The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 20, 2024
Geometry (from the Tarocchi, series C: Liberal Arts, #24)
before 1467
Location: not on view
Description
This engraving is part of the group “C” named Liberal Arts. Conceptually, the liberal arts descended from classical antiquity, and were divided into the Trivium (Grammar, Rhetoric, and Dialectic or Logic) and the Quadrivium (Music, Geometry, Arithmetic, and Astronomy). In the Tarocchi set the total number was risen to ten, with the addition of the three disciplines (Poetry, Philosophy, and Theology). The liberal arts denoted knowledge or skills considered necessary to participate in a free society. By the late Middle Ages, they began to be represented in the visual arts as womanlike allegories.Here, Geometria (Geometry) is personified as a half-length pregnant female figure in profile, hovering in clouds above an imaginary landscape. She draws a square, triangle, and circle in the sky with her right hand.
The identifying letter at the lower left corner of the print was originally an “E,” which was corrected by the engraver to a “C.”
- Gods and Heroes: Ancient Legends in Renaissance Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-December 31, 2017).Early Italian Engraving: 1460's - 1530's. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 25-October 27, 2002).Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 6-September 9, 1965).The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).
- {{cite web|title=Geometry (from the Tarocchi, series C: Liberal Arts, #24)|url=false|author=Master of the E-Series Tarocchi|year=before 1467|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1924.432.24