Melancholia I Durer Engravings (1471-1528)

Description of Albrecht Dürer’s Melancholia engraving

The painting is a carved engraving, the base of which is made of copper. Its author is the German painter Albrecht Dürer, who completed his work in 1514.

At the time of the artist’s life it was customary to divide melancholics into several types. Dürer himself belonged to the first type. "Melancholia" is considered by art historians to be Durer’s most mysterious work. It is special because the author of the painting managed to complicate and make unobvious the idea of the depicted, as well as to diversify its plot with the help of bright symbols and allegories.

The size of the original work of art is 23.9 × 18.8 cm. "Melancholia" is among the "Master Engravings," Dürer’s three famous graphic sheets. The painting is rich in symbols. Some of them have to do with the planet Saturn. Attention here is immediately drawn to the winged Genius, who is propping his head up. In his lap lies a book. On his belt several purses can be seen.

A little above the Genius is Putto, who acts as a symbol of the angelic spirit. He is busy writing something on a board made of wax. There are many things around the main characters. The author has depicted a hammer with pliers, nails with a saw, a planer with a ruler. Near the feet of the winged creature rests a dog.

The walls of the building are decorated with scales and clocks. In addition, you can see a bell and a square filled with numbers. A huge ladder is attached to the wall, which is not visible. A rainbow appears in the sky. The creature holds an inscription that shows the name of the engraving.

Dürer managed to make the magic square - 4*4 - for the first time in Europe. If you add all the numbers in one of the lines, you get 34. With the help of the middle numbers in the bottom row, you can find out the time of creation.