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Melencolia I

Melencolia I

(German, 1471–1528)
1514
Medium/TechniqueEngraving
DimensionsSheet: 24.1 × 19.1 cm (9 1/2 × 7 1/2 in.)
Credit LineMuseum purchase with a Centennial gift from Landon T. Clay
Accession number68.188
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPrints
Description
The moody, melancholic temperament was identified in the Renaissance not so much with depression as with exceptional creativity, and thus intellectuals and artists were closely associated with Melancholia.  In Dürer's depiction, the brooding, winged figure is surrounded by instruments relating to science and art, such as the compass, the hourglass, the scales, and the carpenters' tools in the foreground.
InscriptionsInscribed in plate, upper left, on the underside of the bat's wings: MELENCOLIA I
ProvenancePeter Lely (b. 1618 - d. 1680; Lugt 2092), London. Tomás Harris (b. 1908 - d. 1964; Lugt 4921), London. 1968, P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. (dearlers), London; 1968, sold by Colnaghi to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 12, 1968)