Detail of Melancholia I by Albrecht Dürer (1514) Postcard

Melancholia I The bat-like creature flying through a night sky declares the subject of this famous engraving: Melancolia I. That dark temperament is personified by a female figure seated in the foreground. The winged infant beside her is a 'genius' (in the ancient sense, meaning an accompanying spirit). Melancholy has wings and from her belt hang keys and a money bag, symbolising power and wealth. She is surrounded by measuring instruments. Above her head is a panel of 'magic' numbers (they add up to 34 in all directions). At her feet are the tools that can fashion the material world. Yet she does nothing: lost in thought, she turns away from the light. Renaissance philosophers had suggested a new interpretation for melancholy, as the temperament of genius (in the modern sense). Melancholy was possessed by artists, in whom 'Imagination' predominates; 'Reason' dominates scholars; while the final stage of 'Spirit' was the preserve of theologians. If this interpretation is correct, Dürer has presented us with a portrait of his mental behaviour, as he knew about the danger of too much spirital work as an artist. Although he was born in the name of mercure, not saturn and therefor after a letter from Beheim to Pirckheimer, not a melancholic.