Francesco Curti (Italian, 1603-1607), after engraving by Agostino Carracci (Italian, 1557-1602) of drawing by Francesco Vanni (Italian 1563-1610); St. Jerome in Meditation (c. 1595). Engraved copy in reverse, X.959.
1 media/X.959_BMC_f_3_thumb.jpg 2020-06-25T13:30:59+00:00 Esme Read dd6ffc8b12ade875e94a3b39793298d8e4cb3bde 25 3 Resting his hand on his head, Saint Jerome contemplates a cross, a book, a rosary, and a skull. His gesture, associated with the melancholic temperament, reflects the mood of the composition. The image is a memento mori, a reminder of death. The skull and the Latin inscription in the lower margin of the print recall the brevity of human life, while the cross, a Christian symbol for the crucifixion of Jesus, exhorts the viewer to pursue a good, spiritual life. Although the cross also refers to the hope of salvation, Saint Jerome seems to be looking elsewhere—towards the skull in the foreground, whose empty black sockets mirror the dark shadows over Jerome's own lowered eyes. plain 2020-08-06T14:44:23+00:00 Esme Read dd6ffc8b12ade875e94a3b39793298d8e4cb3bdeThis page is referenced by:
-
1
media/2012.15.1_BMC_f_2.jpg
2020-06-22T13:31:48+00:00
Checklist of the Exhibition
64
structured_gallery
2020-08-17T20:31:29+00:00
Please allow page to load.
Checklist of Rare Books in the Exhibition
- Robert Burton (English, 1577–1640) The Anatomy of Melancholy: What it is, with all the kinds, causes, symptomes, prognostickes & seuerall cures of it. In three partitions, with their severall sections, members & sub-sections. Philosophically, medicinally, historicallly, opened & cut vp. Printed in English Oxford: Printed for Henry Cripps, 1638, fifth edition
- Johann Caspar Lavater (German, 1741–1801) Physiognomy, or, The corresponding analogy between the conformation of the features, and the ruling passions of the mind. Printed in English London: Printed for H.D. Symonds, not before 1790
- Johann Caspar Lavater (German, 1741–1801) The Pocket Lavater, or, The Science of Physiognomy: To which is added, An inquiry into the analogy existing between brute and human physiognomy, from the Italian of Porta. Printed in English Hartford: Andrus & Judd, 1832
- Charles Le Brun (French, 1619–1690) Expressions des Passions de L’Ame. Printed in French Paris, 1727
- Cesare Ripa (Italian, 1560–1645) Iconologia di Cesare Ripa Perugino, caure. De’Sti. Mauritio e Lazzaro: Nella quale si descriuono diuerse imagini di virtù, vitij, affetti, passioni humane, arti, discipline, humori, elementi, corpi celesti, prouincie d’Italia, fiumi, tutte le parti del mundo, ed altere infinite materie: ... Printed in Italian Siena: Appresso gli geredi di Matteo Florimi, 1613 Purchased with Seymour Adelman fund
- Cesare Ripa (Italian, 1560–1645) Iconologia di Cesare Ripa: Divisa in tre libri, ne I quali si quali si esprimono varie imagini di virtù, vitij, affetti, passioni humane, arti, discipline, humori, elementi, corpi celesti, prouincie d’Italia, fiumi, & altire materie infinite vtili ad ogni stato di persone. Printed in Italian Venice: C. Tomasini, 1645
- Hartmann Schedel (German, 1440– 1514) Liber Chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle). Printed in Latin Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1493. Deposit of Phyllis Goodhart Gordon (BMC 1935)
- Otto van Veen (Dutch, 1556–1629) Amorum emblemata, figuris aeneis in cisa. Antuerpiae: Venalia apud auctorem, 1607
-
1
media/DSC_0761 copy.jpg
2020-07-10T15:56:19+00:00
Personality and Class
44
structured_gallery
2020-08-10T15:16:59+00:00
What makes us who we are? Just as today we might turn to personality tests and horoscopes to explain our dispositions and destinies, our early modern counterparts looked to the four temperaments. Decided by the configuration of planets at birth, an excess of a bodily humor could account for one's disposition and life trajectory. One's disposition also experienced day-to-day fluctuations, influenced by the movement of the planets and changes in environment or diet. These dispositions or temperaments, in turn, could be used as explanations for a rigidly hierarchical society. Artists could attribute the hardship of beggars and peasants to their phlegmatic, and therefore idle, or choleric, and therefore dangerous, qualities. A privileged soldier's choleric violence, in contrast, could be celebrated as the strong will of Napoleon—or does the phlegmatic gesture of his idle hand undermine this reading?
