 |
ALBRECHT DURER
German, 1471-1528
Melencolia I, 1514
Engraving. 9 1/2 x 7 3/8 in. (24.1 x 18.8 cm)
Bequest of William P. Chapman, Jr., Class of 1895. 57.122
Perhaps Dürer's most enigmatic composition, Melencolia I
is grouped with his two other "master" engravings of 1513 and
1514, Knight, Death and the Devil, and St. Jerome in His Study,
which represent the pinnacle of his engraved art. These prints are noted
in technical terms for their achievement of greys and planes of shadow,
the result of innumerable fine marks of the burin, an effect that in this
case contributes greatly to the somber mood of the subject.
Dürer presents the personification of Melancholy surrounded by a collection
of tools for creative and intellectual pursuits such as goldsmithing (the
crucible and scales), geometry (the polyhedron and sphere), and woodworking
(the plane, ruler, and saw). Most important are the dividers she holds,
placed at the very center of the composition; this instrument, used by geometricians
and architects, symbolizes the ultimate creative act--God's shaping of the
world.
In Renaissance humanistic thought, people of melancholic temperament were
seen as the most creative members of society; however, it was believed that
their genius also made them able to see a still higher level of achievement
that they could not attain and were therefore frequently subject to depression.
Dürer's figure of Melancholy, and by extension Dürer himself,
broods while symbols of the artists's success, keys for power and a purse
for wealth, dangle in a useless jumble from her waist.
|
