File:Dürer Melancholia I.jpg

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Original file ‎(3,146 × 4,000 pixels, file size: 8.97 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Captions

Albrecht Dürer's Melancholia I (1514) includes an order 4 square with magic sum 34

Captions

Summary[edit]

 (Wikidata search (Cirrus search) Wikidata query (SPARQL)  Create new Wikidata item based on this file)
Author
creator QS:P170,Q5580
Date 1514
date QS:P571,+1514-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Medium copper plate
institution QS:P195,Q163804
Notes

Melancholia I The bat-like creature flying through a night sky declares the subject of this famous engraving: Melancolia I. That dark temperament is personified by a female figure seated in the foreground. The winged infant beside her is a 'genius' (in the ancient sense, meaning an accompanying spirit).

Melancholy has wings and from her belt hang keys and a money bag, symbolizing power and wealth. She is surrounded by measuring instruments. Above her head is a panel of 'magic' numbers (they add up to 34 in all directions). At her feet are the tools that can fashion the material world. Yet she does nothing: lost in thought, she turns away from the light.

Renaissance philosophers had suggested a new interpretation for melancholy, as the temperament of genius (in the modern sense). Melancholy was possessed by artists, in whom 'Imagination' predominates; 'Reason' dominates scholars; while the final stage of 'Spirit' was the preserve of theologians. If this interpretation is correct, Dürer has presented us with a portrait of his mental behaviour, as he knew about the danger of too much spirital work as an artist. Although he was born in the name of mercure, not saturn and therefor after a letter from Beheim to Pirckheimer, not a melancholic.
Source/Photographer [1]

Licensing[edit]

This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
Public domain

This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.

Dialog-warning.svg You must also include a United States public domain tag to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States.

This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".
This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details.
AnnotationsThis image is annotated: View the annotations at Commons

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current16:09, 27 December 2012Thumbnail for version as of 16:09, 27 December 20123,146 × 4,000 (8.97 MB)Jan Arkesteijn (talk | contribs)Reverted to version as of 10:54, 6 October 2012, useless lossy edit
07:43, 27 December 2012Thumbnail for version as of 07:43, 27 December 20123,056 × 3,921 (6.47 MB)YuviPanda (talk | contribs)Replacing with cropped versions
10:54, 6 October 2012Thumbnail for version as of 10:54, 6 October 20123,146 × 4,000 (8.97 MB)Jan Arkesteijn (talk | contribs)higher resolution
14:15, 28 May 2010Thumbnail for version as of 14:15, 28 May 20102,192 × 2,831 (5.15 MB)Rainer Zenz (talk | contribs)
09:30, 31 January 2007Thumbnail for version as of 09:30, 31 January 20072,196 × 2,835 (2.06 MB)Donarreiskoffer (talk | contribs){{Information |Description=Melancholia I |Source= http://www.cs.put.poznan.pl/mdrozdowski/img/me_gs1.jpg |Date= |Author= Albrecht Dürer |Permission= |other_versions= }}

You cannot overwrite this file.

File usage on other wikis

The following other wikis use this file:

View more global usage of this file.

Metadata

This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong.

Structured data

Items portrayed in this file

depicts

Retrieved from "https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dürer_Melancholia_I.jpg&oldid=438939656"