Melencolia I ou La Melencolia est le nom donné à une gravure sur cuivre d'Albrecht Dürer datée de 1514. The evident subject of the engraving, as written upon the scroll unfurled by a flying batlike creature, is melencolia—melancholy. Closed. The exceptional drawing An Oriental Ruler Seated on His Throne is one result of this youthful journey. [16] He suggested instead that the "I" referred to the first of three types of melancholy defined by Cornelius Agrippa (see Interpretation). Alors que le Saint Jérôme et Chevalier, la … Melencolia I (Melancholie) is een gravure uit 1514 gemaakt door de Duitse renaissancekunstenaar Albrecht Dürer, 24 × 18,8 centimeter groot. Alleged to suffer from an excess of black bile, melancholics were thought to be especially prone to insanity. Dürer ne saurait profiter de sa bibliothèque colossale sans l'aide éclairée de son ami Pirckheimer et du cercle qui l'entoure. In the background, a blazing star or comet illuminates a seascape surmounted by a rainbow. She is winged but cannot fly. Panofsky examined earlier personifications of geometry and found much similarity between Dürer's engraving and an allegory of geometry from Gregor Reisch's Margarita philosophica, a popular encyclopedia. Doorly interprets the many useful tools in the engraving as symbolizing this idea; even the dog is a "useful" hunting hound. The objects she has at hand are associated with geometry and measurement, fields of knowledge that were considered the building blocks of artistic creation and that Dürer studied doggedly in his quest to theorize absolute beauty. At one point the dialog refers to a millstone, an unusually specific object to appear in both sources by coincidence. Image Download [6], Agrippa defined three types of melancholic genius in his De occulta philosophia. Geometry was one of the Seven Liberal Arts and its mastery was considered vital to the creation of high art, which had been revolutionised by new understandings of perspective. Decoding art: Dürer's Melencolia I Our mission is to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. 6th St and Constitution Ave NW À la fin du roman La Clef des mensonges de Jean-Bernard Pouy, le héros mourant trouve Melencolia dans un coffre censé contenir l'explication de la quête dans laquelle il s'est laissé emporter. Numerous unused tools and mathematical instruments are scattered around, including a hammer and nails, a saw, a plane, pincers, a straightedge, a molder's form, and either the nozzle of a bellows or an enema syringe (clyster). In astrology, each temperament was under the influence of a planet, Saturn in the case of melancholia. La gravure de Dürer se trouve d'ailleurs sur la couverture de certaines éditions. [52] In the 1980s, scholars began to focus on the inherent contradictions of the print, finding a mismatch between "intention and result" in the interpretive effort it seemingly required. Dürer may have associated melancholia with creative activity;[2] the woman may be a representation of a Muse, awaiting inspiration but fearful that it will not return. Stay up to date about our exhibitions, news, programs, and special offers. dürer, melencolia i, durer, allemand, allemagne, 1514, gravure, maître de la renaissance allemande albrecht dürer Albrecht Dürer, Melencolia I, 1514 Tote bag doublé Par edsimoneit [53] For example, Dürer perhaps made the image impenetrable in order to simulate the experience of melancholia in the viewer. Interpreting the engraving itself becomes a detour to self-reflection. Ficino thought that most intellectuals were influenced by Saturn and were thus melancholic. In 1512 Dürer came to the attention of Emperor Maximilian I, who became his greatest patron. Le tableau est célèbre et inspirera de nombreux artistes de Paul Verlaine à Lars von Trier , en passant pas Jean-Paul Sartre . [58], Artists from the sixteenth century used Melencolia I as a source, either in single images personifying melancholia or in the older type in which all four temperaments appear. Closed, East Building Additionally, the corners and each quadrant sum to 34, as do still more combinations. A winged figure sits, brooding, her face in shadow but her eyes alert. The figure wears a wreath of "wet" plants to counteract the dryness of melancholy, and she has the dark face and dishevelled appearance associated with the melancholic. [43][44] Even the distant seascape, with small islands of flooded trees, relates to Saturn, the "lord of the sea", and his control of floods and tides. In 1513–1514 Dürer produced his three “master engravings,” including Melencolia I. [55] Treatments for melancholia in ancient times and in the Renaissance occasionally recognized the value of "reasoned reflection and exhortation"[56] and emphasized the regulation of melancholia rather than its elimination "so that it can better fulfill its God-given role as a material aid for the enhancement of human genius". He visited Venice, Florence, and Rome, studying the Italian masters and producing important paintings of his own. Based on research generously provided by Thomas E. Rassieur at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and narrated by Dr. Naraelle Hohensee [33] It has few perspective lines leading to the vanishing point (below the bat-like creature at the horizon), which divides the diameter of the rainbow in the golden ratio. Dürer settled in Nuremberg for the next decade, a period of explosive productivity. Others see the "I" as a reference to nigredo, the first stage of the alchemical process. Dürer was exposed to a variety of literature that may have influenced the engraving by his friend and collaborator, the humanist Willibald Pirckheimer, who also translated from Greek. As Agrippa's study was published in 1531, Panofsky assumes that Dürer had access to a manuscript. In the Baroque period, representations of Melancholy and Vanity were combined. There is little documentation to provide insight into Dürer's intent. The intensity of her gaze, however, suggests an intent to depart from traditional depictions of this temperament. Cranach's paintings, however, contrast melancholy with childish gaiety, and in the 1528 painting, occult elements appear. Behind the figure is a structure with an embedded magic square, and a ladder leading beyond the frame. Media in category "Melencolia I by Albrecht Dürer" The following 37 files are in this category, out of 37 total. Dürer's Melencolia I is one of three large prints of 1513 and 1514 known as his Meisterstiche (master engravings). 1, 171. He is largely credited with bringing the Italian Renaissance to northern Europe, and he revolutionized printmaking, elevating it to an independent art form. Learn more. "[61], The print attracted nineteenth-century Romantic artists; self-portrait drawings by Henry Fuseli and Caspar David Friedrich show their interest in capturing the mood of the Melencolia figure, as does Friedrich's The Woman with the Spider's Web. [38], In 1905, Heinrich Wölfflin called the print an "allegory of deep, speculative thought". Copy after Lucas Cranach the Elder's 1528 painting in Edinburgh[59], The Woman with the Spider's Web or Melancholy. Holding her head in her hand, she stares past the busy scene in front of her. [31] There is little tonal contrast and, despite its stillness, a sense of chaos, a "negation of order",[20] is noted by many art historians. Melencolia I est le titre d'une gravure exécutée en 1514 par Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528). The square follows the traditional rules of magic squares: each of its rows, columns, and diagonals adds to the same number, 34. « Melencolia I », Albrecht Dürer (gravure sur cuivre, 1514) L’œuvre Melencolia , I, de Dürer met en œuvre un ensemble de symboles et de thèmes typiques de la Renaissance. Albrecht Dürer, Knight, Death, and Devil, 1513, engraving on laid paper, 1941.1.20, Albrecht Dürer, Saint Jerome in His Study, 1514, engraving on laid paper, 1949.1.11, Albrecht Dürer, Melencolia I, 1514, engraving, 1949.1.17, Albrecht Dürer, Self-portrait with gloves at age 26, 1498, Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain, Photo Credit: Scala / Art Resource, NY. Melencolia I has been the subject of more scholarship than probably any other print. [32], In contrast with Saint Jerome in His Study, which has a strong sense of linear perspective and an obvious source of light, Melencolia I is disorderly and lacks a "visual center". Despite having recently converted to Lutheranism, he attended the coronation of the ultra-Catholic Emperor Charles V in Aachen. Le mystère qui l'entoure ne se dissipe pas complètement avec la récente résolution de ses mathématiques par Hans Weitzel (2004), car la définition Agrippa classified melancholic inspiration into three ascending levels: imagination, reason, and intellect. Il profiterait notamment des conseils d'un prêtre astronome et mathématicien, Johannes Werner (1468-1528), réputé pour sa pédagogie. MELENCOLIA § I 1514 - Gravure au burin sur cuivre (?) The rightmost portion of the background may show a large wave crashing over land. He linked imagination (the first and lowest level) to artistic genius; this may account for the numeral “1” in the title and provide a key for explaining the frustration of the winged figure-cum-artist. Quand lâme voit une forme belle, ell… MELENCOLIA I DOINA CONSTANTINESCU† Universidad Lucian Blaga- Rumania Φ 1. Peter-Klaus Schuster, Mélancolie: génie et folie en Occident, ‘Melencolia I Dürer et sa postérité’, Paris, 2005, pp 90–104, 138–39. [23] Attached to the structure is a balance scale above the putto, and above Melancholy is a bell and an hourglass with a sundial at the top. Giehlow specialized in the German humanist interest in hieroglyphics and interpreted Melencolia I in terms of astrology, which had been an interest of intellectuals connected to the court of Maximilian in Vienna. Les différents numéros d'enregistrement attestent que le B. M. ne compte pas moins de 10 exemplaires de la gravure, parfois désignés par "Melancholia", ou même "print". Dürer's engraving is one of the most well-known extant old master prints, but, despite a vast art-historical literature, it has resisted any definitive interpretation. [24], A bat-like creature spreads its wings across the sky, revealing a banner printed with the words "Melencolia I". The unusual polyhedron destabilizes the image by blocking some of the view into the distance and sending the eye in different directions. This sort of interpretation assumes that the print is a Vexierbild (a "puzzle image") or rebus whose ambiguities are resolvable. A magic square is inscribed on one wall; the digits in each row, column, and diagonal add up to 34. Cranach's paintings, however, contrast melancholy with childish gaiety, and in th… Peter-Klaus Schuster, Melencolia I Dürer’s Denkbild [2 vols], Berlin, 1991. [6] In Panofsky's summary, the imaginative melancholic, the subject of Dürer's print, "typifies the first, or least exalted, form of human ingenuity. [19], In Perfection's Therapy (2017), Merback argues that Dürer intended Melencolia I as a therapeutic image. The National Gallery of Art serves the nation by welcoming all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity. Dürer était doué d’un esprit très ouvert, curieux de tout. "[13] Dürer's personification of melancholia is of "a being to whom her allotted realm seems intolerably restricted—of a being whose thoughts 'have reached the limit'". He died in 1528. Le titre est pris de l'œuvre où il apparaît comme un élément de la composition. Some scholars have interpreted the master engravings as complementary examples of different virtues—moral (the Knight), theological (Saint Jerome), and intellectual (Melencolia). Albrecht Dürer, quoted in Erwin Panofsky, Albrecht Dürer (Princeton University Press, 1943), vol. Domenico Fetti's Melancholy/Meditation (c. 1620) is an important example; Panofsky et al. Though it is not certain that Dürer conceived of the three prints as a set, they are similar in style, size, and complexity, and represent the pinnacle of Dürer’s practice as an engraver. He wrote, "The vast effort of subsequent interpreters, in all their industry and error, testifies to the efficacy of the print as an occasion for thought. Albrecht Dürer’s enigmatic Melencolia I has inspired and provoked viewers for nearly half a millennium. "[9], In 2004, Patrick Doorly argued that Dürer was more concerned with beauty than melancholy. Download a digital image of this work, Albrecht Dürer (artist), German, 1471 – 1528, Melencolia I, 1514, engraving on laid paper, sheet (trimmed to plate mark): 24.2 x 18.8 cm (9 1/2 x 7 3/8 in. Other art historians see the figure as pondering the nature of beauty or the value of artistic creativity in light of rationalism,[3] or as a purposely obscure work that highlights the limitations of allegorical or symbolic art. [7][8] The prints are considered thematically related by some art historians, depicting labours that are intellectual (Melencolia I), moral (Knight), or spiritual (St. Jerome) in nature. In 1513 and 1514, Dürer experienced the death of a number of friends, followed by his mother (whose portrait he drew in this period), engendering a grief that may be expressed in this engraving. The mysterious light source at right, which illuminates the image, is unusually placed for Dürer and contributes to the "airless, dreamlike space". Il signera Albertus Dürer Noricus (de Nuremberg) ou Dürer Alemanus ou encore de son monogramme, comme vous Dürer était doué d’un esprit très ouvert, curieux de tout. He executed several commissions for paintings and began to print and publish his own woodcuts and engravings. He eventually published books on geometry (1525), fortifications (1527), and the theory of human proportions (1528, soon after his death). Unlike many of his other prints, these engravings, large by Dürer’s standards, were intended more for connoisseurs and collectors than for popular devotion. Lucas Cranach the Elder used its motifs in numerous paintings between 1528 and 1533. [9] Her face is relatively dark, indicating the accumulation of black bile, and she wears a wreath of watery plants (water parsley[disambiguation needed] and watercress[20][21] or lovage). [45], Panofsky believed that Dürer's understanding of melancholy was influenced by the writings of the German humanist Cornelius Agrippa, and before him Marsilio Ficino. [6] He made a few pencil studies for the engraving and some of his notes relate to it. Dürer spent a year in the Netherlands (1520–1521), where he was moved by the recognition accorded him by artists and dignitaries. "[5] Panofsky's studies in German and English, between 1923 and 1964 and sometimes with coauthors, have been especially influential. Panofsky believes that it is night, citing the "cast-shadow" of the hourglass on the building, with the moon lighting the scene and creating a lunar rainbow. Melencolia I ou La Melencolia, est le nom donné à une gravure sur cuivre d'Albrecht Dürer (né le 21 mai 1471 et mort en 1528 à Nuremberg ; peintre, graveur et mathématicien allemand. By the time of his second trip to Italy, 1505–1507, he was the most celebrated German artist of the period. The other two are Knight, Death, and the Devil and Saint Jerome in His Study. Each temperament was also associated with one of the four elements; melancholia was paired with Earth, and was considered "dry and cold" in alchemy. [60] Dürer's Melencolia is the patroness of the City of Dreadful Night in the final canto of James Thomson's poem of that name. Albrecht Dürer, quoted in Erwin Panofsky. [6] The print has two states; in the first, the number nine in the magic square appears backward,[10] but in the second, more common impressions it is a somewhat odd-looking regular nine. A ladder leans against a building that supports a balance, an hour glass, and a bell. Lucas Cranach the Elder used its motifs in numerous paintings between 1528 and 1533. Melancholia was traditionally the least desirable of the four temperaments, making for a constitution that was, according to Panofsky, "awkward, miserly, spiteful, greedy, malicious, cowardly, faithless, irreverent and drowsy". [11] Reflecting the medieval iconographical depiction of melancholy, she rests her head on a closed fist. The National Gallery of Art and Sculpture Garden are temporarily closed. One of Dürer’s three “master engravings,” Melencolia I has been linked by scholars to alchemy, astrology, theology, and philosophy, among other themes. [37] Others see the ambiguity as intentional and unresolvable. His analysis, that Melencolia I is an "elaborately wrought allegory of virtue ... structured through an almost diagrammatic opposition of virtue and fortune", arrived as allegorical readings were coming into question. [6] On the face of the building is a 4×4 magic square—the first printed in Europe[25]—with the two middle cells of the bottom row giving the date of the engraving, 1514, which is also seen above Dürer's monogram at bottom right. The unusual solid that dominates the left half of the image is a truncated rhombohedron[29][30] with what may be a faint skull[6] or face, possibly even of Dürer. Melencolia - Dürer. In the engraving, symbols of geometry, measurement, and trades are numerous: the compass, the scale, the hammer and nails, the plane and saw, the sphere and the unusual polyhedron. Cette gravure contient une multitude d'éléments symboliques en rapport avec les mathématiques. Giehlow found the print an "erudite summa of these interests, a comprehensive portrayal of the melancholic temperament, its positive and negative values held in perfect balance, its potential for 'genius' suspended between divine inspiration and dark madness". A few years earlier, the Viennese art historian Karl Giehlow had published two articles that laid the groundwork for Panofsky's extensive study of the print. Le titre est pris de l'œuvre où il apparaît comme un élément de la composition. Artists from the sixteenth century used Melencolia I as a source, either in single images personifying melancholia or in the older type in which all four temperaments appear. Melencolia I est souvent considérée comme faisant partie d'une série, Meisterstiche, comprenant également Le chevalier, la mort et le diable (1513) et Saint Jérôme dans sa cellule (1514). A putto seated on a millstone writes on a tablet while below, an emaciated dog sleeps between a sphere and a truncated polyhedron. © 2021 National Gallery of Art   Notices   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy. The sky contains a rainbow, a comet or planet, and a bat-like creature bearing the text that has become the print's title. Circulated widely, these prints established his international reputation. Clevelandart 1926.211.jpg 2,693 × 3,400; 7.68 MB Melencolia I ou La Melencolia est le nom donné à une gravure sur cuivre d'Albrecht Dürer datée de 1514. wrote that "the meaning of this picture is obvious at first glance; all human activity, practical no less than theoretical, theoretical no less than artistic, is vain, in view of the vanity of all earthly things. Renaissance thought, however, revamped the status of the dreaded humor by connecting it to creative genius as well as madness. [11] Ficino and Agrippa's writing gave melancholia positive connotations, associating it with flights of genius. Most art historians view the print as an allegory, assuming that a unified theme can be found in the image if its constituent symbols are "unlocked" and brought into conceptual order. As such, Dürer may have intended the print as a veiled self-portrait. Summarizing its art-historical legacy, he wrote that "the influence of Dürer's Melencolia I—the first representation in which the concept of melancholy was transplanted from the plane of scientific and pseudo-scientific folklore to the level of art—extended all over the European continent and lasted for more than three centuries."[4]. The area is strewn with symbols and tools associated with craft and carpentry, including an hourglass, weighing scales, a hand plane, a claw hammer, and a saw. In Plato's dialog, Socrates and Hippias consider numerous definitions of the beautiful. Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), one of the greatest of all German artists, was a painter, printmaker, draftsman, and theoretician. In an unfinished book for young artists, he cautions that too much exertion may lead one to "fall under the hand of melancholy". Carpentry tools are scattered on the ground. A ladder with seven rungs leans against the structure, but neither its beginning nor end is visible. The Passion façade of the Sagrada Família contains a magic square based on[64] the magic square in Melencolia I. The evident subject of the engraving, as written upon the scroll unfurled by a flying batlike creature, is melencolia—melancholy. La Nausée de Jean-Paul Sartre devait à l'origine s'appeler Melencolia. After his return he focused mainly on portraits and small engravings. Saint Jerome and Melencolia may be informal pendants; Saint Jerome’s clarity, light, and order contrast markedly with Melencolia’s brooding angst, nocturnal setting, and disorderly arrangement. [33], Dürer's friend and first biographer Joachim Camerarius wrote the earliest account of the engraving in 1541. At the same time, he wrote verse, studied languages and mathematics, and started drafting a treatise on the theory of art. Other objects relate to alchemy, geometry or numerology. Despairing of the limits of human knowledge, she is paralyzed and unable to create, as the discarded and unused tools suggest. [19] She sits on a slab with a closed book on her lap, holds a compass loosely, and gazes intensely into the distance. Les meilleures offres pour Albrecht DURER - Ancienne gravure de Johan Wiricx (Wierix) - Melencolia sont sur eBay Comparez les prix et les spécificités des produits neufs et d'occasion Pleins d'articles en livraison gratuite! » Le fait que Dürer représente sa Mélancolie avec des ailes trouve donc tout son sens. [19] To the left of the emaciated, sleeping dog is a censer, or an inkwell with a strap connecting a pen holder. "[35] Later, the 16th-century art historian Giorgio Vasari described Melencolia I as a technical achievement that "puts the whole world in awe".[36]. [53] Martin Büchsel, in contrast to Panofsky, found the print a negation of Ficino's humanistic conception of melancholia. Le titre est pris de l'œuvre où il apparaît comme un élément de la composition. The print's central subject is an enigmatic and gloomy winged female figure thought to be a personification of melancholia - melancholy. Melencoliadans l’œuvre de Dürer La célèbre gravure, souvent reproduite, a été exécutée en 1514 : la date figure dans les deux cases centrales de la dernière ligne du carré magique placé en haut et à droite de la gravure, au-dessous de la cloche. De gravure is een allegorische compositie , die veelvuldig het onderwerp is geweest van kunsthistorische besprekingen. ALBRECHT DÜRER. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer apprenticed first with his father, a goldsmith, and then with Michael Wolgemut, the leading painter and woodcut artist in the city. Melencolia I Melencolia I. C’est le titre d’une gravure de 1514 du peintre de la renaissance Albrecht Dürer, qui y dépeint la mélancolie (du grec melancholia, pour melas, noir et cholée, humeur). Doorly found textual support for elements of Melencolia I in Plato's Hippias Major, a dialog about what constitutes the beautiful, and other works that Dürer would have read in conjunction with his belief that beauty and geometry, or measurement, were related. [34] The work otherwise scarcely has any strong lines. 190), en ce quil oppose une vie mise au service de Dieu a ce quon peut appeler une vie de compétition avec Dieu la jouissance paisible de la sagesse divine, à linquiétude tragique de la création humaine.