Melencolia I

Albrecht Dürer, 1514

engraving, 31 × 26 cm

Melencolia I, sometimes known as Melancholia I (using the modern spelling) is an engraving by the German Renaissance master Albrecht Dürer. It is an allegorical composition which has been the subject of very many interpretations. One of the most famous old master prints, it has sometimes been regarded as forming one of a conscious group of meisterstreich with his Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513) and Saint Jerome in his Study (1514).

It has been the subject of more modern interpretation than almost any other print,^[1] including a two volume book by Peter-Klaus Schuster,^[2] and a very influential discussion in his Dürer monograph by Erwin Panofsky.^[3] It should be noted that reproduction usually makes the image seem darker than it is in an original impression (copy) of the engraving, and in particular affects the facial expression of the female figure, which is rather more cheerful than in most reproductions. The title comes from the (archaically spelled) title, Melencolia I, appearing within the engraving itself. It is the only one of Dürer's engravings to have a title in the plate. The date of 1514 appears in the bottom row of the magic square, as well as above Dürer's monogram at bottom right. Suggestions that a series of engravings on the subject was planned are not generally accepted. Instead it seems more likely that the "I" refers to the first of the three types of melancholia defined by the German humanist writer Cornelius Agrippa. In this type, Melencholia Imaginativa, which he held artists to be subject to, 'imagination' predominates over 'mind' or 'reason'.

The most obvious interpretation takes the image to be about the depressive or melancholy state and accordingly explains various elements of the picture. Among the most conspicuous are:

• The tools of geometry and architecture surround him, unused
• The 4 × 4 magic square, with the two middle cells of the bottom row giving the date of the engraving: 1514.
• The truncated rhombohedron^[4] with a faint human skull on it (over the years, there have been numerous articles disputing the precise shape of this polyhedron^[5])
• The hourglass showing time running out
• The empty scale (balance)
• The despondent winged figure of genius
• The purse and keys
• The comet and rainbow in the sky
• Mathematical knowledge is referenced by the use of the symbols: compass, geometrical solid, magic square, scale, hourglass
• The lamb is often associated with the myth of Argonauts and the Golden Fleece.

Possible interpretations

Today it seems unlikely that all the pictorial elements in Dürer's Melencolia I could be satisfactorily unified to produce a single meaning.^[6] Speculating about Durer's own intention is not an option as the possible connections between the scores of symbols are beyond anyone's grasp. However some themes^[2] have been shown to achieve a high degree of intelligible integration.

• Erwin Panofsky proposed the most authoritative interpretation of Melencolia I as Dürer's "spiritual self portrait"^[3]
• Patrick Doorly has shown that the engraving is much indebted to Plato's Hippias Major and even more to Luca Pacioli's book De Divina Proportia.^[7]
• David Finkelstein has suggested recently some new readings for various elements of the composition. Finkelstein, David (2007-02-07). "MELENCOLIA I.1". Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
• John Read has commented on the alchemic symbolism of the engraving^[8]

References

1. ^ Dodgson, Campbell (1926). Albrecht Dürer. London: Medici Society, 94.  "The literature on Melancholia is more extensive than on any other engraving by Dürer: that statement would probably remain true if the last two words were omitted."
2. ^ ^{a b} Schuster, Peter-Klaus (1991). MELENCOLIA I: Dürers Denkbild. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 17-83. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Panofsky, Erwin; Klibansky, Raymond; Saxl, Fritz (1964). Saturn and melancholy. New York: Basic Books, Inc. 
4. ^ Weisstein, Eric W.. "Dürer's Solid". Wolfram MathWorld. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
5. ^ Weitzel, Hans. A further hypothesis on the polyhedron of A. Dürer, Historia Mathematica 31 (2004) 11
6. ^ Balus, Wojciech (1994). "Dürer's "Melencolia I": Melancholy and the Undecidable". Artibus et Historiae 15 (30): 9–21. International Institute for Art Historical Research (IRSA). doi:10.2307/1483470. ISSN 0391-9064. Retrieved on 2008-04-21. 
7. ^ Doorly, Patrick (2004-01-06). "Durer's Melencolia I: Plato's abandoned search for the beautiful". The Art Bulletin. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
8. ^ Read, John. "Interpretation of this Drawing". Alchemy Lab. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.

External links

• Armand Hammer Museum - Feature from UCLA's Grunman Centre
• Wake Forest University - Article on the use of symbolism in Melancholia I
• Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University - Another set of interpretations of imagery in Melancholia I
• Poznan University of Technology - Larger version (2 megs)
• A discussion of Dürer's studies of polyhedra by George W. Hart
• Georgia institute of Technology - David Finkelstein, Melencolia I: The Postmodern Art of Albrecht Dürer (a physicist's attempt at art history, 10MB)
• "Dürer's Melancholia": a sonnet by Edward Dowden
• Aiwaz.net - "Deciphering Melencolia I" by David Bowman.