Allegory of Philosophy - School of Albrecht Dürer (1504)

Here we have the Allegory of Philosophy engraving from Conradus Celtes, Quatuor libri amorum (1502). Sophia of course being the central figure, the laurel garland and vines shoots crowning her represent the different branches of knowledge she personifies. The four winds depicted in each corner are equated with the four elements and four humors; Eurus/Fire/Choleric, Zephir/Air/Sanguine, Auster/Water/Phlegmatic, Boreas/Earth/Melancholic. The medallions surrounding her represent the principal Hermetic traditions from antiquity to the time of the figure; Egypt & Chaldea, Greek, Latin, and Germanic. The letters inscribed or represented in the ray emanating from the heart are in all the languages of the wisdom tradition; Egyptian hieroglyphs, Hebrew characters, and Greek and Latin letters. The central figure of wisdom depicted as a mature woman holding the scepter and book may be iconographically derived from De consolatione Philosophiae of Severinus Boethius. She is surrounded by a wreath in the shape of the vesica piscies or mandorla, akin to that appearing in various iconographic representations of Phanes and Christ. It is easy to see the confluence of iconology and symbolism reflected in Trumps II. La Papesse, and XXI. Le Monde, in the Traditional Tarots of Marseille, as well as earlier Tarots emerging from a similar milieu. -- JDS.

Allegory of Philosophy - School of Albrecht Dürer (1504)

Nicholas Conver Tarot (c. 1760)

Originally posted on COSMODROMIUM Thursday, June 30, 2011