Label Text:
The female figure at the center of this print has been identified as Pandora, the first human woman in Greek mythology, who released all vices and virtues into the world from a container given to her by the gods.
This towering figure can also be read as a personification of the ideals of scientific knowledge, her eyes wide open as she beholds all the good and evil such knowledge may potentially bear. The ignorance of the old world is represented by a horned figure on the left, fleeing in horror from several bat-like creatures, which are in turn chased by snakes. Lucifer, the fallen angel, who tumbles from the sky, is the evil with which both reason and knowledge will have always to contend. The scene is lit by a lamp held by a young woman in the background, symbolically the new light for mankind. Four serpents as symbols of logic and omnipresent wisdom preside over the box, which is overflowing with books and manuscripts. Three of the volumes have been identified as the writings of the Roman general Julius Caesar, the Persian prophet Zoroaster, and the Greek philosopher Plato, a clear reference to humanistic philosophy. The upper-right register of the print further illustrates the themes of enlightenment. The god of the sun and a symbol of light and reason, Apollo, here depicted on his chariot, points toward the signs of the zodiac Aquarius and Pisces, which represent new beginnings.
The composition is chaotic, and the rendering of human form is occasionally awkward. But the visual language of the work nevertheless offers an appealing and challenging interpretation of the contemporary empirical worldview.
MW, 2013
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2011.02 |
