The Visual Image in Neo-Platonic Thought-Gombrich

Icones Symbolicae: The Visual Image in Neo-Platonic Thought
Author(s): E. H. Gombrich
Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes , 1948, Vol. 11 (1948), pp. 163-
192
Published by: The Warburg Institute
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/750466
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ICONES S YMBOLICAE
The Visual Image in Neo-Platonic Thought
by E. H. Gombrich
W which
ritingmany
on allegorical painting
students of in I748,
this branch Abbe
of art Pluche
may made
have felt a rem
prompte
endorse: "Puisqu'un tableau n'est destine qu'a me montrer ce qu'on n
dit pas, il est ridicule qu'il faille des efforts pour l'entendre . . . Et
l'ordinaire, quand je suis parvenu ' deviner l'intention de ces person
mysterieux, je trouve que ce qu'on m'apprend ne valait guere les fr
l'enveloppe."1 The learned Abbe was here pleading for clarity in the dev
of allegories in accordance with eighteenth-century taste. He want
confine allegories to images which could be readily understood. Ninetee
century critics went further. They rejected this type of subject matter
gether as incompatible with the true function of art. Both periods ha
in common, that they regarded allegory as a kind of picture writing in
a conceptual language is translated into conventional images.2
It is a striking fact that Abbe Pluche's line of criticism was not deve
until the dawn of the Age of Reason. The preceding centuries wer
worried by the apparent paradox of an art invented to convey a messa
symbols which seemed to become more obscure the triter the meaning
were supposed both to hide and to reveal.3 To them these "myste
personages" meant obviously more than mere "wrappings" of verbal st
ments.
It is the purpose of this article to define more clearly what this

can have been-in what respect the visual image may have held a
place in the minds of men. We need not rely on speculations in our
The claims for the special position of the visual symbol were firmly r
a philosophical tradition of long standing. A text of the seventeenth
This article is based on a lecture on und abstrakte Ideen mitzuteilen." The
"Neo-Platonism and the Arts" given at the
latest and greatest exponent of Abbe Pluch
Taylor Institution, Oxford, in February view is Benedetto Croce who has banished
1948. allegory from the "aesthetic sphere" becau
1 Histoire du Ciel, II, p. 427, quoted by Jean he, too, sees in it a purely conventional an
Seznec, La survivance des dieux antiques. (Studies arbitrary "mode of writing" which belong
of the Warburg Institute, i i), London, I940, at best, to the "practical sphere." In his
p. 239. The line of this attack had been review of Seznec's book (op. cit.) in La Parola
developed in J. B. Du Bos' Reflexions Critiques del Passato, I, 3, 1946, Croce even dismisses
sur la Podsie et sur la Peinture, Paris, I719,iconographic research because the solution of
Part I, Sect. 24. these "mysteries" usually proves to be "with-
2This is the idea underlying the definitions out importance." While his warning against
of allegorical imagery in most I8th and I9th a "detective" approach to the past which
century writings, e.g. K. H. Heydenreich, tries to reveal "an invisible history behind the
Aesthetisches Worterbuch iber die bildenden Kiinste,visible one" is certainly justified, the present
Leipzig, 1793: "Die Allegorie... ist ein... argument may help to show that his division
Mittel, welches der Knfistler anwendet, um into "spheres" can hardly do justice to the
durch HUIlfe symbolischer Figuren, . . . und complex problem of symbolic imagery.
durch andere Dinge, wegen welchen man 3 Cf. Seznec, loc. cit., p. 94.
sich i bereingekommen ist, geistige Gedanken
x63

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164 E. H. GOMBRICH
which may be regarded as a culm

serve as our starting-point and our
has no great claims to literary d
a Barnabite college in Milan on w
members of a Congregation of hi
art which we find so difficult to
speech or sermon the figures of
adorned the reading room of t
where-as we may presume-he
explaining the emblems and featu
tions Giarda delivered a eulogy of t
its baroque bombast this eulogy p
tion of a doctrine which is laten
allegorical imagery. Its very first
very different from that of Abbe
in 1626, the allegorical images are
a kind of picture writing to tease
them-so he claims-"that the mind which has been banished from heaven
into this dark cave of the body, its actions held in bondage by the
behold the beauty and form of the Virtues and Sciences, divorced
matter and yet adumbrated if not perfectly expressed, in colours,
roused to an even more fervent love and desire for them."
If these words mean anything they mean that we misunderstand these
images if we think of them only as conventional signs for abstract concepts
The figure of Rhetoric or History on the bookshelf in the College Library is
not just a substitute for a label-it is a representation of the idea of Rhetori
or History as it dwells in the intelligible world.
It will be our task both to justify and to refine this first formulation. For
this it may be better to leave aside the turgid rhetoric of the seventeenth
century cleric and to analyse the elements out of which he composed his praise
of the Icones Symbolicae. We have to undertake a lengthy journey along the
devious paths of Neo-Platonic speculations and traditions before we can
read Giarda's speech in its right setting. It will turn out that we must, abov
all, revise the assumptions about the functions of the image which we usuall
take for granted, before we can hope to formulate the Neo-Platonic doctrin
in our own language.
We are used to making a clear distinction between two functions of the
visual image-that of representation and that of symbolization.2 A painting
may represent an object of the visible world, a woman holding a balance, or
lion. It may also symbolize an idea. To those conversant with the conventiona
meanings attached to these images the woman with the balance will symboliz
Justice, the lion Courage, or the British Empire, or any other concept conven-
tionally linked in our symbolic lore with the King of Animals. On reflection
1 For the text of this introduction and a havior, New York, I946, we would have to
note on its author see Appendix p. i88 ff. distinguish between images as "iconic signs"
and as "post language symbols"; I hope
2 Cf. E. Panofsky, Studies in Iconology, New
York, 1939, p. 3 if. In the terminology
to discuss the more technical aspects of this
of Charles Morris, Signs, Language andterminology
Be- elsewhere.

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32
1 < : --: :- -i i i i -- i ii i- :: iii -- :iiiii -iii -ii i-ii ii :iii~iiiiiiiiiiL
. . . .
SAC A' T14 EC) L
Tf i A
a-Theology (p. 192) b-Rhetoric (p. 192)
HIST RIA MATHEM AT 1 A
c-History (p. 192) d-Mathematics (p. 192)

Engravings from C. Giarda, Icones Symbolicae, Milan, 1626 (p. 164)
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ICONES SYMBOLICAE 165
we may be prepared to grant the poss

not conventional but private, thro
expression of the artist's conscious or
orchard in bloom may have been a sy
three ordinary functions of images m
motif in a painting by Hieronymus B
symbolize the sin of gluttony and expre
part of the artist, but to us the three le
As soon, however, as we leave the gro
these neat distinctions no longer hold.
image not only represents an enemy
re-present still has this dual meaning
"symbolizes" fertility but "has" it. In
is inextricably bound up with our wh
student of the religious function of im
may be: "Between the belief of the p
idol in its most gross realistic sense, a
regarded the ceremonies of worship as
there was some unseen power somewh
of men, there may have been any n
realize more to-day than was realize
various levels, and how, beneath an
inconsistent with that theory, closely
desires may still subsist."'2 These wor
Horace and his time to the question of
investigation. For where there is no cl
world from the sphere of the spirit and
of the word representation may beco
between image and symbol assumes a d
the whole distinction between represe
difficult one. Warburg described as D
human mind to confuse the sign with
bearer, the literal and the metaphoric
structure of the Indo-Germanic langua
"hypostasis" of concepts.4 The very qu
of the vicissitudes of life or a capricious
Death with the scythe is an abstractio
does not allow of a clear-cut answer. O
the naive painter who had to represent
what Justice "looked like." After all,
religious imagery of classical antiqu
mythical beings which can be repre
symbolized is particularly hard to def
1 Carl Nordenfalk, and
"Van Gogh and Litera-
Christianity, London
ture," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld
3 A. Warburg, Gesammelt
Institutes, X, I947, p. 132 f.
I932, p. 49I.
2 Edwyn Bevan, Holy Images, An Inquiry
4 Cf. Roscher's into
Mytholog
Personification
Idolatry and Image-Worship in Ancient (by L. Deu
Paganism

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166 E. H. GOMBRICH
personifications of concept
daemonic powers.I
Philosophical speculation
involved. The writings of t
the most frequent exam
Wisdom, Sophia, becomes in
a vision." In fact the who
these pictures of the unive
world in an unbroken cha
Ideas and allot them a pla
interpretations the "per
sanctuary by the Church.
had still mocked at the cu
Pietas "which have no sub
would rather worship th
S. Gregory, under the in
Dionysius Areopagita, alre
categories of the Second Hi
so could the Virtues. In f
difference between these two entities.5
The questions relating to the allegorical image and its function thus merged
with the general issue of the legitimate use of the visual symbol in relation to
the doctrine of the Church. But the conclusions drawn from this conception
of a hierarchy of beings differed widely from each other. It is well known
how anxious the Latin Church was to avoid a confusion between representa-
tion and symbol. Western theologians never tired of insisting that religious
images were in no way representations but symbols, pictures to teach the
illiterate, equal in status to the letters of the written word. It is hard to say
how far these efforts were successful. The laity may still have regarded a
painting of God the Father as a portrait of Divinity rather than as a mere
sign symbolizing His wisdom under the image of an old man. Yet the fact
that the doctrinal point of view was always potentially present prevented the
religious image in the West from being turned into an icon.6
1 H. R. Patch, The Goddess Fortuna in Love, Oxford, 1936, p. 86: "The seven (or
Mediaeval Literature, Cambridge, Mass., 1927, eight) Deadly Sins, imagined as persons,
p. 178 f., and R. Hinks, Myth and Allegory in become so familiar that at last the believer
Ancient Art (Studies of the Warburg Institute, seems to have lost all power of distinguishing
6) London, 1939- I have examined this aspectbetween his allegory and his pneumatology.
of personification as a psychological regres-The Virtues and Vices become as real as the
sion in "Cartoons and Progress," The Public'sAngels and the Fiends."
Progress, a Contact Book, 1947. 5 P. Lomazzo, Trattato dell'arte della Pittura,
2Hans Leisegang, Die Gnosis, Leipzig, etc., Rome, I844, libro VII, cap. III.
I924, p. I3. 6 Cf. Bevan, op. cit., pp. I26 and I69 ff.
3 Epitome Divinarum Institutionum, Migne, For the Renaissance artist's attitude cf.
PL VI, col. 1028. Giulio Romano's letter on his fresco in
4Migne, PL LXXVI, col. 1251. In Parma: ". . . Also I have heard that I am
blamed for having painted God the Fath
Gregory the name may only signify "power",
Who
but in popular literature the identity ofis invisible; I answer that outside of
Christ
names seems to have led to an identity ofand the Madonna who are in heaven
concepts. Cf. C. S. Lewis, The Allegory
withofglorious bodies, all the rest of the saints

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Side by side with this rational idea of visual s
existed another interpretation of the same doctrine
in which a more vital role is accorded to symboli
sius Areopagita" on the celestial hierarchy open,
on the function of symbolism which remained
Church. The Saint defends the Sacred Scriptures
having used a gross and inappropriate symbolism fo
truth. There are two ways of approaching the D
(xa(Yqq) and negation (4Mraqp).1 Revelation m
represents spiritual entities by way of analogy thro
as Logos or Nous and the image of Light. But th
of symbolic language. It may lead to the very co
must avoid. The reader of the Scriptures might t
that the heavenly beings are really "golden men, ra
ent beauty, clad in shining robes . . . or similar
Revelation has given a sensible representation of
to avoid this confusion that the holy authors of
deliberately used inappropriate symbols and sim
cling to the undignified literal meaning. The ve
they talk, such as lions and horses in the heaven
accepting these images as real and stimulate
significance. Thus the apparent inappropriatenes
the Holy Writ is in effect a means through whic
spiritual truth. To the profane these enigmat
arcanum of the supernatural; to the initiate, how
rung of the ladder by which we ascend to the Div
In itself there is no contradiction between this do
the teaching of the role of the image as a letter
emphasis is different. In the one the image is
doctrine-a mere substitute for the spoken word.
point for contemplation. The virtue of the one is to
other to be mysterious. Moreover Dionysius d
devised by man. He defends the symbolism he f
itself. To such a conception the very idea of a "c
alien. God has revealed the truth about the supern
images taken from the sensible world-and the co
teach us to ascend to the high.
It is this conception of revelation through sym
importance in the Renaissance with the revival
perhaps its clearest and most coherent expression
Mirandola. The universe to Pico is one vast symp
which each level of existence points to another level. It is by virtue of this
and souls and angels are invisible, and yet it 1 For the Neo-Platonic origin of these dis-
is the custom to paint them, and to yourtinctions cf. Hugo Koch, Pseudodionysius Areo-
lordships it should not be new that picturespagita in seinen Beziehungen zum Neuplatonismus
are the scriptures of the crowd and the und Mysterienwesen, Mainz, I900, p. 208 ff.
ignorant . . ." Cf. F. Hartt, "Raphael and 2 Oeuvres Completes du Pseudo Denys L'Areo-
Giulio Romano," The Art Bulletin, 1944, pagite, traduction, preface et notes par
p. 91. Maurice de Gandillac, Paris, I943, p. 191.

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168 E. H. GOMBRICH
interrelated harmony that

templating a visible thing w
commentary on the opening
the methods of Dionysius'
worlds, the terrestrial, the
flect each other and all of which are mirrored in the "small world" which
is man.
Everything which is in the totality of worlds is also in each

and none of them contains anything which is not to be found
the others . . . whatever exists in the inferior world will also be found in
the superior world, but in a more elevated form; and whatever exists on
the higher plane can also be seen down below but in a somewhat de
generate and, so to say, adulterated shape . . . In our world we have fire
as an element, in the celestial world the corresponding entity is the sun
in the supra-celestial world the seraphic fire of the Intellect. But conside
their difference: The elemental fire burns, the celestial fire gives life, the
supra-celestial loves.1
It is this idea of a strict hierarchy of worlds which explains the Neo-

Platonic conception of symbolism as a form of revelation. To quote Pic
again in the same context:
The ancient fathers could not have represented one image by another
had they not known the occult affinities and harmonies of the universe
Otherwise there would not have been any reason whatever why the
should have represented a thing by one image rather than by an opposit
one.2
The consequences of this doctrine are far-reaching. For to the Neo-

Platonic philosophers the conception of an inherent and essential symbolism
pervading the whole order of things offered a key to the whole universe. If
only they could unriddle the mysterious imagery used by the "ancient
fathers" they could unveil the secrets of the supra-sensible world. It is here
that the doctrine of symbolism links up with the doctrine of esoteric tradition
which plays such a part in the writings of the Renaissance Platonists.
This doctrine was not invented by the Neo-Platonists but it was made by
them the pivot of their exegetic method. The basis of this method may be
described as a belief in a multiple revelation. To put it briefly, it is the idea
that God reveals Himself in everything if only we learn to read His signs.
The popular form of this doctrine is familiar from the Middle Ages. It is the
idea that apart from the revelation as embodied in the words of the Scriptures
and the teachings of the Church the whole of nature is, as it were, a hieroglyph
of revealed truth; that the strange happenings in nature's kingdom yield up
a kernel of divine teaching. The pelican pre-figures Christ and His Charity,
1 Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Heptaplus, 2 Pico, ed. cit., p. 192.

ed. E. Garin, Florence, 1942, p. i188.

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the pearl the virgin birth. It is important to real
in this tradition. A thinker of Aristotelian schoo
ally by recommending the pelican as a suitable
Neo-Platonist could at any time revive the my
supposes the idea that God pre-figured and re
habits of the pelican.
What goes for the Book of Nature also goes
the past. The Middle Ages had inherited the v
rightly understood, the fables and myths of the
meaning as the contemplation of nature. It w
which the Florentine Neo-Platonists seized up
its logical conclusion. To them the myths were
metaphors. They were in fact yet another for
this belief the Neo-Platonists had no intention
Bible as the chief instrument of Divine revela
were convinced that the pagan lore rightly un
wards the same truth which God had made ma
For God had not only spoken through the Pro
Golden Age had been so close to the act of crea
the secrets of the universe.2 But these sage
"ancient fathers"-had hidden the truth in my
prevent it from being prematurely profaned.
lingers as an undercurrent of European thoug
doctrine of an esoteric tradition which reaches
of time and which is both revealed and concealed in the Wisdom of the East.
The writings of Ficino and Pico belong to this current of thought. Those w
expect to find there the serene world of classical beauty will soon be dis-
appointed. We are constantly referred to the mythical sages of the East,
the Egyptian Priests, to Hermes Trismegistos, to Zoroaster, and, among th
Greeks, to those who were believed to have been in possession of this secre
lore, to Orpheus, to Pythagoras and, last but not least, to Plato, whose us
of myths and whose reverence for Egypt fitted in well with this picture of an
unbroken chain of esoteric tradition.
Here, at last, we come back to the object of our quest, the visual image
For it is this belief which explains the passionate interest which the Quattro
cento took in the Egyptian hieroglyphs. These strange images were believed
to be in fact "sacred signs" in which the Egyptian priests had hidden their
1 For this important difference of approach
Hermetic beliefs was provided in the story
cf. C. S. Lewis, op. cit., p. 45 ff. of Josephus (Jewish Antiquities, I, 70-72)
2 I know no systematic study of this im-
according to which Seth had preserved
portant doctrine of the sapientia veterum, Adam's
or superior knowledge for posterity on
two imperishable columns which survived
priscorum theologia. Its basic assumption that
the flood. This version is used by Giarda.
the ancient sages were in possession of Divine
Wisdom is very widespread but the explana- Cf. Seznec, op. cit., p.. 9o; Nesca N. Robb,
tions offered vary considerably. While someNeoplatonism of the Italian Renaissance, London,
trace all this knowledge back to Moses, others
1935, p. 48; G. Anichini, L'Umanesimo e il
believe in a revelation to the pagan world problema della salvezza in Marsilio Ficino, Milan,
through the sybils and philosophers. Another
I937, p. 68 ff., where some of Ficino's sources
way of reconciling the Biblical and the are quoted.

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170 E. H. GOMBRICH
occult knowledge.1 The aura of

gathered from their use in the Ne
Poliphili, in which the visual symb
found significance. The images on
questioned for their symbolic me
in which the sages of the past had l
For, as we know from Pico, the "anc
arbitrarily. They based them on the
In choosing the symbol of fire fo
which was, in the true meaning of
It applies the code of equivalence w
sensible entities. If we contempla
about the true nature of Divine Lo
glyphs we may find out more abo
penetrate into the arcanum of the
This conception of visual symbolism
entities symbolized accords well w
and applied by the Neo-Platonic p
instance, were not thought of as c
"by nature", and those who first u
Correctly analysed they too must
divinity they signify.2 Hence the
fanciful etymologies of late antiqu
on the letters which composed a w
But there is one respect in whic
superior to the name, the image s
important argument we must tak
the threefold nature of knowledg
from sense perception. This is
"opinion." The artist as a maker of
and feeds on delusion. The higher
reasoning which proceeds step by
the soul is imprisoned in the body
imperfect guides, the senses and r
and obscure. True knowledge only
that of intellectual intuition of id
according to Plato, before we wer
here of coming into conflict wit
knowledge we shall surely gain on
and find ourselves face to face with the Divine in whose mind the ideas dwell.
In our lives-and this is the aspect which Neo-Platonism elaborates-we can
1 Karl Giehlow, "Die Hieroglyphenkunde this doctrine in lamblichus' Egyptian Mysteries

des Humanismus," Jahrbuch der kunsthistor-(transl. A. Wilder, New York, 1911, p. 245 f.).
For Pico's attitude to names and his occa-
ischen Sammlungen des allerh6chsten Kaiserhauses,
XXXII, I9I5. sional acceptance of conventionalism see A.
2 Marsilio Ficino, Opera Omnia, Basle, 1576,Levy, Die Philosophie Giovanni Pico's della
pp. 1217 f. and I902. The latter passage
Mirandola, Berlin, 1908, p. 19-
comments on the interesting exposition of

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ICONES SYMBOLICAE 1 71
only hope to achieve this true knowledge in the rar
leaves the body in a state of ek-stasis, such as may
divine frenzy. Hence the importance which men l
working of the furor in love, in poetry and in pr
efforts of Renaissance artists to arrogate to them
"inspiration" which antiquity had granted to the p
"menial" craftsmen.' In these moments of rapture
glimpse of the Platonic Idea. He shares in the ex
higher intellects such as angels and spirits, who alw
and therefore know truth directly, without the crutc
ing. What to us is only understandable analyticall
it were, in a flash, as a whole. No wonder that Fici
vision on the way to Damascus he identified with
and who had summed up this whole trend of thoug
of the Epistle to the Corinthians: "For now we see
but then face to face; now I know in part; but the
I am known."
The idea of intuition as the highest form of knowledge could e
with the doctrine of revelation through visual symbols. The wa
the "ancient fathers" expressed themselves, through image-symbo
have been accessible to profane reason but it was nearer to the wo
For in the visual symbol we also contemplate the whole of a prop
flash.3 This process, therefore, pre-figures and mirrors the proce
lectual intuition. The sacred symbols of the esoteric tradition wh
1 For a concise exposition of these doctrines
come in tutte l'altre e similissima a la poesia.
see Ficino, ed. cit., pp. 612 and 626 f.;E for
ben vero,
the che '1 mondo crede, che facendo
voi manco
general context, P. O. Kristeller, The Philo-presto, fareste meglio; ma questo
e piu probabile
sophy of Marsilio Ficino, New York, 1943. The che necessario: Che si
influence of these doctrines on the theory
potrebbeof
ancor dire, che l'opere stentate, non
art is treated in E. Panofsky, 'Idea'risolute (Studien e non tirate con quel fervore che si
der Bibliothek Warburg, V), Berlin, cominciano,
I924, riescono peggiori . . . ancora de
and R. W. Lee, "Ut pictura Poesis," l'inventione The Art vi rimetto a voi, ricordandomi
Bulletin, XXII, 1940, p. 197 f. A telling d'un' altra somiglianza, che la poesia h?" con
docu-
ment for this adaptation of the theory la pittura,
of theet di piii che voi siete cosi poeta
poetic furor to the painter's art is come Annibale
pittore, et che ne l'una e ne l'altra con
Caro's letter to Giorgio Vasari of pi affetione
I548 in et con pid studio s'esprimono i
which the famous letterato administers concetti et le idee sue proprie che d'altrui."
a gentle
rebuke to the painter for his notorious Thesloven-
whole letter deserves study as a charac-
liness and yet acknowledges his right teristicas a
document of the "mannerist" attitude
genius to do as he pleases. The contrast towards art. Cf. Karl Frey, Der Literarische
between such a commission and the typicalNachlass Giorgio Vasaris, Munich, 1923, I,
quattrocento contract gives a measure of the p. 220.
influence the Platonic theory had on the 2 Ficino, ed. cit., p. 436 ff. and p. 697 f
status of the artist: "I1 mio desiderio d'havere 3 These claims for the image rest on an
un'opera notabile di vostra mano e cosi perimportant psychological fact. Discursive
vostra laude come per mio contento, perchespeech is a relatively poor instrument for
vorrei poterla mettere innanzi a certi, che virepresenting complex relationships. Degrees
conoscono piii per ispiditivo nella pittura che of kinship which could hardly be explained
per eccellente . . . Del presto et de l'adagio in words can be read off a family tree "at a
mi remetto a voi, perche giudico, che si possa glance." This superiority of the diagram (or
fare anco presto et bene, dove corre il furore, graph) over a descriptive explanation has of
come nella pittura; la quale in questa parte course nothing to do with the mutual claims

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172 E. H. GOMBRICH
the true nature and essence of con

concentrated form. If we only
insight which is at least parallel t
a more immediate path to the kn
reasoning could ever be.
It was Ficino himself who appli
symbols to the Egyptian hieroglyph
The Egyptian Priests did not use

but whole images of plants, tree
of things not through a multipl
simple and firm form of the thin
He chose as example the age-old sy

its tail. Those who contemplate th
mystery of Time, for "the Egypt
argument as it were in one comp
Here we are clearly far away fr
that an image of this kind represen
Ficino's argument presupposes t
symbolic significance. That, in fa
looking at its symbolic represent
"represents" Time? In a sense it d
is not part of the sensible world.
it is not a mere "abstraction" eith
thing existing by itself in a high
intuition. The image-symbol, then,
both demanding contemplation an
This doctrine of the function of
completely rational exposition, b
an irrational doctrine. Yes it is c
between the representational an
of poetry and painting profert res, as et aufert. In
arts. Totamthe vero Rena
discur
sance, however, the two una
sionem eiusmodi questions
quadam firmaque seem
merge. The fact that figura comprehendit
vision Aegyptius
allows alatum ser-
us to
"all at once" what pentem thepingens, word caudamcanore praesentem:
only im
successively was adduced caeteraque figuris bysimilibus, quas describit
Leonardo in
"Paragone" to exalt Horus." Ficino, ed. cit., p.over
painting I768. For the
poetr
cf. Lee, op. cit., p. religious 251. background of this Neo-Platonic
1 "Sacerdotes Aegyptii ad significanda conception of symbolism cf. F. Cumont, "Le
divina mysteria, non utebantur minutiis Culte Egyptien et le Mysticism de Plotin,"
literarum characteribus, sed figuris integris Monuments Piot, XXV, 1921/22. Giehlow,
herbarum, arborum animalium quoniam op. cit., p. 23, sees in the passage from Ficino
videlicet Deus scientiam rerum habet non an indication that he regarded hieroglyphs as
representations of the Ideas. Though this
tamquam excogitationem de re multiplicem,
sed tamquam simplicem firmamquemay reibefor-an oversimplification it is note-
mam. Excogitatio temporis apud te worthy
multiplex that Ficino uses the metaphorical
expression
est et mobilis, dicens videlicet tempus quidem "ideam . . . coloribus pingere"
est velox, et revolutione quadam principium
(ed. cit., p. 763).-
rursus cum fine coniungit: prudentiam docet,

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
ICONES STMBOLICAE 173
becomes blurred.1 Ficino does not accept t
sign which "stands for" an abstract conce
somehow "embodied" in the mysterious sh
symbol in which those endowed with sup
insight into the nature of time he will him
and profound understanding of Time, he wil
to see it when the body no longer dims hi
The vogue of the hieroglyph and emblem a
symbolism which followed on the Neo-P
understood except against this backgrou
casuistry of the emblem and device was dis
and intelligent people remains an inexpl
understand that for them a truth condens
nearer the realm of absolute truth than o
what these images said that made them im
said was also "represented." No sane perso
bodied a very profound truth. But the fact
himself had expressed this motto in the f
symbol of swiftness with the anchor the i
fact that one could see the whole offestina
thing of a mystery.3
It was precisely this feeling for the peculia
1 Since Weinhandel, Das aufschliessende
ably derived from their tombstones. The
Symbol, has investigated the
shape role
of the lettersof the
on my visual
father's, gave me
an odd
symbol in the visions of idea Nicolaus
St. that he was a square,
of stout,
Flue dark
man, with
various writers have dealt curly black
with thishair.type
. . ." In this
of
"insight symbol," cf. Helen Flanders
masterly description Dunbar,
of the dream-like muddle
Symbolism in Mediaeval which may beset the
Thought, Newmind of the child we
Haven,
1929, and W. M. Urban, have a typical instance
Language and of Reality,
the confusion be-
tween symbol
London, 1939. Maybe this attitudeand representation.
towards In his
passionate desire to
the symbol can best be described asknow more about his
a blurring
of the distinction between
father representation andthe
than he can know, the boy endows
symbolization in a particular direction.
conventional symbols The
of letters with repre-
sentational features.
symbol is thought to represent the entities it
signifies. The Eastern mystic
2 Cf. Franceswho meditates
A. Yates, The French Academies
on the holy syllable "Om" hopes
of the Sixteenth to(Studies
Century learn of the Warburg
from its qualities (including the
Institute, silence
15), London, which
1947, p. I31 ff.
precedes and follows it) 3something about der
L. Volkmann, Bilderschriften theRenais-
sance, Leipzig,
nature of the Divine. The 1923, p. 17. The pro-
psychological other
cess from which this element
attitude springs
which makes can
up the "mystery" of
perhaps best be illustrated by
festina lente an
is the example
contradiction in terms, the
from an entirely different
oxymoron or sphere.
paradox. For In the virtues
the special
opening paragraph of of Great Expectations,
the acutezza recondita cf. M. Praz, Studies in
Dickens describes the mental state of a child Seventeenth-Century Imagery (Studies of the
who has never set eyes on his parents and
Warburg Institute, 3), London, I939, p. 14.
who has nothing to go by to form a Just mental
as the emblem is linked with the "insight
picture of their appearance except their symbol," this form of the motto connects
tombstone. "As I never saw my father or with the coincidentia oppositorum of the mystic
my mother, and never saw any likeness of tradition. "Denn ein vollkommner Wider-
either of them (for their days were long before spruch, Bleibt gleich geheimnisvoll fir Kluge
the days of photographs), my first fancy re- wie ftir Toren" (Goethe, Faust, I).
garding what they were like, were unreason-
12

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
174 E. H. GOMBRICH
which was lost with the dawn of

what these "mysterious personag
indeed the whole demand for luc
eighteenth century, shows that t
longer understood. Many elemen
tion of the emblem fashion, but
"inappropriate" symbol should
and aura of these images should
sensible truth there "represente
less surprising that a philosophe
the starting-point of his contempl
The very language of the sixteent
which often seems so exaggerate
ancestry. One sample from the E
Making Devices may stand for man
Bargagli saith with good reason,

and particular way of expressin
pleasing, and most efficacious of
is indeed most compendious, sin
that which is contained in the
of the Sun is able to illuminate
vast), with the rays of its spl
understanding, and by dispellin
true Piety, and solid Vertue. It
without large Tomes of Philosop
of time, and with much ease, p
all the rules of Morall and Civi
These are high claims indeed,
hyperbolic conceits of the text w
substance is that the device not o
may convince but images have
who sees the truth can no long
supra-natural ideas becomes attu
is higher knowledge.
To understand the true import
popular emblem books to the role
1 Frances A. Yates, "The Emblematic is the function of the scholastic theologi
Conceit in Giordano Bruno's 'De Gli Eroici He insists that the poet's images are of int
Furori' and the Elizabethan sonnet se- ligible, not of sensible things. ("Del Poe
Eroico",
quences," Journal of the Warburg and Opere di Torquato Tasso, Venic
Courtauld
1735, that
Institutes, VI, I943. It is significant V, p. 367.) This is one of the poin
whereof
Tasso, in his theoretical justification thethe
problems here discussed may
poetic image, also appeals to the merge with those treated by R. Tuve, Eliza-
Dionysian
tradition: ". . . to move readers in this
bethan way
and Metaphysical Imagery, Chicago, 1947.
2 Henry
with images, as do the mystic theologians andEstienne, The Art of Making
the poets, is a much more noble Devices.
work Translated
than into English by T. Blount,
to teach by means of demonstrations, which
London, I646, p. 13.

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
tradition of magic and mysticism.1 In Goethe's
authentic description of this transition from seeing
to transformation, of the unity of mystic significa
Faust opens the mysterious book of Nostradamus
"Sign of the Macrocosmus" the Universe unri
exaltation of the vita contemplativa.
Ha, welche Wonne fliesst in diesem Blick

Auf einmal mir durch alle meine Sinnen?
Ich ffihle junges, heil'ges Lebensglhick
Neuglthend mir durch Nerv' und Adern rinnen.
War es ein Gott, der diese Zeichen schrieb,
Die mir das innre Toben stillen,
Das arme Herz mit Freude fullen
Und mit geheimnisvollem Trieb,
Die Krafte der Natur rings um mich her enthillen?
Bin ich ein Gott? Mir wird so licht!
Ich schau in diesen reinen Zugen,
Die wirkende Natur vor meiner Seele liegen.
Jetzt erst erkenn ich, was der Weise spricht:
"Die Geisterwelt ist nicht verschlossen;
"Dein Sinn ist zu, dein Herz ist todt!
"Auf, bade, Schtler, unverdrossen
"Die ird'sche Brust im Morgenroth"
(er beschaut das Zeichlen)
Wie alles sich zum Ganzen webt!
Eins in dem Andern wirkt und lebt!
Wie Himmelskrifte auf und nieder steigen
Und sich die goldnen Eimer reichen!
Mit segenduftenden Schwingen
Vom Himmel durch die Erde dringen,
Harmonisch all das All durchklingen!
Welch Schauspiel! aber ach! ein Schauspiel nur...
Was Faust's "Sign" a representation of the Universe, a picture with angels

going up and down, passing each other the golden ewers, or was it an abstract
diagram, a magic rune of the kind which Goethe might have known from
Rosicrucian literature (P1. 33a) ?2 The very fact that this question remains
1 The connection between this tradition portune in argenti lamina imprimat aurata."
and Florentine Neo-Platonism is traced There follows detailed advice as to the right
fully
hour and the colours to be used, and the
by Will-Erich Peuckert, Pansophie, Ein Versuch
incidental information that a movable model
zur Geschichte der weissen und schwarzen Magie,
Stuttgart, 1936. of the planet spheres such as Archimedes had
2 Cf. Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer, constructed
Altona, was "recently" (nuper) made by
1785, (Facsimile Edition, Berlin, g1919). "our Lorenzo the Florentine" (Florentinus
quidam noster, Laurentius nomine-can it be
One is reminded of the figure of the universe
which Ficino bids his adepts to have Ghiberti
made who signed the first Baptistery door
in a propitious hour (ed. cit., p. 559):LAURENTIUS
"Sed FLORENTINUS?). Ficino con-
cur nam universalem ipsam, id est universi tinues: "Proinde in ipsis suae domus pene-
ipsius imaginem permittimus? Ex quatralibus tamencubiculum construet in fornicem
beneficium ab universo sperare videntur. actum, figuris eiusmodi et coloribus insign
Sculpet ergo sectator illorum forte, qui tum, ubi plurimum vigilet atque dormiat.
poterit formam quandam mundi totius arche- Et egressus domo non tantam attentione
typam si placebit in aere, quam deinde op- singularum spectaculam quanta universi

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
176 E. H. GOMBRICH
undecided proves how far remove
symbol is from these rational catego
The magic sign "represents" in the l
it gives not only insight but powe
accepted this consequence. For if the
but linked through the network of
supra-celestial essence which it embo
partake not only of the "meaning" a
become interchangeable with it.
We can hardly understand the Ren
symbol without at least taking cogn
which not only the distinction betw
removed but which threatens even
what it symbolizes. Ficino expressed
image quite openly. In his book De
chapters are devoted to astrological
"de virtute imaginum," "quam vim habe
coelestium figuras antiqui imaginibus
wavers a little in his attitude. He do
achieve everything but he shows hi
engraven on the right stone may have
the fact that Ficino took over this
tradition" which is important in ou
uses to rationalize this belief. These
Platonic literature, on Plotinus and
views on the virtue of the visual im
extension of the same view.2
Ficino uses a number of interesting examples to make his meaning clear.
Just as one lyre resounds by itself when the strings of another are plucked,
the likeness between the heavenly bodies and the image on the amulet may
make the image absorb the rays from the stars to which it is thus attuned.
The argument provides an instructive instance of what Warburg called die
Schlitterlogik of the astrologer. For rationally there is, of course, no likeness
whatever between the image Ficino bids us to engrave and the star as a
"heavenly body." What he means is the image of astrological tradition, of
Saturn with his falx or Mars with his sword. These images, then, are not to
be regarded as mere symbols of the planets nor are they simply representations
of demonic beings. They represent the essence of the power embodied in the
star. If we give these symbolic images the "right" form of which we find the
record in that ancient Eastern lore which the Neo-Platonists held to be
divinely inspired, if we design them in the proper way so that they embody
figuram coloresque perspiciet." Did Ficino 'Ed. cit., p. 531 f. The importance of
this book is discussed in E. Panofsky and F.
have such an image in his house? We know
Saxl, Melencolia I, (Studien der Bibliothek
from his letters that he had in his gymnasium
a painting of the sphere of the world with Warburg, II), Berlin, 1923, p. 35 f. and by
Heraclitus and Democritus on either side (ed. L. Thorndyke, History of Magic and Experi-
cit., p. 637). Perhaps he attached greater mental Science, New York, I934, IV, p. 565.
significance to the influence of this image than2Bevan, op. cit., p. 76.
he cared to reveal?

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
the "essential" attributes of the Planeta

receive something of the power they "
ago to the connection existing between t
"form" of the Gods in the sixteenth ce
efficacy of images. He showed how far
rational division between "form" and
doctrine is linked with the whole body of
ing argument:2
The objects in our sublunar world h
heat and cold, dryness and moisture, ar
world of matter. Others, like brightne
portion-appertain both to our sublunar
These mathematical shapes and proportio
of things. Shapes and proportions, there
tion with the Ideas in the World Soul or the Divine Intellect. "Imo et cum
idaeis maximam habent in mente mundi regina connexionem." What appli
numbers and shapes applies also to colours, for colour is a kind of light w
is itself the effect and image of the intellect. If anybody should doubt t
sympathetic links Ficino asks him to consider the power of images as a matt
of common observation. How easily does a figure of a mourning person m
us to pity, how profoundly does the image of a charming person-amab
personae figura-affect the eye, the imagination and our humours! Ficino
appeals to the age-old belief according to which an unborn child is affe
by the parents' mental images during conception. We need not follow h
further to see where his argument leads. It leads to the conclusion that, in t
Neo-Platonic theory of art, image making could be considered on a par w
music.
In musical theory we are more familiar with the metaphy

doctrine that all harmony reflects a heavenly harmony and th
of music on the mind are somehow due to this power derived
laws. "What passion cannot music raise and quell?" In the
theory of music, so wonderfully epitomized in Dryden's ode, n
drawn between what we call expression in music and the m
achieved through harmonies. The Platonic theory which b
modes of music because of their effects on the mind, must be seen
of the medical and physiological effects ascribed to music, and
were believed to be on the same level with magic phenomena
physical law of resonance invoked by Ficino. The result of this
fact, very similar in the sphere of music and in that of art. We s
sance Platonists searching eagerly for the tradition of the
1 F. Saxl, Antike G6tter in der Spdtrenaissance,

of exegesis, and I pronounce it heretical.
(Studien der Bibliothek Warburg, VIII),
Goddesses cannot disrobe, because their attri-
butes are their substance." (Soliloquies in
p. 17: "Dieser Begriff der Form entspricht
der Rolle des Namens in der Zauberei. England and later Soliloquies, London, 1937,
Beide sagen etwas fiber das Wesen der p. 241Dinge
.)
aus." Cf. G. Santayana's remark on the 2 Ed. cit., p. 355. For a parallel passage see
Judgement of Paris: "The disrobing of god-
ibid., p. 941-
desses . . . does not conform to my principles

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
178 E. H. GOMBRICH
ancients" which must have embodied the laws of the universe and which was
therefore reputed to have produced such miraculous effects.'
Orpheus could lead the savage race;
And trees uprooted left their place
Sequacious of the lyre...
It is known that out of these efforts to reconstruct the music of the ancients
which moved the passions there grew, almost as an accidental by-prod
the Opera of Monteverdi.
The parallelism with Ficino's theory of the image is complete. He tho
that the numbers and proportions preserved in the image reflect the id
the divine intellect, and therefore impart to the image something of the po
of the spiritual essence which it embodies. Moreover the effect of imag
our minds can be considered a valid proof of this type of magic effect
other words, the Neo-Platonic conception favoured not only a removal o
distinction between the representational and the symbolizing functions of t
image, but also the confusion of these two levels with what we have c
the expressive function. All the three together are seen not simply as va
forms of signification but rather as potential magic.
We need not assume that these ideas were consciously accepted by a
people of the period. But their presence in the centre of philosophical specu
tions cannot have remained without an effect on the vague beliefs abou
image which always lurk, as it were, on the fringe of consciousness, rea
take sway. Thus the painter who had to represent Justice in a city hal
not without a certain philosophical sanction if he first wanted to know
Justice "looked like" in her supra-celestial dwellings. His humanist adv
would even know how to find out: If we only burrow deep enough into anci
and recondite lore we may find there an allusion to one of the images in wh
the ancient sages of the East hid their deep insight into the essence of Just
It was Plutarch, for instance, who reported in De Isidi et Osiride that
mythical Priest of Egypt represented Justice blind.2 To paint her blindf
was thus to reveal a true attribute of the idea of Justice. The true Neo
Platonist may even encourage one to go a step further and to assume t
those whose eyes rest on the figure really do behold Justice, and that th
fore their behaviour may or must be affected by what they see.
This attitude would explain the immense care and learning which
spent on the "correct" equipment of figures not only in paintings but al
masques and pageantries where nobody but the organizers themselves
ever hope to understand all the learned allusions lavished on the costum
figures which would only appear for a fleeting moment.3 Perhaps the
was under the threshold of consciousness that by being in the "right" a
these figures became genuine "masks" in the primitive sense, which tu
1 Cf. F. A. Yates, The French Academies, ed.
Intermezzi del r589, ed. cit., esp. p. 280, where
cit., p. 36 ff. it is shown that certain emblems were in fact
2 Cf. E. v. Mller, "Die Augenbinde der invisible to the audience and that even intel-
Justizia," Zeitschrift fair christliche Kunst, ligent and learned observers remained ignor-
XVIII, 1905. ant of the true significance of these figures.
3 Cf. A. Warburg, I Costumi Teatrali per gli

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
ICONES STMBOLICAE 179
their bearers into the supernatural bein

the King at the city gate during a "Gl
as more than just a pretty girl wearin
her, Justice herself had come down to
a spell and an augury.
There is no weirder aspect of our p
suggests that, to the Renaissance, all
common frontier. Pico's nephew Giova
belief in witchcraft and the persecuti
arguments from the classical authors-
a Ripa was to use for the interpretation
tion of the physical appearance of evil
dialogue volunteers the information t
in human guise but with the feet of a
locutors then discuss over many pages wh
this particular shape.
God does not permit him to express a

of man so as to prevent him from dece
ance. But the reason the feet do not con
of the figure may be that in the mys
are made to signify the affections an
them backwards because his desires a
of God and turned against well doing
chose to assume goose-feet than those
that I do not know unless there is som
can be adapted with equal ease to m
Ovid, Pliny, Aristotle and Herodotus a
these "hidden qualities." The watchful
night, whose patron is Diana. Perhap
signify to his nefarious followers that
do without sleep when they go to th
geese may be compared to the flight o
walked on foot from Belgium to Rom
certain organs of the goose have aphr
in well, and so the argument is develo
not these abstruse details, nor in fact th
this interpretation and those of the a
which would link the two. We find it
Devil assumes the shape to indicate his
the younger Pico did not think of dem
1 Giovanfrancesco Pico
body and della Mirandola,
who "preside" over certain ani-
mals, fruits,
Strix, sive de ludificatione temperate winds, good weather,
daemonorum, Bologna,
I523, liber II. For the and-among us men-over the arts
Neo-Platonic and
theory
music, medicine, gymnastics, etc. We are
of visual manifestations cf. Ficino, ed. cit.,
pp. 876 and 938. The former passage is note-again on the frontier between demonology
worthy because it refers to those "good and allegory.
demons" who are wedded to their (spiritual)

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
18o E. H. GOMBRICH
spirits. He held the correct

supra-sensible world and o
commerce with human bein
whole Neo-Platonic argume
They are the forms which t
understood to the limited
be it conceived as a member
-is inaccessible to the sens
of ecstasy and intellectual
these invisible and abstrac
could support may accomm
visible shape.1
Strictly speaking, these allegorical images neither symbolize nor repre-
sent the Platonic idea. It is the idea itself, conceived as an entity, which
through these images tries to signal to us and thus to penetrate through
our eyes into our mind. Put in this form this conception admittedly sounds
abstruse if not absurd. Yet it is only the explicit formulation of an idea which
is implied in the whole Neo-Platonic approach to the symbol. The very
position which regards the symbol as existing "by nature" rather than by
"convention" is only understandable, as we have seen, if we accept the
assumption that the higher orders reveal themselves to our limited mind
through the sign language of nature. It is not we who select and use symbols
for communication-it is the Divine which expresses itself in the hieroglyph
of sensible things. To rational analysis this doctrine may reveal one more
semantic confusion. It is the confusion between the two meanings of the word
"sign"-the sign as part of a language and the natural sign, or indication.
Nothing is more natural than the confusion of these two meanings. For in
human intercourse the two in fact merge imperceptibly. There is no clear
borderline between blushing as an indication of embarrassment and a frown
as an (intentional) sign of anger. But we have no difficulty in keeping the
two apart as soon as we approach nature. We realize that lights on the
horizon may be either flash signals intended as communications, signs of
distress; or sheet lightning, signs of electrical discharges, indications of ap-
proaching storms. To the mind, however, that sees the skies peopled by higher
intelligences this distinction is less clear. The lightning on the horizon may be
a sign in both the meanings of the term, an omen through which an unseen
power announces to us an impending disaster. It is therefore less surprising
to notice that the sixteenth century did not always distinguish clearly between
man-made symbols and supernatural omens. It is well known what import-
ance was attached in the Reformation period to the "signs of the time," to
the miraculous births like the Papstesel or the Minchskalb. Both Luther and
Melanchthon applied all the subtleties of allegorical or "hieroglyphic" inter-
pretation to the individual features of these natural symbols: the ears of the
Minchskalb, for instance, were said by Luther to denote "the tyranny of aural
1 Cf. Dante, Paradiso, IV, 40 f., where G.

theA. Scartazzini's edition, Leipzig, 1882,
doctrine of accommodation is given in the III, p. 88 ff.
rational Thomistic form. For his sources cf.

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
confession." The theoretical justif

by Luther in a little rhyme accompanying a picture of one of these portents:
Was Gott selbs von dem Bapstum helt,
Zeigt dis schrecklich Bild hie gestelt ...1
Here, then, we are almost back at our starting-point. Where every natural
object can be conceived as a sign or symbol, every symbol, in its turn, will be
thought of as existing "by nature" rather than by convention. To us it seems
a far cry from Pico's ghosts and Luther's monsters to the creations of allegorical
art, but both rest on a common foundation. If the forms of spirits and portents
can be conceived as signs from God it is only consistent that the forms of
_-;Z--
The Monk-Calf. From a pamphl

by Luther, 1523
visual symbols, too, can be conceived

It is characteristic of Neo-Platonic s
ceptions, usually associated with pri
metaphysical system. The theory of em
succeeded in more than one sense in
exalted contemplation with simple su
monsters and its use in mass propaga
feeling of a revelation of universal
experience may be its most sublimat
have to place the attitude of the seve
showpiece on Icones Symbolicae provide
ICf. C. Lange, Der Papstesel, 1891; A. H. Grisar, S.F. and F. Heege, S.J., Luthers
Warburg, Heidnisch-antike Weissagung in WortKampfbilder, Lutherstudien, V, 3, 4, Freiburg,
und Bild zu Luther's Zeiten, ed. cit., p. 524;
1923.

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
182 E. H. GOMBRICH
Christophoro Giarda sees th

tion, of Dionysius Areopagit
are not "abstract concepts"
daughters of the Divine int
intelligible world. Their very
our coarse mind, addicted as
his ignorance would never hav
position, would never have
in His mercy, transformed th
which provides the medium
accommodate themselves to
the hieroglyphic art, to the
owes the boon of this contact
and preserved the unbroken
Image provides the means th
can descend to earth and ass
transform the mind of man t
If we read Giarda's eulogy
parallel. It is clear that in hi
for it is a mystery-is express
the central mystery of salv
Here we have reached the en
cleric could express the Neo-
form without a feeling of inc
of which we have tried to trac
unrelated to the main body
the main stream of religious t
clearly cannot venture into
awareness of this larger con
in the right setting.
In reconstructing a doctrin
gether there is always a dan
existed in European thought
other words, have we any ri
saw sixteenth- and seventeen
they seriously believe them
presence exerted its mysteri
than a certain curiosity valu
It is certainly not easy to a
words and images we use con
of consciousness. What is rej
by our emotions. In our drea
phorical and the literal, betw
our mind we all believe in im
hand, believes in its sole eff
duality of attitudes is someho
Platonic mysticism and Ar
these two modes of thought,

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
make up the history of religious philosoph
the Renaissance.
In trying to disentangle the Neo-Platonic conception of the visual im
we had to isolate it somewhat artificially out of this complex texture.
is well to remember that for all its fascination Neo-Platonism never held un-
disputed sway in this field any more than in other fields. Though it
have encouraged an irrational confusion between the functions of the
there always remained scope for the application of "discursive reason
the exercise of rational distinction grounded on Aristotelian logic.
No history of the visual symbol in European art could afford to n
this other powerful tradition. Its importance is clearly demonstrated b
fact that it was on this doctrine rather than on Neo-Platonic mysticism
Cesare Ripa based his successful handbook of allegorical imagery, his fa
Iconologia. As compared to Christophoro Giarda's fervent eulogy Ripa r
sents the more rationalist wing of opinion. In his introduction, writt
generation before Giarda, Ripa develops a theory of the allegorical pe
fication in conscious analogy to the Aristotelian theory of definition.
wish to form the image of a concept we must subject it to the same p
of logical analysis as we apply when establishing its verbal definiti
Ripa's theory the human figure stands for the substance, or essenc
emblems it holds or wears, for its "attributes." Our choice of attribut
determined not so much by a scrutiny of the sources of ancient wisdom
a rational search for qualities which abstract ideas and concrete objects
have in common.1
There is no contradiction between Ripa's conception and that of Gi
Ripa's Aristotelian "essences" whose intellectual intuition must preced
1 ". . . Hora vedendosi, che questa sorte Ripa makes a significant distinction be-
d'Imagini si riduce facilmente alla simili- tween the "essentialist" allegory (cf. K. R.
tudine della definitione, diremo, che di Popper, The Open Society and its enemies,
queste, come di quelle, quattro sono i capi, London, I946, ch. XI) and the superficial
6 le cagioni principali, dalle quali si pu6 illustration, which gives an example rather
pigliare 1'ordine di formarle, & si dimandano than a definition. "Ci6 non e avvertito molto
con nomi usitati nelle Scole, di Materia, da alcuni moderni, i quali rappresentano
Efficiente, Forma et Fine.... Dapoi, quando gl' effetti contigenti, per mostrare l'essentiali
sappiamo per questa strada distintamente qualiti,
le come fanno, dipingendo per la
Disperatione uno, che s'appica per la gola
qualiti, le cagioni, le proprietY, & gli accidenti
d'una cosa definibile, accioche se ne faccia . . . 6 simile cose di poco ingegno e di poca
l'imagine, bisogna cercare la similitudine, lode. . . ." Giotto's allegories of the Virtues
come habbiamo detto nelle cose materiali, la and Vices, then, would fall under Ripa's ban.
quale terrA in luogo delle parole nell' He grants, however, that the physiognomies
imagine, 6 definitione de'Rettori; Et la of his personifications may be moulded ac-
similitudine, che serva a questo proposito, cording to their significance.
dovra essere di quelle, che consistono nell' Ripa's didactic aims come out in his in-
egual proportione, che hanno due cose dis- sistence that allegorical images should always
be clearly labelled "unless they are intended
tinte fria se stesse ad una sola diversa da ambe-
due, prendendosi quella che e meno; come, as riddles." For the influence of his handbook
se, per similitudine di Fortezza, si dipingeon la the arts of the I7th and 18th centuries see
Colonna, perche negl'edificii sostiene tuttiE.i Mile, L'art rdligieux apris le Concile de Trente,
sassi . . . dicendo, che tale e la fortezza Paris, 1932, and E. Mandowsky, "Ricerche
nell'huomo, per sostenere la gravezza di tuttiintorno all' Iconologia di Cesare Ripa," La
Bibliofilia, 1939, XLI.
i fastidii . ...

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
184 E. H. GOMBRICH
correct definition could certainl

ideas dwelling in supra-celestial r
approach differs nevertheless sig
In Giarda the ultimate function of
vision. In Ripa we are nearer the
substitute for and supplement of
plex function of the didactic im
Ages and continued to exercise it
the scope of the present essay. I
of the various modes of illustration
word and image.1 What distingu
visual image is precisely the emph
bolism. This autonomy was not a
image in the famous pronouncemen
that of being a substitute for word
unlettered who could not read the
the superiority of visual intuitio
impact of forms, colours and pro
It has always been assumed tha
sance contributed to the emancip
independent aesthetic sphere. The
as a token of the Divine and the
creative process in art have often
Neo-Platonic conception of the sp
would also have contributed to the enhanced status of the figurative
arts.
We need not assume, in accepting this possibility, that artists were con
sciously aware of all the chains in the Neo-Platonic argument. Unfortunate
we still know too little about the way in which philosophical ideas percolat
the way in which they are first distilled into slogans which in turn direct the
attitude of men towards certain values and standards. It is in this way, so
seems, that the philosopher influences the actions of his contemporaries by
II have attempted to analyse the inter- youth he had chosen Wisdom for his beloved.
action of symbolism and illustration in a work
He carried this lovely picture with him when
of 15th century religious art in "Tobiashe journeyed to the place of studies and he
and
the Angel," Harvest, I, London, 1948. For the
always set it before him in the window of his
superiority of the text over the imagecell,
in and used to look at it lovingly with
mediaeval didactic imagery see F. Saxl, heartfelt
"A longings. He brought it back home
with him on his return, and caused it to be
Spiritual Encyclopedia of the later Middle
transferred to his chapel wall as a token of
Ages," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld
Institutes, V, 1942, esp. p. Ioo. Perhaps it is affection.
only . . ." (The life of the Blessed Henry
among the mystics that the Neo-Platonic con- Suso by himself, translated by T. F. Knox,
ception of the image is to be found in its pure London, I913, p. I34. For Suso's belief in
form in the Middle Ages. We hear of Suso the thatmagic efficacy of the image see ibid.,
"in his youth, he had caused to be painted p. 75.) For an attempt to interpret a work
for
himself, upon parchment, a picture of Eternal of the I2th century in the light of mediaeval
Wisdom, who rules supreme over heavenNeo-Platonic
and thought, see R. Grinnell,
"Iconography
earth, and far surpasses all created things in and Philosophy in the Cruci-
ravishing beauty and loveliness of form;fixion
for Window at Poitiers," The Art Bulletin,
which reason, when he was in the bloomI946.of

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
process, almost, of remote control.1 There are few
of the Florentine "Academy" were much interest
One might read through all the weighty tomes w
Poliziano without suspecting that the writers ru
like Leonardo or Botticelli, Bertoldo or Ghirlanda
of hardly a generation, the talk of the studio is fille
words, and before a century has gone by these slo
whole position of the artist and the whole concep
direct way rather than by detailed instruction, that
outlined above to have influenced the attitude of
Renaissance. Perhaps this influence has so far bee
the sphere of iconography on the one side and a
very confusion of Neo-Platonic thought helped t
symbolic significance and aesthetic effect, together.
If we step with these notions in mind before a
'Birth of Venus' we feel how all these influences uni
glass. Whatever the actual "programme" that un
know that it is the result of passionate efforts to
of the Goddess of Love as it had been created by
image" is the form assumed by the heavenly ent
myth of Venus when appearing before the eyes o
and proclaims her spiritual essence. The influenc
exerts on our senses, in every meaning of the term,
sidered incompatible with any spiritual or allegor
contrary-this effect of the image on our passion
been accepted as a proof of its true corresponden
natural outcome of its magic efficacy. The patron
contemplation would surrender to its influence
guide to the supra-sensible principle of Love or Be
the visible embodiment and revelation.
In short, the antithesis between aesthetic and literary interpretatio
tween sensuality and symbol, may largely be imported by us.3 If these
of the Renaissance have struck some observers as "pagan" it is not be
1 Modern art and literature provides a Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld
gies,"
number of interesting examples of this type
Institutes, VIII, I945, p. 53 if.
of influence. The impact of theories like those 3 It is in this direction, perhaps, that one
of Freud or Jung extends much furthermight than suggest a compromise between the
the small circle of those who read and under- points of view on Renaissance allegory ex-
stood the technical writings in which these pressed by O. Brendel and U. Middeldorf in
ideas were first expounded. Some of the their exchange of letters in The Art Bulletin,
catchwords derived from these theories were
I947.
often distorted beyond recognition but this Prof. Middeldorf is certainly right when he
did not deprive them of their fascination emphasizes
and that the search for recondite
influence. The attraction and effect of symbolism should not blind us to the more
"Platonic" words like idea or furore may of "bedroom art." But the
obvious qualities
well be compared to that of terms like one approach does not necessarily exclude
"unconscious, " "symbol," "pattern" or "in- the other. Perhaps even this type of art was
tegration," which become heavy with vaguethought sometimes to exert an influence
but emotional significance. beyond its erotic appeal.
2 Cf. my article on "Botticelli's Mytholo-

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
186 E. H. GOMBRICH
they are anti-religious bu

religious symbols are tran
From this point of view
be seen as another swing
which had been the secret o
was now claimed and acce
our Christophoro Giarda m
he belongs to the generati
in which religious art was
to visions. In the great ce
the illustration of Giarda's world, in which the abstractions dwell with the
angels in a realm of light and bend down to us mortals to point the way to
higher spheres. In these visions of the open heaven the Church speaks the
language of accommodation to perfection. Who would say where representa-
tion ends and symbols begin in Sacchi's Divina Sapientia (P1. 33b) or Pozzo's
ceiling in S. Ignazio in Rome (P1. 34)?1
And yet this art may have carried in it the seeds of its own destruction.
We are reminded of Dionysius the Areopagite's warning against analogous
symbols. The representational illusion swallowed up the symbol. Ration-
alism demanded a neat distinction of the two. In its insistence on lucidity it
worked towards a divorce of the three functions of the image. The result is
apparent in the history of art since the Age of Reason. First the symbolic
function was denied a place in art, then the representational function as such
was placed outside the pale; we have become used to the identification of all
art with the function of "expression."
But this revolution in its turn had to contend with the surviving tenets of
the Neo-Platonic conception of the image. Some features of academic
classicism preserve, as it were, the esoteric view of the visual symbol in a
1 H. Tetius, Aedes Barberinae, Rome, 1642, with joyful confidence and felt transported to
concludes his description of Sacchi's famous the very presence of Divine Wisdom (quasi
painting with an eulogy which is strikingly in ipsam Sapientiam Divinam rapti) so that in
reminiscent of Giarda's terminology. One future nothing obscure, nothing impenetrable
day, so we hear, Urban VIII visited the could ever occur to us." It is easy to dismiss
palace and sat at table under the fresco when, such an account as empty flattery but the
quite by accident, a text on Divine Wisdom psychological state of rapture it describes,
was chosen for the lesson. All present wereinto which even the walls are drawn, gives
struck by this mysterious coincidence. "At a perfect idea of the effects at which the art
last we were able to behold Divine Wisdom,of the Baroque period is aiming. For the
which we had never seen before except darklyprogramme to Sacchi's fresco see Incisa's
and, as it were, covered by a veil, openly and article in L'Arte, 1924, p. 64. The survival of
without a vizor so that every one could con- this type of allegorical composition and its
template her: her Divine and lucid Arche-gradual suppression through rationalist criti-
cism is analysed in H. Tietze, "Programme
type (archetypam) in the Holy Writ, her proto-
type (protypam) in Urban and her representa-und Entwtirfe zu den grossen Oesterreich-
tion (ectypam) in the painting. What light,ischen Barockfresken," Jahrbuch der kunst-
what splendour was thus infused into the historischen Sammlungen in Wien, XXX, 191 I.
room and revealed to all who surrounded the The aesthetic relevance of these programmes
exalted Prince. In truth even the very walls is stressed by K. L. Schwarz, "Zum aesthet-
ischen Problem des Programms," Wiener
seemed to leap with joy (parietes ipsi gestire
videbantur) and to congratulate themselvesJahrbuch
on fiir Kunstgeschichte, XI, 1937.
this high honour. We, however, were filled

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
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strangely watered-down form. Classicist teachin
the true artist should not copy nature-he mus
representing not crude reality but the Platonic id
be granted the vision of these Divine ideas in his
for those who are no geniuses there is a safer wa
antique statues, or rather in their plaster casts, th
the Platonic ideas. Many influences contributed
doctrine that the ancient statues represent Plato
we would probably find to be the Neo-Platonic m
in the images handed down from the past a revela
It is true that the reason given for this estimat
had changed, even though it still retained its Plat
on the identification of the idea with the universal
our bodily eyes is only the particular. Only throu
tion" do we arrive at the universal. In the an
already been performed. The "accidents" of matt
the classical artist. He does not portray the indiv
particular man but the image of man as such.'
But however plausible the argument may soun
ized" or schematic image is nearer to the "abstract
is the naturalistic or particularized representation, e
Platonic aesthetics rests on mistaken semantic an
ductive process through which we can rise from t
by leaving out individual traits has been challeng
the image it certainly rests on no foundations. A
show that the most schematic or rudimentary im
representation of an individual while the most det
the concept or type. It is not the degree of natur
question whether the image of a horse is to serve as
concept "horse" or as a portrait of a particular hor
book or on a poster may represent the type or
primitive scrawl may be intended as a representa
the context can determine this distinction between
Maybe it was this Platonic identification of the
ized which finished allegorical imagery as a branc
"bloodless" abstraction was no empty metaphor. A
the more generalized was the concept they had t
1 Cf. Reynolds, Discourses, IV. "Aorganism
the simplest history when its behaviour is
painter paints man in general; a portrait
painter, a particular man, selective
sophical is abstracting
thought
and consequently . . . was.... English into
distracted philo-
a defective model." fruitless argument by a blunder about this.
2I1 do not wish to imply that these remarks
S... it was supposed that the mind began with
exhaust the problem of the universal concretes
in art. and then performed a peculiar
But the word "abstract" is rather apt to operation which resulted in abstract ideas.
confuse the problems involved. As I. A. But the mind is primordially abstractive; of
Richards observed in relation to his own field whatever it handles it takes some aspects and
of study: "It is perhaps important to insist
omits others. . . ." (Interpretation in Teaching,
London, 1938, p. 380.)
S. . that abstract thinking is not a highly
specialised sophisticated intellectual feat ..

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
188 E. H. GOMBRICH
more lifeless should be the representat
entities became more shadowy every
they continued to parade their emble
the pediments of museums and stock
faculty of making themselves as invi
posed to symbolize.
Superklugheit,
1 For the 19th-century die cf.
use of allegories uns
Jakob Burckhardt's skeptische
lecture "Die Stimmung,
Allegorie ind
entschlagen
den Ktinsten" in Vortrdge, k6nnen,
BMle, 1919, hi
p. 374.
einem Maler,
H. Janitschek, Die Gesellschaft der Dichter, Bild
Renaissance
in Italien, Stuttgart, 1879, p. 38,Bedeutung
unterschobene gives an m
als selbstverbundenes
excellent description of this process Ganze zu fassen;of
es dis-
sociation: "Die moderne
tritt unter Kunst vermag
unseren Augen die L6sung dermit
der Allegorie nichtsElemente
mehr sofort ein."
anzufangen; die
APPENDIX
From the introduction to Christoforo Giarda's
Bibliothecae Alexandrinae Icones Symbolicae, Milan 16261
(Ideas Made Visible)

While all knowledge that concerns Science and Virtue is useful to man, the know-
ledge which pertains to the invention and construction of symbolic images by far excels
everything else; for thanks to this boon the mind which is banished from heaven into
tion at Milan in 1626, when custom demanded that
x The full title of the book is Bibliothecae Alexandrinae
Icones Symbolicae P. D. Christofori Giardi Cler. Reg. theS.professors at the College should present the guests
Pauli Elogiis illustratae, Illustrissimo loanni Baptistae
with a sample of their skill. He dedicated the published
version to G. B. Trotto, a president of the Milan
Trotto Praesidi et Reg. Consiliario dicatae. There are two
Senate.
editions apud lo. Bidellium (Milan), I626, and I628.
The text and illustrations are reproduced in G. Giarda's subsequent fate is interesting. After preach-
ing with great success in Bologna and Rome he rose in
Graevius et P. Burmannus, Thesaurus Antiqu. et. Histor.
Italiae, IX, 6. The author, Christophoro (Pietro the hierarchy of the order and became ultimately the
Antonio) Giarda, was a member of the Barnabite director of its entire Roman Province. Thanks to the
order; born in 1595 at Vespolata (Novara), he took patronage of Cardinal Francesco Barberini he was
the vows in 1613, studied rhetoric at Milan and called to the Congregation of the Index. After the
philosophy and theology at Pavia, became a priest in accession of Innocent X he seems to have mainly been
I620 and for three years taught rhetoric at Montargisengaged in pressing for the canonization of St. Francois
(France). He then returned to the Barnabite Institu-de Sales. In May 1648 his life took a dramatic turn.
tion of S. Alessandro in Milan. This important college The Pope in person consecrated him Bishop of Castro.
had been given a library by the Milanese noblemanThis appointment proves that Giarda's reputation for
and diplomat Carlo Bossi (1572-1649). According toloyalty and courage must have stood high. For Castro
Giarda's preface this "Alexandrian" library was the was no ordinary Bishopric. A dispute raged between
worthy heir of the original one by reason of the wealth,the Pope and the House of Farnese as to their respective
variety, order and beauty of its volumes. Its divisionsrights in this small town in the Orvieto area. Giarda
(scrinia) were decorated with the personifications of 16 did not proceed to his contested seat immediately but
Liberal Arts which marked the grouping of the library stayed in Rome for another ten months. In March
books. It is significant that we are not told who the 1649 he left with a small retinue to take up his appoint-
artist was who designed them-judged by the feeblement and was promptly murdered by Ranuccio
engravings of Giarda's book he was not a great master. Farnese's bravi while spending the night in an inn on
Perhaps the programme for these figures had been the way. The Pope's revenge was terrible. Castro was
drawn up by the donor, C. Bossi, himself, as we knowdestroyed and a pillar erected with the inscription:
that he was interested in emblematics, a manuscript "Quifu Castro." The diocese, of course, ceased to exist.
De impresiis et emblematibus being listed among his works. Cf. P. G. Boffito, Scrittori Barnabiti o della Congregazione
Giarda's speeches or sermons on the allegorical dei Chierici di San Paolo, 1533-1933, with full biblio-
figures of the "Alexandrian" library were delivered ongraphy.
the occasion of a meeting of the Barnabite Congrega-

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
this dark cave of the body, its actions held in b
beauty and form of the Virtues and Sciences divo
brated if not perfectly expressed in colours, and
love and desire for them. For Love embraces C
never bring forth the fairest offspring of Love i
intimate union to the Beautiful and the Good.
beautifully by Nature or created as a greater g
Virtues and Sciences? If only they could be see
they would truly kindle such amazing love for
would spurn lust, forget the craving for power, q
flock together to pursue them.
Now, however, the Sciences, the rulers and quee
the judges and arbiters of all actions, although, by
with their light the minor stars but would even d
theless not be seen by the human mind, enclosed
the body, as it could not sustain their immense r
For the mind is the eye of the soul.
(The Language of Accommodation)
It is the same with fire: just as when it is nouri

it, but when it returns in purer form to its prop
power of human vision; so the most noble Arts
senses, are the less apprehended by us the clearer
concrete by some means accommodated to our mi
of colours, they can be grasped more easily, more
For all the wisest men are agreed that it is
apprehended either by reason or by the senses
the senses that is not somewhat corporeal, nothin
its depressed condition that has not the appeara
ciently estimate the magnitude of the debt we
and Sciences themselves in images, and so brou
know them but look at them as it were with o
almost converse with them about a variety of ma
(The inventors of the various Liberal Arts such as M
the inventor of Philosophy, Euclides, Ptolemaeus etc. w
gods and rewarded with immortal fame.)
Should then the teachers of the symbolic doctr
not only before our minds but before our very e
as it were, domestic companions of men, should
of their just reward of well-deserved praise? To m
doctrine, more elegant for its sweetness, more su
invention of Symbolic Images; those, therefore, w
not only compare to the initiators of the Liberal
things and deem them most alike to God the Cre
(The Ideas dwell in the Mind of God)
In the rich mind of the Godhead there flour

began, there still flourish and will continue to flo
in any way from their mother, the fairest Virtu
'3

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
190 E. H. GOMBRICH
Power of things, Beauty, Justice, Dig
most worthy to be much known an
radiance of their nature they could n
be loved in any way. What, then, co
allow such illustrious daughters to r
light, separated and far removed from
to the notice and before the eyes o
Divine virtues on the one side, the d
such a great obstacle?
(Nature a Book of Symbols)
He spoke-and with a word all the ele

of things, all the animals on earth, al
birds in the air, all the prodigies in
lights-these He turned into so many S
and made and designed them all at
Universe, or if you prefer it so, in th
Let them approach, then, the mor
can, that the easiest access to the c
when all things which can be perceive
it is true, but yet sufficiently suited
dignity of Divine Matters.
(Superiority of Vision)
Believe me, it was for similar reas

strangers and pilgrims in the habita
appearance, hardly even by name
nomenclature of a philosophic school,
studies, but hardly pronounced, the
have kept any record of them in his
engage them) had not this heavenly in
fixed the most noble nature of these
had not the demonstration of their
unlearned. For, by the faith of hea
demonstrate the power of these ex
serve as sweeter recreation and move
of Symbolic Images with its wealth o
The other modes of demonstration w
are not devoid of virtue, but they all
The Symbolic Images, however, presen
eyes of their beholders and through t
their nature before they are scrutini
they appear to the unlearned as ma
tolerably learned, undisguised and w
this, Sweetness herself, if she could s
(The Effects of the Image)
For first every image and likeness, w

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
ICONES SYMBOLICAE 19 I
has this quality that it greatly delights hearers and spe
wisest of poets and orators, to whom it was given to m
usefulness, often use poetical and rhetorical images.
greatest if this image is of a person or object most d
functions, as it were, vicariously and we tacitly acce
Finally, were it not for the fact that images are mo
capacity of rousing the mind of those who behold them
they represent, would the Greeks or the Romans, the w
their public and private edifices with the images of
would the members of ruling houses who have mar
carefully worked portraits to other princes?
I tremble to praise the wisdom of those men who wer
images of the Arts and Sciences. For what could you de
demonstrate the excellence of those heavenly virgin
beholders and to kindle in the soul of all a flaming des
power of persuasion? These are like silent messenger
worthy of all faith and authority. Do you desire the en
of eyeglass, what mirror, what rainbow in the sky did e
of the spectators as the Symbolic Images-those clearer
mirrors, those more gorgeous rainbows-show the fo
elegant way? Or do you want the gift of rousing the p
were said to issue from the mouth of Hercules and to bind the ears and minds of men
are as nothing compared to the attraction exercised by this art.
(The Tradition of Primeval Wisdom)
This arcanum was understood from the beginning of the nascent world by t
wisest men of the primal age, and it was from them that first this usage of forming t
images derived, having been handed down through all the intervening centuries thro
nearly all literatures, and finally came to our own age. Who that is well versed
antiquities does not know of the memorable two columns, one made of brick to resis
fire, the other of marble to resist water, on which all the arts were depicted and en
graved so that they could be transmitted to future generations?'
For from these the Egyptians borrowed the excellent doctrine of the Hieroglyph
which we admire so much. The Greeks followed in their footsteps and left no Ar
Science unadorned by Symbolic Images. What kind of stone or metal is there
which they did not express the forms of the Sciences? What shade or colour which t
omitted in their representation? It was no thing to be relished by vulgar erudi
but one whose singular majesty filled them with ineffable delight. Behold the G
cities under a generous sky, on a fruitful soil, surrounded by a friendly sea, crowde
with statues, images and paintings through which the splendour of the Virtues
Sciences, albeit only painted and wrought, shone forth with such vigour that
chastest fires were cast into the eyes of all, and through the eyes into their souls, infl
ing them to the worship of those of whose beauty the Symbolic Images had convinc
them.
Should we, then, deem their actions wise or foolish? If foolish, what madness is
there in the name of science, what folly in philosophy, what bungling in the laws,
what ignorance in all the arts which allowed their followers to indulge in such vile
hallucinations over such a clear matter? If, on the other hand, we pronounce those to
have acted very wisely, then we must all concede what follows therefrom: that the
1 Cf. above, p. 169, note 2.

'3*

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC
192 E. H. GOMBRICH
inventors of those Images must be praised
excel everything else that is current, in n
pass them in review, therefore, favete lin
we shall display Images, never seen before
briefly.
(The sections which follow would probably overtax that they intertwine. To do this he needs "fire," pro-
the patience of any modern reader. After a lengthy vided in the pot. The three parts of the golden chain
and learned justification of the choice of 16 Liberal (alluding to the Gallic Hercules) signify the three modes
Arts the virtues of each figure are first epitomized in of speech, the plain, the medium and the sublime.
the form of an inscription and then commented upon History (P1. 32c) has three faces, to outdo Janus. She
with reference to the image. Theology (P1. 32a) tramp- recounts the past, instructs the present and foresees the
ling on the Hydra provides an occasion for a thunderous future. The three keys in her hand may have reference
denunciation of heresy. Rhetoric (P1. 32b) holds to her threefold subject-matter, viz. private persons,
Mercury's Caduceus whose two opposing serpents signify, kings and priests or, among other possible interpreta-
among other things, two extreme propositions which tions, to the three keys to the past-the clazis ethica,
the orator's art, symbolized by the rod, reconciles so dclavis oeconomica and clavis politica.)

24.55.162.204 on Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:13:33 UTC

The Visual Image in Neo-Platonic Thought-Gombrich

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