. TruncatedCube. Bird. Again. "But now Socrates. 6). Fig. So is the beneficial the beautiful? Yes. so Diirer's examples cannot match them as closely as the "millstone without a brain. the dog in Melencolia Ibelongs to the lean breed of hounds that attend Saint Eustace in Direr's earlier engraving of that name (B. 11). If Diirer had expected an answer to the question. purse means wealth" (Fig. 10). Diirer substituted for them one more useful to man. "that man" who had originally asked Socrates what the beautiful itself was. pincers. and hammer. it is well meant and will be useful to all who study art. But he.Fox. divided up into bits. Hippias is allowed to give voice to his exasperation. Hippias agrees. the assumption remains that it is better to travel well than to arrive.
. stone-masons. So is the beautiful the cause of the good? For in that case. and all who require measurements. Geometry The reading of Melencolia I adopted here depends on Diirer interpreting literary sources. do you think it is better for you to be alive than dead?" (304d-e). For when he is persuaded by Hippias. no. 60.43. with Pirckheimer as his translator and guide. with a bird perched on the tablet displaying Diirer's monogram (it also includes a disembodied eye at the vanishing point of a perspective construction. Socrates returned to his theme.82 She holds her dividers. is beautiful ("Dunamis men ara kalon"). Unlike the companionable pet dozing in SaintJerome's study (1514. when you are ignorant of the beautiful? And when you are in such a condition. "do you think it is better for you to be alive than dead?" Unfailingly resourceful. Strauss. while that which is powerless is useless (295e). just as the father is not the son... will say to him: "How are you to know either who produced a discourse beautifully or not. the correspondence between engraving and dialogue is extended by the association of beauty with utility. Only if used for the good are power and useful things beautiful: then they are beneficial. Socrates. Power then. B. Fig. An emblem for the beauty of hearing might be the bell. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. Durer hit upon the image of melancholy to express that condition. We recall Diirer's notes on his drawing with the quadrant and plumb line: "Keys mean power. But the beneficial creates the good. At the beginning of the dialogue. displayed prominently over the panel of numbers." we should find a further allusion in Plato's text to the purse/ wealth. Dresden. and above her head hang the scales and hourglass. Socrates replies that Hippias is blessed. The beauty of Diirer's sleeping dog lies not in its unprepossessing appearance but in its usefulness as a hunter. 57.
f. straightedge. which are perhaps "unable to see" (Fig. "What is the beautiful?" Plato has disabused him of that hope.18 on Thu.80 If these creatures were a first draft for Plato's animals. or anything else whatsoever. nor the good beautiful"and that pleases me least of all the things we have said" (297c). It will not alone be serviceable to painters. reinforced by Diirer's own addition of measurement. what do you think all this amounts to? It is mere scrapings and shavings of discourse. replies the hapless Hippias. which gleam against her dark face. which may count as "instruments. What creates is a cause. the beautiful is not good. but also to goldsmiths.. their penetrating stare contrasting with those of the putto on the millstone. impotentia turpe"). In GreaterHippias. nails. for he knows what a man should practice and practices it satisfactorily. drawing."83 Plato is not specific in his utensils and instruments. as I said a while ago. As with all Plato's dialogues. which is not beautiful (296d). inkwell with penholder. Geometry's bright eyes already represent sight. the want of power ugly (Ficino: "Potentia ergo pulchrum.
12 Diirer. Now Socrates shows that power and useful things can also do bad. nor the son the father. He made it the motto of his print.DURER'S
Geometry's eyes. 12).und Universitatsbibliothek
about which Panofsky was silent. Martianus Capella's Marriage of Philology and Mercuryis the ur-script of medieval and Renaissance personifications of the Liberal Arts. Durer has not embroidered those astronomical signs on her dress.Strauss. Geometry's last act in book 6 was to take Euclid's books and hand them to Jove. so that they vanish when conjoined?
This content downloaded from 192.43..
13 Durer." radius.'-.88 We may indeed judge Diirer's Geometry to be beautiful." However "parthenos kale kalon" might have been translated by Pirckheimer. 13) may bring us back to Greater Hippias. Interpreting it as dividers was well established." we are told that Geometry's reputation is so high that she doubtless surpasses Apelles or Polyclitus in representing anything: Immediately there came into view a distinguished-looking lady.85 The word translated here as "geometer's rod." Perhaps Durer has spared her shoes-which would scarcely be conspicuous in the engravshown Geometry as the tireless traveler ("viatrix ing-and infatigata") by equipping her with wings. The batlike creature flying through the sky is almost unique among the objects featured in the engraving in being absent from the three texts that we have examined.268
i. as did his library.. A drawing in Berlin (Fig. ' 5 15 .89 The "I" after "Melencolia" remains an enigma. is the beautiful itself. Kupferstichkabinett. so it lies at her feet. The Beautiful Itself In Melencolia I. and measure also reappear in this quotation from the Marriage. This vals.entitled "On Geometry. Berlin.
. Walther's equipment remained in the house (which retains the window through which he measured the heavens). the most conspicuous object for which we have still to find an explanation is the large irregular polyhedron.18 on Thu. the waters. her sister Astronomy as well-numbers and of sundials.
. Most of Geometry's disquisition in book 6 describes a journey through the ancient world.. figures designs showing intergnomons and measures.87 So remote is this wingless Nuremberg matron from Durer's magnificent maiden that we may suspect she has been transformed by Hippias's first answer to Socrates: "A beautiful maiden is beautiful.-!-!. the subject most frequently evoked by Socrates and Hippias. for that is how she got her name: "I am called Geometry because I have often traversed and measured out the earth. which we have yet to find illustrated in the engraving. It shows a seated woman apparently holding coins and a purse. Woman. The book resting on Geometry's lap is presumably a copy of The Elements.Seated. but has he conflated them with "the measurements of the earth. and the stars [that] have come to be understood through painting"? In 1509 he had purchased the large house in the Zisselgasse (now known as the Durer House) that had belonged to Bernhard Walther (1430-1504).. and she had worn the same shoes to shreds in traversing the entire globe."84 We cannot arrive at firm conclusions from the parallels between this elaborate fifth-century allegory and Melencolia I. tireless traveler was wearing walking shoes. Could these two lacunae be mutually dependent.
A.. bought by the Nuremberg city council and made available to practitioners of the liberal art of astronomy. weights.. :. 29. [The peplos] was marked with many figures-to serve the purposes of of various kinds. 1514..:'^ . depicted in many colors.5
. But nor should we willfully ignore them. Presumably Durer's Geometry could not hold her solid globe ("sphaeram solidam") in her left hand while propping up her head in an attitude of melancholy.227. intersections. Early in book 6 of the Marriage.90 In GreaterHippias. on which were visible the magnitudes and orbits of the heavenly bodies. In 1514 the mathematician and astronomer Johannes Werner. no. 2003)
a text for Geometry's attributes. holding a geometer's rod in her right hand and a solid globe in her left. to journey through the world. It was also "perhaps the most widely read schoolbook of the Middle Ages. i': d. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (photo: ? Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz. was using the library while writing his treatise on conic sections. [and] the dimension. From her left shoulder a peplos was draped. weight. which has sometimes been regarded as a first draft for the figure of Geometry/Melancholy. who had discovered a comet. can
mean either a measuring rod or the radius of a circle. since Durer may have drawn on any number of intermediate images. and outline of the celestial circles . of whom he produced fourteen drawings in 1514. with keys hanging from her belt.86 So expert advice was available to Durer on how to adapt the astronomical devices from Geometry's peplos to more contemporary interests. a disciple of the astronomer Regiomontanus. Number. perhaps the phrase conjured up in Diirer's mind images of a more familiar Virgin.:. t. drawing. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. It was presumably introduced by Diirer as a vehicle to carry his inscription. but she is not the beautiful itself.
The epithet "divine" leaked into secular Renaissance writing from ancient texts.97 He illustrated them first as a "net" of flat planes.woodcut after Leonardo da 1509. 15). air.92 Pacioli devoted the fifth chapter of his first book in De divina proportione to explaining why his coinage of "divina proportione" was so apt.//~
cli '0 8
7-. Aristotle reasoned that this fifth element." For readers. which in turn were formed from the most beautiful triangle (54a). Before Vasari made "divine" a label for outstanding masters of disegno (especially Michelangelo). If Diirer's problem had been to find a visual equivalent for the beautiful itself. on the other hand. 55c). His first four reasons are trivial: it has unity. pointing to the dodecahedron illustrated in De divina proportione(Fig.99 where Durer would have read of "Plato's" association of the quintessence with the dodecahedron. Durer would have been curious to learn of the "divinity" promised by Pacioli's title. where it is very common. and so is God./' % //7/!
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. Thus did "the section" acquire its divinity. however. 14). as numbers and words cannot comprehend God.95 Diogenes is impressing on us the special significance of the dodecahedron. and unchanging. They remained in a state of ignorance. 7y4//J////jf//
n. it is expressed in three terms. Pacioli informed his readers. was circular. which lacked both lightness and heaviness.d. was ungenerated. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. AA 69 (2) Art P. 16).98 But his edition of Euclid lacked illustrations of the five regular solids. for example. conflated the two traditions and claimed that Plato had associated the dodecahedron with the quintessence. a word rooted in beauty) was imposed on chaos. which continues to seduce people who should know better into a belief that "the section" contains an occult key to beauty. Presumably. was left over. Oxford. so they must consist of another element. Durer acknowledged only Euclid as his source.227. while fire and air were light and move naturally upward.XXVII
his barrel. while his mocking comment on Plato's definition of a man as a "featherless biped" is relegated to the background. is significant for understanding Diirer's irregular body." or simply as "the section [tome].18 on Thu. is a salutary analogy to the potency that Pacioli's "divine" tag seems to have exerted in the sixteenth century. ending with the dodecahedron (Fig. indestructible. from Pacioli. In the double portrait in Naples including Luca Pacioli (Fig.93 Pacioli. both in Melencolia Iand in his notes of 1512-13. referred to the "divine intelligence and will" of Caesar in the opening sentence of De architectura. but on a solid so irregular that
This content downloaded from 192.94 The woodcuts reproducing Leonardo's drawings of the regular solids are prefaced in De divina proportione by an illustration of a gate. The fifth regular polyhedron. De divina proportione. Movement in the heavens. like the Trinity. University of Vinci. like God. His fifth and last reason. Bodleian Library. A later engraving by Jacopo Caraglio (ca. 1500-1565) shows the Cynic philosopher Diogenes outside
//. unclear whether they were better off alive or dead. had to be constructed using "the section. fire. a condition Durer made visible as melancholy. 53e).91 The extraordinary success of that nineteenthcentury rebranding. as a quality of the five-sided figures that make up the fifth.96 In book 4 of his Instruction in Measurement. the "quintessence" to later generations. it cannot be reduced to number. The dodecahedron is made up of twelve pentagons. Plato had related his "likely story" of the generation of the universe when order (kosmos. while we have seen compelling evidence.
Platnum Soldium Dodecaedon 14 Dodecahedron Planum Solidum. it is unchanging. Durer gave directions for making the five Platonic solids. As far as we can see. she has managed just three pentagons. A generation later Aristotle. 29c. inscribed: "The gate of the temple of the lord called beautiful [Porta TempliDomini Dicta Speciosa].where the five regular solids appear as full-page woodcuts. the dodecahedron was the most obvious solution at his disposal.DURER'S
The "proportion" that Luca Pacioli called divine in his book was known to Euclid as "a line divided in extreme and mean ratio. then constructed in plan and elevation (Fig. Vitruvius. In the Timaeus. that eleven years earlier Durer had studied De divina proportione. The four elements of earth. In Plato's dialogue. The engraving shows that Geometry/Melancholy has not succeeded in fashioning a regular dodecahedron. without referring to Aristotle." and was renamed the "golden section" for a more secular age in 1835 by Martin Ohm. each of which. a dodecahedron rests on a book to his left. 4). it was already an almost obligatory epithet for Plato. the dodecahedron. so Plato proposed rather lamely that the god used it up for decorating the universe (to pan. Socrates and Hippias did not find the beautiful. The table of contents identifies the relevant chapter." which was further revealed whenever the "diagonals" of a pentagon cross.43. it functions as a kind of frontispiece to the illustrations of the five regular bodies that follow. who did not share Plato's passion for geometry. heavenly element. and water were each formed of the four most beautiful bodies (the regular polyhedra. noted that earth and water were heavy and move naturally downward. omitting any symbolism or reference to Pacioli or Plato.
Prints and Drawings (photo: ? copyright The British Museum)
it can be read as a partially truncated cube (Plato's polyhedron for earth). The British Museum. eyes) power (the keys) the pleasant in sight and hearing (eyes and bell) the condition of being ignorant of the beautiful (melancholy)
a failure to discover the beautiful (a botched dodecahedron) These illustrations of the value of mathematics from Pacioli's De divina proportionereappear in Melencolia I: the ladder number.270
15 Jacopo Caraglio. in which every hidden science is to be found Numerous references to the beautiful in GreaterHippias reappear in Dfirer's notes of 1512-13: our inability to give a judgment on the beautiful how beauty is to be judged is a matter of deliberation
This content downloaded from 192. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. engraving. tools. and hourglass) gold tested by fire the universe below and above. weight. Is it a perfectly judged emblem for the failure of Socrates and Hippias to find the beautiful? Summary and Reception The following themes in GreaterHippias reappear in Melencolia I: (a purse of) money a beautiful maiden (the crucible of) gold the millstone "all mathematics" (see below) "whatever is useful" (dog. and measure geometry. instruments. weight. scales. London.227. and measure (panel of numbers. Department of. subject to number.43.18 on Thu. Diogenes.
104 Alciato's printed dedication. a copy of which Durer seems to have owned. Underweysung messung . "Now the only meaning of this symbolus. Aldus had shown Erasmus the silver coin of Titus Vespasian given to him by Pietro Bembo. to which Durer and Pirckheimer made notable contributions.227." The relationship of the legend on the bat's wings to the picture is clarified by reference to emblems. especially among the priest-prophets and theologians in Egypt. Department of Coins and Medals (photo: ? copyright The British Museum)
This way of thinking presumably prompted Emperor Maximilian I to have his portrait in The Triumphal Arch dressed in hieroglyphs (Fig.. 7).102 This book and Horapollo's Hieroglyphica. in such a way that it was not easy for the casual reader to unravel them forthwith.E. Erasmus has also described the attitude that Durer must have adopted when he conceived Melencolia I: "What they thought worth knowing they would record by drawing the shapes of various animals
and inanimate things. If these are indeed the suggestive allusions made by Durer in Melencolia I. verso of Roman aureus of Titus. with the anchor and dolphin on the verso (similar to that on the gold coin100 in Figure 17). What they thought worth knowing they would record by drawing the shapes of various animals and inanimate things.18 on Thu. 80 c. der woodcut.. In this quotation. we must consider why they went entirely unrecorded. University of Oxford. can probably be traced in manuscript back to 1522 or even 1519. The first printed emblem book.105 In 1517 there
This content downloaded from 192. Vet. from Dfirer. Erasmi Roterodamiadagiorum chiliades tres. and the man who had really penetrated these could alone interpret the symbols and put them together. 1531). Dfirer's drawings in the same year for Horapollo's Hieroglyphica offer the most promising line of inquiry. purse means wealth" (Fig. who thought it quite wrong to express the mysteries of wisdom in ordinary writing and thus expose them. The device-with other "noble Egyptian hieroglyphs"-is illustrated and interpreted with the same adage in the HypnerotomachiaPoliphili (Venice: Aldus Manutius. "is that favorite dictum of the emperor Augustus 'Make haste slowly'.. 1538.43. and this we learn from the ancient texts relating to hieroglyphics. a Latin translation of which had been dedicated to him in 1515. while the dolphin expressed speed. to the uninitiated public [sapientiae mysteria literis communibus vulgo profano prodere]. which Erasmus names. Erasmus had defined the reception of hieroglyphs among humanists in the edition of the Adages that he had expanded for Aldus Manutius in 1508. a direct link between GreaterHippias and Melencolia I may account for Diirer's note. which almost certainly belongs to the earlier manuscript. 1499). This was the book that had established his international reputation. and thus solve the riddle of their meaning [aenigma sententiae deprehendebat] . and councillor of Maximilian I while the emperor was occupied with his elaborate printed monuments. In his long commentary on the adage "Festina Lente" (Make haste slowly). Andrea Alciato's Emblematum liber (Augsburg. which secured a ship. "Keys mean power. humanist. in such a way that it was not easy for the casual reader to unravel them forthwith.24 (1)
17 Anchor and dolphin." observed Erasmus. d7. Bodleian Library. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. written in the first person (Diirer adopting Socrates' voice) usefulness is a part of the beautiful the beautiful is hard In addition. are probably the hieroglyphic texts he had in mind in the passage just quoted. Dl c. town clerk of Augsburg. enlarged two times. Erasmus described the genesis and significance of the anchor and dolphin in the Aldine colophon.DURER'S
beauty in some contexts is not beauty in others a professed ignorance of the beautiful. as we do. the "modern hieroglyphs" that were devised from the same sources and in the same cultural milieu. indicated slowness.103
16 Dodecahedron. 9). The British Museum. Nuremberg. Erasmus goes on to discuss the subject in general terms: Hieroglyphics is the name given to those enigmatic designs so much used in the early centuries. is to Konrad Peutinger. lawyer. It was necessary first to learn the properties of individual things and the special force and nature of each separate creature.. ca. London."101 The anchor. Peutinger also owned a manuscript of Horapollo's Hieroglyphica.
another study of nudes. and an explanatory text.. Alciato gained his
doctorate in law in 1514."113 The red chalk drawing displays two beautiful full-length life studies of a nude youth seen from different viewpoints.1l9 Recent research has suggested that the label was first devised for William Shakespeare. as to what was more important. a Bolognese painter who had been sent to Flanders by Pope Leo X. noting the dissemination ("lo andare") of Durer's prints. When on trial for his life. he wrote to Raphael. These two elements alone do not reveal the meaning of the device. Durer also knew and used the Italian word ingenio. Socrates explained to the court why he had habitually advised individuals in private but never the state in assembly: his daimon had held him back. their attention shifted to new concerns. for the first of these engravings mentioned by Vasari is the Massacre of the Innocents.1)
This content downloaded from 192. They suffered their most crushing put-down from Michelangelo: ". Diurer did not abandon his search for the beautiful. the circle of humanists who held the key to Melencolia I demonstrated their respect for its hidden knowledge and trust in each other's fellowship. and having failed to meet Mantegna. the key to the motto and illustration came in the explanatory epigram.. while remaining beyond the reach of rules itself. from learned interests that may have found time for hieroglyphs to more fearful reflections on the unfolding Reformation.106
The printed Emblematumliberformalized the threefold division of the emblem implicit in its origins: a motto (or lemma). Durer may have shown him what subject matter would be appreciated abroad.107 The inscription on the coin of Titus. Raphael of Urbino. or the illustrations to the Hieroglyphica. when the subject of the engraving was never raised. It offered a succinct mnemonic for the significance invested in the engraving by Durer.). served as the rule for others. from Dfirer's inscription: "1515. the picture. the movements and gestures of human beings. It was his daimon who intervened in the Phaedrus.109 The subject of the subsequent correspondence between the two scholars changed with the years. 1520. as quoted above from Vitruvius ("ingenium sine In natural ability without instruction. these two words were conflated by literary critics to give us the modern genius. a whole set of his prints to be exchanged in Rome for those engravings after Raphael. By analogy to the mature form of the emblem. this information came from Giulio (1499?-1546).'20 The work of a genius. 1523). the significance of which he artfully disguised under the motto "Melencolia I. Over the ensuing years.14 Raphael. as he had hoped. We knowing readers can take the hint that Hippias is too obtuse to grasp: that "man" was Socrates' daimon. which in this article we have argued was Plato's Greater Hippias. which described an outstanding creator of original work. the ancient meaning is what they would have understood by it. too gifted to need the models of earlier practitioners."1'2 Presumably. become his enduring legacy. he described its imagery as a play with "absurdities. enclosing a self-portrait on linen. the legend "Melencolia I" on the wings of Diirer's bat corresponds not to a title but to a motto. Insofar as Pirckheimer and Durer knew the word genius."117 Genius Who was "that man" to whose severe judgment Socrates repeatedly deferred when questioning Hippias? Near the end of the dialogue. Finding no answer in Plato. reminding his intermediary of their common friendship with Konrad Peutinger. But to reveal the full meaning of the print required the explanatory text. who was held
in such high regard by the Pope.'12 Ficino had taken from pseudo-Aristotle's Problemata(30. he says not a word. we would not know the significance of Aldus's trademark (which functioned like an emblem." is the equivalent of the motto. and he forms his figures straight upright like poles. In Antwerp on October 1."'16 The most magnificent monument to Dfirer's long search for the beautiful remains an engraving. disciplina. Vienna."1'' Unlike Socrates and Hippias. with the passing of the community with which Durer had shared his "sapientiae mysteria. who had joined Raphael's workshop in about 1515 and inherited its contents (with Giovan Francesco Penni) on their master's sudden death five years later. . by Filippo Fasanini. which some twenty-five years later Giulio Romano showed to Vasari." Vasari reported. Perhaps Durer had indicated what subject would gratify him most should Raphael choose to reciprocate his gift with a sample of his own art. In the preface to his Latin translation of the treatise On Human Proportion. for which no fixed rule can be given. and thereby preserved his life (Apology 31d). who was a professor in Bologna when Alciato was in that city as a law student. Raphael had judged it to be a "cosa maravigliosa. after Socrates had argued that it was better for a boy to yield to a man who did not love him than to a lover (242c). has made this nude study and has sent it to Albrecht Durer in Nuremberg to show him his hand. about 1700.43. In the earliest known commentary on the engraving (1541).115 Diirer's studies of human proportions did not.227. the spirit double that is born and dies with a man and influences his conduct.110 Either that friendship was less intimate than he claimed or else he knew Direr only in later years.. or the adage "Festina lente. correspond to the picture. Socrates states that he was his very close relative and they lived in the same house (304d). One of the drawings Raphael sent to Durer has been identified in the Albertina.Joachim Camerarius professed close friendship ("nobis amicissimi") with Durer and acquaintance with his friends. and had sent Durer in return "many drawings by his hand. Pirckheimer had sought an introduction to Erasmus in 1514.108 In the later emblem books. Alciato explained in a letter of January 9... .18 on Thu. Durer gave Tomaso Vincidor. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. Eventually. Immanuel Kant later pronounced. The Latin equivalent of daimon is genius. Without the explanatory text in Erasmus's commentary (or in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili).". Albrecht discusses only the proportions and varieties of human bodies." the code for the pictographs he had devised for Greater Hippias was lost.. By not exposing their mystery to the vulgar and profane. arranged for his own work to be engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi. Vasari added. The anchor and dolphin. to justify his disregard of the "Aristotelian" unities obeyed by Pierre Corneille andJean Racine. For Camerarius was never initiated into the esoteric meaning of Melencolia I.272
appeared another Latin translation of the Hieroglyphica."8 which means the talent that we are born with: it is the Latin ingenium.
vol. Panofsky. 1. Saturnand Melancholy(London: Nelson. 1939. Melencolia (Berlin: Mann. patrick. reprint. vol. Century Walter L. rev.SachsischeLandesbibliothek Dresden.und typengeschichtlicheUntersuchung. a 'Melancholia artificialis' or Artist's Melancholy. (1955. 3 vols.1992). The importance of his collaboration with Pirckheimer. I und der Maximilianische Hu4. including in an edition of Poliziano's collected works published by Aldus Manutius (Venice. 27 (1904): 6-18."in StudienderBibliotek burg.Sachsische LandesbibBerlin. 1974). H. magister optimus. The Middle Ages and the Renaissance (1947. which has held in its thrall for almost five hundred years collectors. 53. no. reprint.. 1506. he had almost entirely mastered". Contributions of pt. He is currently working on a book that examines changing attitudes to art from antiquity to the present day [University of Oxford. Teubner. British Museum.168-69.6 vols. a Melancholy gifted with all that is implied in the word geometry-in short. 93. Bartsch. through whom he gained access to Vitruvius. 11."'Virgoand Victrix':A Note on Diirer's Nemesis."124 Rereading that sentence unencumbered by the connection with Ficino. Diirer.165. 3: 1514. Sixteenth Illustrated Duirer. "DfirersKupferstich Melencolia Warquellen.. to put it the other way. see 20. DivusPlato(Florence: LaurentiusVenetus. ed. In public acknowledgment of this debt.Joachim Camerarius. 18-83. Again. May 4. summarizesthe published interpretationsof Melencolia also Matthias Mende. 9. Like every other commentator on Melencolia I since Vasari.58.vol. 173: "ein Ungelehrter. Karl Giehlow. 4th ed.which are perpetuated by letters. Hans. 2 (Vienna. Carl Zigrosser(London: Peter Owen. he had brought painting into the fixed track of rule and recalled it to scientific quidem studia non attigerat.trans. See Panofsky." 13. 16.. but abruptly (albeit from established ingredients).. 1923). Plato. quod picturam in viam praeceptionum induxerat et revocaratad rationem doctrinae. 1."122 Panofsky allowed himself to refer to Ficino's claims as "the Florentine Neo-Platonic doctrine of genius" and entitled a chapter "The Glorification of Melancholy and Saturn in Florentine NeoPlatonism and the Birth of the Modern Notion of Genius.com]. 1. Karl Giehlow.his nephew and heir. Durer-Bibliographie (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. Seated. for over twenty years. like the rising status of the artist. 3. 5.310: ". Balancein TwoViews. Mass.227. 22. 1514. for the uniqueness of the bridle and bowl. quoted in Conway.but the great sciences of Physicsand Mathematics. 1925. 10.DURER'S
the notion that "all men who are distinguished in some way are melancholics. 1956). G. 97. 1971). Strauss. I: Eine 6."
This content downloaded from 192. 1991). der spricht. 1962). see Bernard Quaritch. ich selbs wolt lyber ein hochgelerten berumbten man in solcher kunst h6rn vnd lesen dan das ich als ein vnbegriinter dofan schreiben s6ll. Pacioli. Schriftlicher Nachlass (Berlin: Union. "DfirersStich Melencolia der Gesellschaft manistenkreis. Durer. 253: ". 1808). British Library. that "in short" sounds dangerously like a sleight of hand. no. liothek. principles. Diirer's essay on beauty sounds modern because it was based on a classical source.125 No one doubts Panofsky's stature as one of the outstanding art historians of the twentieth century. Head of a Childin Two Views. 1506.
Patrick Doorly taught historyof art at the School of Art and Design. Albrecht I: Dirers Denkbild 2. 23. no. fere didicerat". 1.Bird. and Plato. Pacioli.Thirteen Essays . Bartsch. A Documentary History of Art. N. Fox.139: ". 1514. no.London. Rupprich. Euclid. 1964). I. Four Compasses.
Frequently Cited Sources
Dfrer (Cambridge:CamRemainsof Albrecht Conway. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. Durer. in Conway. (Berlin:Deutscher Verein Nachlass... New York: Doubleday Anchor Books. lines 55-58: "Awchhab jch ein puchtrucker gefrogt.quoted in Conway. no. MarsilioFicino. Rupprich. BooksSold by Orderof the President Sotheby's. Printed mer's Greek Plato wassold in 1925 to "Baer& Co":Catalogue of Valuable sale cat. the painter dedicated two of his treatises to his "especially dear master and friend. PirckheiEnglishBook-Collectors. The ed. Mitteilungen fur vervielfaltigende Kunst (Die Graphischen Kunst) (Vienna) 26 (1903): 29-41.Walter L. Hippias.
Greater Plato. Panofsky's principal lapse in judgment was to use his interpretation of Melencolia I to present Direr as a precursor of a later cultural transformation.Erwin Panofsky. Henry Howard. The Complete Diirer. Berlin. er wil noch nix Krichisch. vol. discussing Melencolia I. Strauss. 7. Dfirer to Pirckheimer." Mitteilungender Gesellschaft fur Kunst (Beilage der Graphischen Kuinste)... 1484). 7. Oxford. to answer a need. Erwin Panofsky. and Fritz Saxl. Parmenides.
Holt. connoisseurs. Nigel Guy Wilson. Campell Dodgson.126 he took Diirer's legend on the wings of the bat as the starting point for his interpretation. 94.. daz will er mich wissen lassen. which led to the unlucky entanglement with Ficino. 1. 5. and historians who were ignorant of its meaning. 8. Departmentfor Continuing Education. 15. Drapery Study. Molder's Form. 1 Wellington Square. Literary bridge UniversityPress. 1996)..54. Puttowith Plumband Quadrant.Aug. 10. See Schuster.43. 307: "Litterarum sed quae illis tamen traduntur. OmniaPlatonis Opera(Hapanta ta tou Platonos)(Venice: Aldus Manutius. 1. 1926). Adam von vol. (New York: Drawingsof Albrecht Abaris Books. 1514.18 on Thu. which sold the majorityof its contents to the bookseller BernardQuaritchin 1873. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Lesvieuxallemands. "Poliziano und Dfirer.. Artists: Albrecht German vol. Fowler."Rupprich. pt.
In memoriamJohn Shearman (1931-2003). Durer to Pirckheimer. Erwin Panofsky and Fritz Saxl. Peter-KlausSchuster.Schriftlicher fir Kunstwissenschaft."123 These claims are anachronistic: the modern meaning of genius did not emerge gradually. 24.230. 17. Kupferstichkabinett. on his visit to Nuremberg in 1636. and Councilof the RoyalSociety. 59. Luca. 1892). England. 29. 305-42. I have consulted the edition published in Venice. lines 69-70: 'Jtem jch kan nyndert [nirgends] erfaren.pipex. London.LePeintre-graveur.dazjn kurtzsey aws gangen. De divina proportione (Venice. was er aber erfar. 1498)."'27 Their collaboration made possible the MelencoliaI." to Italy: Greek Studiesin the Italian 14. Hubert Faensen.doorly dsl.137: "Lettersit is true he had not cultivated.. daz jch ewchs schreibn mfig. 1971). 1981). Thus has Diirer exposed the fallacious assumption behind Socrates' questions: we did not need to know what the beautiful itself was before recognizing the beauty of this engraving.September 1513). . 1514."pts. Truncated Cube. 1 and 2. 1509). Albrecht Diurer. Croydon College (London). Pliny." in Illustrated Prints. Oct. 1491. vol. Pirckheimer'slibrarywas acquired by Thomas Howard. vervielfaltigende The poem had been dedicated to Lorenzo the Magnificent on November 2. 1962). no.171. gave the libraryto the RoyalSociety. 18." 18.Lesser Hippias. Cambridge. Strauss (New York:Abaris. 1889)." See also Rupprich. Not the least satisfaction in reconnecting Melencolia I with GreaterHippias has been the recovery of Dfirer's bracing engagement with Plato from the fog of Ficino's Neoplatonic lore. quoted in Conway.:Harvard UniversityPress. Dresden. 13. kleins Verstands . maxime naturalium et mathematicarumrerum scientiae. Ficino's Latinversion of Plato remained towardsa Dictionary unsold in 1892. Raymond Klibansky. lot 165. in Conway. Woman. Lucian. 1 (London: Bernard Quaritch." and from Plato's Phaedrus that "poetic doors are beaten on in vain without rage. 57-78. daz man ettwas news Krichischgetruckt hett. 246-51. London. Elizabeth.. which the Renaissance painter-engraver cannot have anticipated.vol.
Direr (London: Medici Society.25 (1902): 25-26.. vol. It was printed many times. OX1 2JA. has been decisively confirmed by this study. Cratylus. 28. Erwin. 12. 1514. 1482. reprint. Loeb ClassicalLibrary (1926. 2 (Leipzig:B. Panofsky wrote: "[Diirer] depicted a Geometry gone melancholy or. Panofsky. FromByzantium Renaissance (London: Duckworth. 25. 1957). Rupprich.. The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer. Kupferstichkabinett.William Martin.earl of Arundel.
Der wies mir man tzeit liber vnd weib. kallos eroto ho ti estin. 1." 42. 71). 2. vnd vnder anderen jch frogte.43. British Museum. Direr may have derived Messungfrom Pliny's de mensuris. 1. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
.vol. traced the unwarranted desire to exclude GreaterHippias from the Platonic canon to embarrassment at the rough handling of Hippias by Socrates. auto gar egoge. Panofsky. kai lithoi kai xuloi kai anthropoi kai theoi kai pase praxei kai panti mathemati. 309: ". 1512. 52. 1. 100. 1996). 3. 21. Albrecht Durer. 1966-87). 1867). MorrisHicky Morgan (New York:Dover. R. 102: "Noch dem sich zwischen vns zw mer moln hat begeben.that is in the proper space to be left demensuris.: HarvardUniversityPress. scultori e architettori nelle redazioni del 1550 e 1568. 12. The Invention of Infinity: Mathematics and Art in the Renaissance (Oxford: Oxford University Press. aber pey vns nit entgen. Heath. Rupprich. 1931). das jch dy Walhen fast lob jn jren nackettn billdern vnd zw for jn der perspettiua." 36." 38.vol. Griechischer Humanismus in Deutsch20. 1977). 50. 1. [Apelles] [. 24) and (it appears to me) one eye open and one closed. 59.76: "primus in pictura omnibus litteris eruditus. welch der menschen schonste gestalt vnd maB kinde sein und kein andre. 103. See Andreas Stolzenburg's entry on Pirckheimerin TheGrove ofArt." 57. Ibid. 1. 257-58. L 167. 33. 92. MartinDavies. 1. The ThirteenBooks of the Elements. Albrecht Direr. Lib. 1528). 228. 1513. 24.phesei: "ouchhoios t'ei memnesthaihoti to kalon auto eroton.vol. 99.. quoted in Holt. Strauss. 5. quoted in Conway. 34. 54.. 1506. Dan es ist woll miiglich das zwey vnderschidliche bild gemacht werden. 27-29.vol. vol.. no. Strauss. Non enim raro in sermonibus familiaribusquestus fuerat quod vel sibi non contigisset illa. 244. to Asclepiodorusin measurement. Mass. 13. 45. werden etlich sprechen: nach der Menschen vrtheyl. 2. Strauss (New York: Abaris Books. so kumt vns das gar schwer an. 305. Niklas Holzber. Euclidis Megarensis/ Philosophi Platonici/ Mathematicarum disciplinarumjanitoris.. land (Munich:Wilhelm Fink. 55. 173-74. 20).. revised by Erwin Panofsky. Durer. 44. Cambridge. 227. keins dem anderen gemes. 1509)." Pirkheimer may have drawn on such sources as Pliny (as in n.e). Rupprich.. Duirer. Field. TheCorrespondence of Erasmus Press. but the six dated 1513 prompted Strauss to date sixty-three further studies to that year. van Venedig geporn. vol." 41. the woodcut Hercules (B. 2 (Munich: C. Strauss. Euclid. Ahn ein recht wissen wer wil vns dann des gewiBmachen? .. Rupprich. nos.Sloane 5230. wy dy aller sch6nest gestalt des menschen mocht sein. Vitruvius (as in n. 24. kai ouden soi mallon gegonein dunamai e ei moi parekathesolithos.vol. 293. See Pliny. Walter L. from Greek to Latin and ed.79: "[Apelles] singly contributed almost more to painting than all the other artists put together. Beck'sche. wie wir ein sch6n bild sollen machen. no. 2407. Holzber (as in n. All quotations of the Latin text of Vitruviusare in MarcusPollio Vitruvius. Emil Reicke." 28. ob awch pucher forhanden weren. Karl Giehlow. sed prius decesserat Andreas quam Mantuampotuisset [Albertus]pervenire. das wir zw red worden sind van allerlei kinsten. trans. das merkett ich woll an jm. Osterreichischen Nationalbibliotek. es sey nit antigisch art. also publishing volumes containing the principles of painting [voluminibus etiam editis. 8-16. wassein mainung wer gewest dan ein new kunigraich. 25. vol. dicker vnd dainer. 3 of his De divina proportione (Venice. Direr to Pirckheimer. 1525). A. N. 98. 2.55. translated by H. ein liblicher moler. was das ist. vol. 1.. Strauss. Brit. 321. 61. Conway. geometria. lines 57-61.vol.vol. see J. See Euclid. 383.227. Proportion 32. 29. The Painter's Manual. 131. 364-65. Dy schon zw vrteilen. 7. 22. between one object and another." 49. Holt. Mynors. Giulia Bartrum. codex 3255. Rackham. B. London.als Abelles. 1501-14 (Toronto: Universityof Toronto vol.Loeb ClassicalLibrary(Cambridge.. vol."Holt's excerpts from Direr's writingswere taken from Conway's translations. 233-35: "So wir aber fragen. 100. dan einen man Jacobus genent. 13. and Strauss. 5. quae doctrinam eam continent]. 56. dofan ist zw rat schlagen. 44. 1506. German text. 29. sy weren gewest. 56. wy man ein wolgestalteglidmol der menschen sol machen. The drawings and print are illustrated together in Panofsky. The putto has ears in both the engraving and Durer's preparatory drawing (Strauss.." 55. trans.80: "[Apelles] acknowledged his inferiority . irrelevant to an evaluation of their impact on Pirckheimer and Durer. 1500. 20). 2002. 1. vol. and Publisher Venice 23. no. 1.Feb. exh. cat.. dy er aws der mas gemacht het. 11. der beschlislich sprechen m6cht. 381-82. Woll wir syjn vnser werck pringen. 29). 503. 2. 12. 203. Rupprich. trans. 1. 178.. cat.vol.. Nymantz weis daz dan gott allein. 62-104. haben gar kinstlich beschriben.58. 53. .." 51. level and the plummet. The attempt by modern scholars to exclude Charidemus and Greater Hippias from the authentic works of their respective authors is. 291. However. ho panti ho an prosgenetai. neque quicquam dicere solebat in vita sibi tristiusaccedisse. dy mich einer leren will." first. 59. nos. Durer to Pirckheimer. Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates (London: Murray.. 1494).vol. Rupprich. 1494. The title page of Zamberti's edition is reproduced in Albrecht Direr.: Harvard University Press. daz weis ich nit. huparchei ekeinoi kaloi einai. All quotations from GreaterHippias are reprinted by permission of the publishers and the Trustees of the Loeb Classical Library from Plato. 13. 1495. Le vite de' piu eccelenti pittori." 27. lines 1-4: "Pliniusschreibt das dy alten moler vnd bilhawer. lines 41-42: "Noch [nachher] schelten sy es vnd sagen. vol.4: Geometry "teaches us the use of the rule and compasses. das die natur nit leyden kin. "Die Hieroglyphenkunde des Humanismus in der Allegorie der Renaissance besonders der Ehrenpforte Kaisers
This content downloaded from 192. The book surviveswith Direr's inscription. 1940)." and for his "every acquisition of knowledge. vol.139. The italics in my quotations indicate where I have adjusted the English to conform more literallyto Direr's German. 1. H. 12). vol." "every learning. 1996). cedebat Asclepiodoro hocest quantoquid a quoque distare deberet]. and [how] rightly [to] apply the square. and Strauss.1995)." Luca Pacioli incorporated much of Piero's Trattato d'abaco in his Summa de arithmetica. 2nd ed. Panofsky. Dfirerto Pirckheimer. 37. 8. trans. takes a reference by Direr to "Platonic Ideas" in 1512 as evidence that Durer was "certainly aware. 1997). and idem. vol.274
Works trans. nos. fernam jch von ewch. Vienna. das er nichtz vnmuglichs mach. 127). Fowler. and second. Direr. 4. Dan mir wolt diser forgemeltJacopus seinen grunt nit klerich an tzeigen. 60. Pliny. Conway. Rupprich. of course. 1513.. 35. Giorgio Vasari. lines 24-38: "Es lebt awch kein mensch awff erden. The TenBookson Architecture. Rupprich. vol. Cambridge. 1496. 139. Willibald Pirckheimer'sBriefivechsel. trans. Conway. Rupprich. Reprinted in Faensen (as in n. fol. So werdens dann die andern nit nachgeben und ich auch nit. 46. 1981).48. 1507. and the drawing Pupila Augusta (Strauss. I have substituted for Fowler's "the absolute beautiful" and "absolute beauty" a literal rendering of Plato's words. Fowler (1926).. no. der do etwas beschriben hett van menschlicher mas zw machen. 221: "Daz
puch hab ich zw Venedich vm ein Dugatn kawft im 1507jor. vol. 120. 159-60. 1991).. welches schoner sey. 243. 1914). New York: Dover. Jane Turner (London: MacmilDictionary lan.vol. vol. Rupprich. 381. o anthrope. 3. Rupprich. 1. Panofsky. 1. 3. 179. vol. Dy schonheit. Conway. Collected of Erasmus. 30). HarvardUniversityPress." 31. from the "aestheticexcursus"(Direr's essayon beauty) in bk.der beschreibt ein wenig van der glidmas eines mans. "Hop-s ". and introduced an Italian translation of Piero's Libellus de quinque corporibusregularibusas pt.. 3.vol. Department of Manuscripts. Doch nam ich mein ejgen ding fur mych vnd las den Fitrufium. 163-64.Sept.. 198. 1513.. 17). 30. 1505).1. 43. George Grote. The editio princeps of a Greek text of Euclid appeared in 1533: ibid. Hierinsind vierBftcher von menschlicher begriffen (Nuremburg. Strauss. 44. 267 n. vol. Rupprich.Mass. 244. that the first two books of Ficino's De vita triplici had been translated into German. lines 215-19. lines 59-61: "DarauB kumbt. 12123. lines 85-87: "Dornochwurdjch gen Polonia [Bologna] reiten vnder kunst willen jn heimlicher perspectiua. 305. Unterweisung der
Messung." The emphasis in the passage quoted is mine. figs." 39. 1956). N. Oct. Desiderius Erasmus. 1. vnd das ich awff dycse sehen wolt. 19. 1506. vol. Underweysung dermessung mitdemzirkel und richtscheyt in Linienebnenunnd gantzencorporen (Nuremburg. praecipue arithmeticaet geometria. 35. 316.. vol. sine quibus negabat artem perfici posse.Strauss. aut Alberto scientia sua.. Dated October 18. reprint. 102: "Jdochso ich keinen find. 165. Nach geschicklikeit mus man syjn einjtlich ding pryngen. Dan wir sehenjn etlichen dingen ein ding vir schon an. 2. no. mete ota mete egkephalon echon" (292d. lines 12-13: ". Conway. quoted in Conway. 3. Sir Thomas L. Bartolomeo Zamberti (Venice." 40. in Conway. and English translationsare from Vitruvius. Die warheyt helt allein innen. vol. das wir nit woll vrteillen kunen. ed. 30. trans. vol. 1514. NaturalHistory. 47.curavitceleriter ad se accersi instructurus facilitatem eius et certitudinem manus rerum cognitione et arte. Rupprich.which had been published by Anton Koberger (Durer's godfather). 1939.. 1. For translations of (reater Hippias I have followed H. kai houtos mulias. 309: "Isergo cum Mantuae decumberet et Albertumin Italiaesse audivisset. nos. V. (1925. 3. vol. dorum sey es nit gut. 40. Holzber (as in n. Rupprich. Rupprich. Durer dated few of his studies of human proportions. 58. H.proportionieproportionalita (Venice. dy do fan der gestalt der menschen lerten machen. 2. lines 129-30: "Doch hut sich ein yedlicher. and thirty-five to 1512. 7. 26. 2. 48. 1523: Conway.18 on Thu. Willibald Pirckheimer. 292.ed. Loeb Classical Library. of Ficino's Letters. 35.jn eim anderen wer es nit schon." 35. The partial translation appears above a draft letter that probably dates from 1511.. 23. Protognes vnd dy anderen. 1. 3 of FourBooks on Human Proportion (1528). Rupprich. introduction to the "Life of Piero della Francesca. wer etwas rechtz wil machen. AldusManutius:Printer of Renaissance (London: British Library.Mass. in Conway. Rosanna Bettarini (Florence: Sansoni. Schon vnd schoner is vns nit leicht zw erkennen. As is normally assumed to be the case with the engraved Sea Monster (B. "the beautiful itself. das er der natur nichtz absprech vnd leg jr nichtz vntreglichs auff'. Rupprich.165-66. London.: Architecture.On Loeb ClassicalLibrary(London: Heinemann. wYwoll sy vill dingen anhangt. Conway. 5. in Conway. 1492. 88. AlbrechtDurer and His Legacy.
no.. 8. so sich des Mass gebrauchen. 14. "Life of Dio266e. with Heath's notes. vol. Werk. "Itis remarkablethat Pacioli deals only with the squaressimply as a mathematical jeu d'esprit." and Courtauld Institutes Journalof theWarburg 31 (1968): 234-50. Conway. secs. Reiner Schoch. 4. dieweil es aus einer guten Meinung und allen Kiinstbegierigenzu Gut geschicht und auch nich allein
den Maleren. Diogenes Laertius.vol. derStett. Erasmus. 42). 2 (1982): 146-47." 68.228. Commentary (New York: Columbia University Press. but Conwayincludes the German on 204. si peculiaris cujusque animantis vis ac natura cognita. 76. "TheTerm 'Emblema'in Alciati. vol. 154-57. Opera Omnia (1703-6. Museum.
85. 13.see F. 82. (Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress. 136-39. Ibid. 22. Rupprich. 218. 104. The editio princeps of De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii was published in 1499 in Vicenza. Diirer's treatise on fortification:Albrecht Diirer. (London: British Museum Publications. bk. Ibid." 77. 121. Panofskycomments. 29.2: "Esensa lor notitia sia impossibilealcunatrabene intendere & e nell sapientia ancora e scripta 'Quodomniaconsistunt in numero pondere mensura' cioe che tutto cioche per lo universo inferiore e superiore sisquaterna quello de necessita al numero peso e mensura sia soctoposto. 22. Lives of the EminentPhilosophers 6." 70.vol. 2001). of Philology Martianus Capella. 1 (1915): 170-209.. s. Conway. Strauss. De viribusquantitatis. in quo siderum magnitudines et meatus. 6. Alciato's manuscript Emblemata is traced back to the lifetime of MaximilianI (1459-1519) by Claudie Balavoine.that is to say optical. it is attributed to syllabus is in Plato's Protagoras. 1491) simply states. Martianus Capella. 8 of Ptolemy's Geography (1525) reproduces the first Pirckheimer 1470-1970: Eine world map to include the Americas: Willibald in derStadtbibliotek exh. Euclid.. wasser vnd der stern is verstentlich worden durch daz gemell vnd wirt noch menschen vill kfint durch antzewgung der gemell.See also 2. ac Theologos: qui nefas esse ducebant. table of contents.] Sic enim vobradeos. reprint. trans. 400-402. 88. Pacioli. 83.aenigma sententiae deprehendebat. 84). to suggest that they are an addition unrelated to Melencolia I. vol. discusses the bat. 177. altera sphaeram solidam gestitantem amictamque laevorsumpeplo.20. 160: "."AGeneralizationof the Golden Section. 180.vol. Panofsky. 62. Schuster (as in n. 64. Harold Mattingly. 3. are reproduced in Bartrum (as in n. 103. Two printed scale maps of Germany. 27. 62). 96. Scholz. 87.of which one unedited manuscript survives:Biblioteca Universitaria. no. 178 n. in which Diogenes points not to a dodecahedron but to the signaturesof those two artistsin the open book. no. Marie-Therese Alciat. of course. is demum collatis eorum symbolorumconjecturis. Erasmus (as in n. 42). 250.. ed. 34. 2." 93. Rupprich.227. penitusque perspecta fuisset.vol. potissimum apud Aegyptios vates.. and "descriptive. 69. 30. James Willis (Leipzig: Teubner. dienstlich sein mag. 327 n. 1. where. Possibly via the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon 11. 53 n. 1983). The earliest known appearance of the term "goldener Schnitt" is reported to be in a footnote in Martin Ohm. Church.177. Adages(1991). 2. Dfirer used the phrase "Plato'sfive regular bodies" elsewhere: Conway. Empire to Domitian. had explained that geometry. 177. no. 94.. Dan der aller edelst sin der menschen is das gesicht. 42). Conway. 2.2. Furtherevidence is reviewedby Bernhard F. The earliest reference to the subjects of the quadrivium as a taught 318e. 1956 (as in n. Bildhaueren. 8). Burge.11. as Archimedes had demonstratedwhen he defended Syracusewith machines of war that depended for their manufacture on the power of number." Durer: 79.vol. and Panofsky. 6). 17. 2. 221. lines 79-81: "Der nutz is ein teill der schanheit.v. quarum priscis seculis multus fuit usus. Caraglioadapted Ugo da Carpi'schiaroscurowoodcut after Parmigianino. 3. Martianus Capella and the Seven Liberal Arts. B. Dorum was am menschen vnniltz ist. reliqua vero versisillitum diversitatibus numerorum. "DivusPlato. vol.which prompted Panofskyand Saxl (as in n. and proportion are vital to the defense of a state. nos. 2. I am indebted for this information to one of the ArtBulletin'sanonymous reviewers. 92. 204: "et cum dicto prospicio quandam feminam luculentam radium dextera. 2. 'Aurum igni et ingeniusmathematici': probatur loro demostra el fuoco e la peregrineca del ingegno le mathematici discipline. 1514. The title page of Ficino's Latin translation of Plato (Venice.. no. der wiirtzhernoch also finden. V. 132."Erasmus'saccount is anticipated in Leon BattistaAlberti." Rupprich. Aristotle. chap. 10.18 on Thu. tzall vnd gewicht mein firnemen anfohen. 1970. 1981). zu 66. genes. Adages. 78. MatthiasMende. Pirckheimer's translationof bk. 1.94. 104.Bologna. 156-57. 1. 33. 102. Pacioli. 63. 9-21. ponderum mensurarumque formis diversitate colorum variegata renidebat. 161. "Del conducente titulo de questo tractato dicto dela divina proportione: Capitulo. heading for chap. vol. Stadtbibliotek." 84. Capella (as in n. 29." 71. no. lines 76-78: "Dysekunst der maler wirt vurgemagt den awgen. Hippias.2.NuremDokumentation Nurnberg.. but see Rupprich. 30. is generally considered to be a copy after the lost original by Direr: Strauss. table of contents. vol." 40. cat. no. Hildersheim: G. is inscribed on the title page.Coinsof theRoman in theBritish vol. "Emptusex bibliotheca Alberti Dyreri mar[cis] Rh[enensibus] 7 Anno domini 1555. 2. gnomonum stilis. 2. Plato. 13 die Augusti/Eras[mus] Hock D. 2. no. lines 54-58: "Dy messung des ertrichs.one dated 1491 and the other of about 1500." 86. 3. "Aesthetics. nos.Scholtz und Flecken Befestigung (Nuremberg. 75. 19). This and the following translationare from George Boas. Strauss. vol. 8. 3. 7. 1514. . Rupprich." 72."in Emblematica
This content downloaded from 192. 9. The mirror-imagedrawingin Bayonnefor the dog in Melencolia I.in Proportions: Durer (as in n. Die reineElementar-Matematik. Das druckgraphische 80. H. and Anna Scherbaum. "The 1531 Augsburg Edition of Alciato's Emblemata: A 5. see David Landau and Peter Print 1470-1550 (New Haven:Yale UniversityPress. measure.vol. Ohlms. 67. vol."Fibonacci 20.ed. 175. 1950). "Wisdomof Solomon. 2-15. 77. Erasmus (as in n.ut non cuivis statim promptum esset conjicere: verum. (as in n. si cui singularum rerum proprietates.61. the first use of the term goldensectionin English appears to be in the ninth edition of the Britannica(1875). a second edition was published in 1500 in Modena. Vespasian Titus. 22. 1961-62). 1977). Steinmetzen. There is no indication as to when or where Diirer bought the book. 12). TheStatesman 97. Pacioli. transcribed by Maria GarlaschiPeirani. "Archeologiede l'embleme litteraire:La dedicacea Conrad Peutinger des Emblemata d'Andre et devisesau tempsde la Renaissance.2nd ed. in Klibanksyet al. vol. denique etiam in usum germanae ipsius Astronomiae crebrius commodatum. 202." 91.L. Similarly. which. beneath a dedicatorypoem. 65. 1. 315 n. 57). and Diirer (as in n.Diirer requested "Thatnothing be introduced which is stolen from other books"in Pirckheimer'spreface to Direr's FourBookson Human Conway. 33." in Emblemes Jones-Davies(Paris:JeanTouzot. Parshall. cantur aenigmaticae scalpturae. 1 (Munich: Prestel. 1997). The items are so identified in Panofsky. 90." For Euclid's construction of a dodecahedron comprehended in a sphere. 1514.xv.17. Fowler. 76. states that Diirer's construction of the pentagon is based on Ptolemy's Almagest. 98.bk. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. sapientiae mysterialiteris communibus vulgo profano prodere. Cross. Conway. In the short appendix 1 of Klibanskyet al. divided by 4. 1835 (where he implies that the phrase was alreadycurrent). 99. curiously. notes that the animals were delineated in black ink and the rest of the drawingin brown. sed si quid cognitu dignum judicassent. (as in n. vol.. which may have Dictiobeen written in Hellenistic Alexandria. 2).' and merely mentions their astrologicaland magical significance without going into it: he therefore completely ignores any talismanicvirtues of the various squares. On theHeavens. ed. 12). 180. prints Pirckheimer's Latin with the copies of Diirer's illustrations. and proportions. Pacioli. A copy in the BayerischeStaatsbibliothek. 2. 1976). Diirer's numbers are given in Pacioli's De viribus quantitatis. 2. circulorum mensurae conexionesque vel formae. Wer achtung dorawfhat. interstitiorum. berg. TheHieroglyphics of Horapollo. Schreineren und allen den. 23 (New York:Pantheon Books. no. 19). yields 34. lines 8-9. MartianusCapella. Quarterly no. codice no. Strauss..See also Rupprich. 95. ipsum vero vernantisaethrae salo refulgebat. The relevant passage is reproduced in Nick 77 (1993): Gazette MacKinnon. "Delmodo a saper fare el nobilissimo corpo regulare detto Duodecedron altramente corpo de 12 pentagoni secondo le platonici forma dela quinta essentia e del nome de suoli lati.2 verso.Munich. das ist nit schon. Surveyof Research. vol.De re aedificatoria. lines 36-38: "Vnd will aws mas. 33. reference to Melencolia 81. 1." 73. The irregular solid is set on a raised "foundation"in the preparatory drawing (Fig. 25. EtlicheUnderricht. crepidas peragrandaetelluris causa easdemque permenso orbe contritasviatrix infatigatagestabat. 1514. Rupprich. sonder Goldschmieden. 1527). Albrecht vol. says that the line AB is divided in extreme and mean ratio by C if AB:AC= AC:CB. Pacioli."Mathematical 165-66. dated 1514 and signed with an uncertain version of Diirer's monogram. quam illud Augusti Caesarisdictum speude indicio sunt monimenta literarum hieroglyphicarum. 1.v. It shows all the numbers from 1 through 16. which added together yield 136. the authors suggest that the polyhedron mayindicate the stonecutters' trade. Many of the relevant documents are assembled in Hessel Miedema. But an addition by Dfirer does not. 1513. nos. Boas (as in n. included by Panofskyin Holt." 74. Strauss. geometry. naryof the Christian s."ThePortraitof FraLuca Pacioli. ed. see Euclid. does not translate this last sentence. Rupprich." 100. 2. 6. TheOxford 3rd ed. 89. WalterL. 1. arithmetic. Luca Pacioli. TheRenaissance 1994). 3. 168-70.vol." an article byJames Sully. exclude a further I. 3. 78. 100. vol. 2 (winter 1991): 213-54.DURER'S
Maximilian I. id animantium rerumque variarumexpressis figuris ita repraesentabant. Bollingen Series.see Encyclopaedia D.30. Augusto Marinoni (Milan: Ente Raccolta Vinciana. L. 40. 1997). 101. 113. 1514. TheMarriage and Mercury." in Jahrbuchder kunsthistorischen des allerhochsten Sammlungen Kaiserhauses 32. quemadmodum nos facimus. 399-400: "[Id autem symbolinihil aliud sibi velle. Strauss. 8).43. 5-6. William Harris Stahl and RichardJohnson with E. Faensen (as in n.vol.: "Onde fra li savi por comunicare proverbio magestralmente se cioe la bonta de costumato a dire. Conway.212.
sec. 28. '"Yethe was not of a melancholy severitynor of a repulsivegravity[Non tamenerataut tristi severitate aut gravitateodiosa]. regardlessof cause. Vitadi Michelagnolo Buonarroti (Florence: Studio per Edizioni Scelte.. 1. 108. 1436: uno because care presses on him and thoughts besiege him. vol. "OurAlbrecht is very personable. De VitaTriplici. I have. 19). 13. 158. 104).. review of GiulioRomano. 290. vol. . dejection: melancholy. [Albrecht] used to say . 3 (1986): 398-409.. trans.. See also Conway. der so hoch peim pobst geacht ist gewest. to for I give in each separate epigram a which I have given the title Emblemata. Julius Excluded from Heaven:A Dialogue(1986).or at least thought he was. 31): "Meinem insonders lieben Heren und Freund. 61)..Elementa 1500-1971 (Baden-Baden:Valentin Koerner.227.. stands with atristito]. goldsmiths and founders can fashion objects which we call badges and which we fasten on our hats. 101. Immanuel Kant. obliging and proper. 146. 189-90. 107. Direr and His Critics 31: ". 121.ItalianArt 1400-1500. 260.. vol. 8). are frequentlycarried awayinto absurdities. 17. TheEmblem (London: Reaktion Books. 126. he is of a happy disposition. Ficino's 122. 308). claimed that with the Albertina drawing. 1971). Raphael(New Haven: Yale UniversityPress. grief."Raphael's 31. (as in n.trans. When Hippias and had used for tristius DiDrer Socratesfailed to find the beautiful.. 8. "We described how a painter should treat the emotions in Depictura. 1987).composed a book of epigrams. my translation. in the original Latin. and was not inconsistent with honour and rectitude. and wondered if they were better off alive or dead.284.such as the anchor of Aldus. Gilbert. 236: ". 241. Sources Ill. Panofsky. Where Alberti had used maeror. such that it signifies something pleasant taken from history or from nature. Giehlow (as in n. . Scheurl. in Tuscan.. 1986)." 117. 40 above). Rupprich. In order to show that such minds . 114. Penelope Murray.Pirckheimer'sfeelings are recorded in his elegy on Durer's death: 'You who have been my most intimate associate these many years. Woodstock. Critique ofJudgment. and Rupprich."Master made in Arnold Nesselrath. Strauss. Rupprich. he cultivated all his life" (quoted in Bartrum[as in n." Zeitschrift fur Kunstgeschichte no. 99."It is illustrated in Roger Jones and Nicholas Penny. autograph work by Raphael is Gift to Dfirer. Indianapolis:Hackett. Life of Michelangelo. was the saddest [tristius]event in all his life" (see n. 119. 163. 110. In the Instruction in Measurement. 64. Klibanskyet al. 111.. 1.vol. after which painters. 1996).. Albrecht Direr: Diary of His Journeyto the Netherlands (London: Lund Humphries." 112. [hat] der hat dyse nackette bild gemacht vnd hat sy dem Albrecht Durer gen Nornberg geschickt. 69. see how someone who is saddened [Latin. letter 318. That word does not translateatrabilis. 57]. Tuscan. lines 47-49: ". Latin text in Rupprich.. Creighton E. 1998). 39. Balavoine (as in n. 155-97. at this Saturnalia.vol. 1. rentibus.degli atti e gesti umani. vol.Jan Bialostocki. Drawings 4 (1993): 376-89.". 339. 153. 681 (1959): 458.. quel che piu importava. melancholy. 1541).. 1508). 186 n." For the meaning of genius as understood by Dfirer's contemporaries. MarsilioFicino.. non ne dice parola. 4 (1976). Vasari (as in n. the exact Latinequivalent of melagcholikos. Christoph de LaudibusGermaniae et DucumSaxoniae(Leipzig. 9. 113. 1. 155. 317-320. 120. Herrn WilboldenPirckheymer . life of Rafael da Urbino. 29. 1014). 171). Latin text in Rupprich. 1528 (as in n.Jonathan Bate. 53. TheGeniusof Shakespeare trans. Failing to meet Mantegna.276
105. Camerariuswrote. Nor do the two pieces of evidence offered by Panofskyat alljustify his claim that "Direr himself. 115). 2002). while the ascent by means of rungs is as it were impeded by a squareblock of stone. Ascanio Condivi. Treating Durer's "melencolia"as one of the four humors of ancient medicine is so entrenched in the literature that it is worth pointing out that the word could signify the feelingof gloom. In one who is melancholy [maea chi sia malinconico]. and his own.
This content downloaded from 192. 1997). 1./ O Albrecht! the greatest part of my soul. Marsilio Charles Boer (1980. 27. was. 14. did you abandon so suddenly your inconsolate friend/Going hence with swift foot. 111]. and in 1532. 101ff.. Like the old painters. hapless one. in Erasmus (as in n. or else bear as trademarks. formando le figure ritte come pali. reprint. Direr. Alberto non trattase non delle misure e varietadei corpi.. description of something. und hab mich verwundertder subtilenjngenia der menschen jn frembden landen. Dfirer turned to a Greek word to characterize their. 65.ed. vol. Werner S. BookofLife. Indeed. 362. Raffahell de Vrbin."in Miedema (as in n. (London: Picador. in Libellus noted. Rupprich. 6. Dec.. Panofsky. Conn. AndreaAlciato to FrancescoCalvo. his powers and feeling almost in a daze. 1489.: NorthwesternUniversityPress. im sein hand zw weisen. 1514. 24."9Dec 1522. (as in n.: Spring. di che certa regula dar non si pu6. "Imarvelledat the subtle ingeniaof men in foreign lands".Raphael had palmed Diirer off with a work by one of his assistants.Bialostocki head.John Manning. 43). 209: "1515. trans. The claim that Durer conceived Melencolia I as a pair with Saint Jeromein His Studyhas been discredited by Robert Grigg..based on Bialostocki [as in n.. Alice SedgwickWohl. 5 (1984). and Documents (Evanston./Why. of the Mexican gold Corteshad sent to EmperorCharles V.. 19).or black bile. "Studieson Diirer's Diary of His Journey to the Netherlands:The Distributionof Melencolia 49. 2. 104). 106. 123. 3. 1525 (as in n. idem.see for example the satire in Erasmus (as in n. / With whom in all confidence I could join in sweet discourse/Confiding my thoughts to a trusted breast. 124. trans. 57]... he employed malinconia. Pirckheimerto Beatus Rhenanus. vol. Burlington the Albertina drawingbeing an independent. no. you'll see the head hanging down. Pluhar (1790.nay whatever conduced to pleasantness and cheerfulness. The case for Magazine by FrederickHartt.a melancholic in every possible sense of the word" (Panofsky. Hellmut Wohl (Oxford:Phaidon. 118. where the genius of Julius II offers a running commentaryon the deceased pope's vain attempts to browbeatSaint Peter into opening the Gates of Heaven to him. 49. 1983). 125. vol.43. no. 111).Joachim Camerarius.This view did not find favor among Raphael scholars:see John Shearman. 57: "Ea dire il vero.". then.vol.. 1992). Albrecht Dfirer. 162." 109. 43).he reared up in front of her a ladder into the clouds. Durer. 1. 116. 127. passim. 1435: tristes. or your hand / Or to utter last wordsin a sad farewell". vol.. Holt. For example. The Germanword
is lost to us in the Latin report.18 on Thu. When Alberti he wrote.Diirer (as in n.. rhetoricae (Basel. Genius:The Historyof an Idea (Oxford: Basil Blackwell. in the manner of highly educated people" (quoted in Bartrum [as in n. 31): "meinem g6nstigen lieben Herrn und grosserspriesslichenFreund". never to return?/Nor was I able to touch your dear trans. Vasari (as in n. 1976). I. ed. 1989). 307. 27 Jun 2013 06:35:23 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
. based on Conway. 115."and in the FourBooksof Human Proportion.

domain: artistic