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Albrecht
Durer was a master at engraving and woodcutting. His
works on display at the Virginia
Museum of Fine Arts are amazing. I’m not normally interested
in black and white works but they interested me because of the
great craftsmanship and how detailed and intricate they are.
Another reason that they drew me in was the fact that Durer
is so well known in the art world that I had to stroll through
the gallery. I have learned about Durer in my art history classes
but seeing them in person makes one appreciate them more. Reproductions
do not do the artist’s work justice. Looking at how fine some
of the engravings are fascinated me because I don’t really understand
how he did it. Growing up in this day and age is completely
and totally different then living in the time period that Durer
grew up.
The engraving titled Melancholia I fascinated me the
most. It is one of three that are said to be his master engravings.
As stated on the plaque that was next to it, it is supposed
to be the most complex and enigmatic of the three. The subject
matter of all three of the engravings (the other two are titled
Knight, Devil, and Death and St. Jerome in His Study)
are intended to be discussed and puzzled over. There are so
many different interpretations of the drawings but I wanted
to research the meaning of Melancholia I.
There are elements within this engraving that made me wonder
why they where there. The magic square, the polyhedron,
and the ladder seem to be completely out of place. I guess there
is no real way to know for sure why they are there but the different
interpretations that I found online are certainly plausible.
Alchemy formed an essential ingredient to the cultural background
in Durer’s time so it is said that this influenced the engraving
at some point. (Read) Durer seems
to personify Melancholy in the angel and the Roman numeral
I suggest that this engraving was supposed to be one of a number
of paintings. Melancholy is one of the four temperaments: melancholic,
phlegmatic, choleric, and sanguine. These four temperaments
are associated with many things, including the four bodily humors;
black bile, phlegm, yellow bile, and blood. The humors where,
in some strange way that I don’t understand, associated with
the four colors that showed the stages of alchemy which where
black, white, citrine, and red. Another association with the
number four is that the magic square in the upper right hand
corner of the engraving is four by four. I added all the numbers
in each of the rows, down and across, together and they equal
34. In the bottom row the two middle squares represent the year
in which it was made, 1514. There is a rainbow in the background
but I don’t see how one is really supposed to know it is a rainbow
because rainbows have distinct colors and since the engraving
is neutral in color I didn’t really make the association with
it.
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All the elements in the picture seem to
come back to alchemy, science, and/or creativity. Melancholic
people were said to be the most creative people in society so
many of the elements, including the crucible and scales, the
polyhedron and the sphere, and the plane, ruler and saw go back
to the central theme. The angel is creative as well as intellectual.
The square, the compasses, the polyhedron and sphere, the hourglass,
the balance can also be related to Pythagoras
and other philosophers from ancient times. The ladder that is
behind the building has seven rungs and according to Read it
was another form of alchemical symbolism representing the seven
metals, the operations and the associated heavenly bodies. A
large amount of the stuff in the interpretation of the drawing
by John
Read is way over my head talking about the planets and
Saturnine mysticism so understanding all of the picture will
have to wait until a later date when I can research the engraving
and the associated alchemy symbolism. The polyhedron is mathematical
in some ways and artistic in others, according to all the literature
I have read about it, but no one person can give a real solid
reason as to why it is there; I have read everything I can find
and still don’t even know where to begin to understand why it
is there. Durer and God must be the only people who know why.
Reading about this print, I wonder whether
or not the artist actually meant for things to be interpreted
this way or not: we learn about so many different forms of artwork
and teachers and professors all say that this is what was meant
to be portrayed. In our day and age we associate certain things
it with it, but did the artist actually mean to portray it that
way or were they just going along with the times or did they
not even think about it when they painted or constructed the
piece? Did they mean for it to be interpreted a certain way
to future generations? There are so many questions that I would
like to answer but I don’t even know if I can. There is a lot
of material on the different pieces of artwork but I would love
to see if I could find what actually proves that certain things
were meant to portray what I have learned that they portray.
References:
Read, John. Durer's Melancholia
And Alchemy.
http://www.alchemylab.com/melancholia.htm
Exhibition placards
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