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Melencolia I |
by David Bowman
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The most famous and the most enigmatic engraving executed by Albrecht Durer is definitely Melencolia I, from the Meisterstiche opus, signed and dated in 1514. This allegory of the yearnings of the creative genius is also one of the most analyzed and interpreted artworks in terms of art history, alchemy or dubious "sacred geometry". So far no convincing analysis of this masterpiece has ever been published, explaining the true nature of this image, and especially the identity of the seated figure.
A historical insight could place Albrecht Durer also in the context of the "Renaissance of Occultism" emerging through work of newborn Christian kabbalists like Agrippa, Reuchlin, Mirandola, et al. Neo-Platonism was generally recognized and praised among the Renaissance artistis but the kabbalistic current, propagated especially by Mirandola, is much less on the surface, mostly because of an open anti-Semitism and bigotry of the Holy Church.
Scholars suggest that the main point of this image is the representation of one of the four human fluids invented by and very popular in the Renaissance. But it doesn't look like that other engravings of Meisterstiche follow this concept, for none represent the other three human fluids as much as the attributes are general.
A well known Renaissance mage Agrippa von Nettesheim's involvement in the planning of composition, and his attribution of melancholy to Saturn, has been already suspected. Like Plato or Aristotle, is Agrippa also very ambivalent about the true nature of the melancholy. His reports range from poisonous effects of mingling with the soul and corrupting it, and at the same time connecting it with divine state of mind, capable even of prophecies.
The Dimensions
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| Albrecht Durer, Melencolia I, 1514 |
The dimensions of Durer's engraving are approximately 18.9 x 24.1 cm, which comes very close to the ratio of 11:14. This specific ratio was used in classical compositions very often, mostly because it is derived from the ratio 22:7 that closely approximates Pi = 3.14159... and was known since ancient times.
The importance of Pi for the composition of Melencolia I is emphasized by the sphere in the lower left corner of the engraving, which is simultaneously also a module of the composition. You can trust me on this, because the same was found by very pedantic art historians.
The sphere fits exactly seven times in the height of the engraving and five and a half times in the width, or in another manner the diameter fits fourteen times the height and eleven times the width of the engraving.
If the diameter of the sphere is taken as 10 units, which is a more proper unit for a fine engraving, than the ratio is 70:55. The first number speeks of the name of the artist since its double value, 140, is the same as:
ALBRECHT DUERER = (1+12+2+18+5+3+8+20) + (4+21+5+18+5+18) = 140
The ratio 70:55 represents a rectangle, which has a diagonal of 89 units. The diagonal of composition seems to encode the title of the engraving in a simple Masonic gematria:
MELENCOLIA = 13+5+12+5+14+3+15+12+9+1 = 89
Like in so many cases of old masters, the dimensions of the artwork contain the name of the artwork and the name of the artist, the title and the author.
The only main dimension that I haven’t explained is 55. The meaning of this number is explained in the kabbalistic part of the interpretation, and it is most valuable as the sum of the first ten numbers: 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10 = 55.
The Magical Square of Jupiter
One of the most studied details of any engraving is the magical square form Durer's Melencolia I. It aroused interest in many scholars and code-crackers but nothing sound came out yet. Usually it is simply considered that a magical square of Jupiter represents the beneficial antidote to saturnine melancholy.
But this magical square is one of the best indicators found so far in Durer's opus that clearly indicates the use of gematria as a method of concealing additional messages within the composition. The most interesting is the bottom line of numbers where immediately the year of the engraving is written as 15-14. Even more, the number on the right is 1 which is the same as A in simple Masonic code of values, and the number on the left of the date is 4 equaling D according to gematric value. Both numbers are therefore inter-changeable with letters A, and D, which were almost religiously used as Albrecht Durer's monogram.
There is also another mathematical joke concealed in the numbers. If two fields are taken for a number (16 and 3 = 163, 2 and 13 = 213, 5 and 10 = 510, and so on) and added together than the value of 2368 is obtained. This number is significant since it equals the value of Jesus Christ in Greek:
ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ = 888+1480 = 2368
163+213+510+118+96+712+415+141 = 2368
This could be Durer's homage to the Demiurge, the Grand Architect, which is also one of the aspects of the central figure of the Melencolia I, holding an open compass, a frequent symbol of many orthodox icons representing Christ as Pantocrator.
The sum of all the numbers in the magical square is 136, the number that conceals both the master and the title of the masterwork. Durer used another, Latin, variant of the spelling of his name - ALBRECHT DVRER:
ALBRECHT DVRER = (1+12+2+18+5+3+8+20)+(4+22+18+5+18) = 136.
MELENCOLIA I is the engraved title, I could be read as Eins:
MELENCOLIA EINS = (13+5+12+5+14+3+15+12+9+1)+(5+9+14+19) = 136.
But these few Durer’s symbolical games tell nothing new apart from what is seen, so one might ask why bother? But I will try to show that the same “keys” explain the riddle of the identity of the seated figure. With these basic "calculations" Durer merely introduced the method.
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 "Melencolia I")
