Liberal Arts, 16th Century

"The areas of secular education considered liberal have their foundation in classical antiquity and were codified in the medieval period into a distinct set of seven, with two subdivisions. The upper division, the quadrivium, consists of Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy, and Music; while the lower division, or trivium, is made up of Grammar, Logic (or Dialectic), and Rhetoric. [..]

The tradition of artistic representation of the Seven Liberal Arts may be traced to the fifth-century work of Martianus Capella; his allegorial treatise, 'De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii Libri Novem' ['Satyricon'], describes the Seven Liberal Arts as personified female figures with specific attributes and companions." [source]

Arithmetic, a woman, seated at a table inscribes a tablet accompanied by an elderly woman and two male scholars; the elderly woman stands over her and instructs her; her dress is numbered "1234..." and two tomes are labelled "ABRAHAM" and "PYTHAGORAS".

Geometry, a woman, uses compasses to measure the globe watched closely by two male figures; various measuring devices are in the foreground together with academic tomes.

Astrology, a winged female personification, leans besides a globe with zodiacal star symbols; on the ground are various scientific instruments and sundials etc; an eagle spreads its wings and stands besides a pile of books labelled "ANAXIMENES" etc.

Dialectic, a woman, seated on a wicker chair, engages in conversation with an elderly philosopher; she rests her feet on a stack of tomes labelled "ARISTOTELES" etc; a bird sits on her head, an eel is wrapped around her arm and a frog sits on an upright tome.

Grammar, a seated old woman, teaches a young boy standing besides her the rudiments of reading and writing; she holds a long staff, leans over and points to the pages of the book held by the youth; her dress has the letters of the alphabet; in a school room with students and various labelled scholarly tomes.

Rhetoric, a seated woman, holding a caduceus, leans over and engages with a seated man writing on a tablet; an elderly man with a long beard places his hands on the shoulder of the younger scholar; two birds, including a parrot, sit on a pile of books labelled "CICERO" etc on the ground.

Music, a woman, sits at a harpsichord; another female plays a lute and two youths embraced by an elder sing and hold tablets; a man sits at right and plays on a lute and the ground is strewn with instruments; more instruments hang from the wall, including a bagpipe and trombone

The allegorical mannerist images above were engraved by Cornelis Cort (after Frans Floris) and published in Antwerp in 1565 by Hieronymous Cock. Available at Folger Shakespeare Library Image Collection [homepage]

De Figura seu imagine mundi, 15th Century



Andromeda and Perseus constellations



Original title for this 15^th Century jewel is “De Figura seu imagine mundi”, issued in 1456 by Luis de Angulo (Spaniard origin), a.k.a. Louis de Langle (died in Lyon) or even Angulo Ludovicus, in Latin. Couldn’t find details about his bio, but looks clear that Ludovico was mainly focused and got rich skills on Astronomy: He studied, commented and translated the Great “Liber de nativitatibus” or Book of Nativities written by the Spanish Abenezra or Abraham Ibn Ezra -1089, Tudela, Kingdom of Navarra-, probably the most distinguished Jewish men of letters and writers of the Middle Ages.

The codex is basically a detailed astronomy and geography treatise, divided into 3 separated parts: World’s creation, different parts of earth –description- and the stars maps. Copies can be found in Spain (Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional), Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris) and in Saint Gallen (Switzerland), Kantonsbibliothek Vadiana.



Centaurus constellation

Zepheus

Related external references:

• Pousa, Ramon Fernandez, «Una Imago mundi española : Ludouicus de Angulo, De imagine seu figura mundi, Lion, 1456», Revista de Indias, 2, 1941, p. 39-65
• Hustache, Étienne, « Le monde vu de Lyon en 1456: la cosmographie de Louis de Langle », Lyon, cité de savants, 112e congrès national des sociétés savantes, Lyon, 1987, Paris, Éditions du CTHS, 1988, p. 9-16. Link to google books here.
• Referenced on article "Imágenes de los decanos en el Liber astrologiae de Fendulus (París, Bibliothèque Nationale, ms. Lat. 7330)" from Documentation Legal Deposit, University of Barcelona. Complete article here. Reference extracted: "The ilustrations of Fendulus Liber astrologiae lived on into the Late Middle Ages. Apart from studying the iconographic filiation among other copies of the work itsefl, the author of this papers tries to demonstrate tha one of thes manuscripts should have been the iconographic source for the decanic images in Louis of Angle Liber de figura seu imagine mundi (c. 1450). The article concludes with a bibliographical essay on the iconography of the Dekanesternbilder".