Showing posts with label trivium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trivium. Show all posts

Saturday, May 24, 2014

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]

Arithmetica -- Haec contemplandis numeris - Cornelis Cort 1565 (Cock, Floris) (Folger)
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".
Geometria -- Vestigare geometriae intervalla - Cornelis Cort 1565 (Cock, Floris) (Folger)
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.
Astrologia -- Astrorvm Uraniae Cursus - Cornelis Cort 1565 (Cock, Floris) (Folger)
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.
Dialectica -- Vti hominem ratione - Cornelis Cort 1565 (Cock, Floris) (Folger)
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.
Grammatica -- Grammatica os tenerum pueri - Cornelis Cort 1565 (Cock, Floris) (Folger)
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.
Rhetorica -- Rhetoricae gratos sermoni -  Cornelis Cort 1565 (Cock, Floris) (BM)
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.
Musica -- Concentum inter se - Cornelis Cort 1565 (Cock, Floris) (Folger)
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]