اولین سایت نشانه شناسی شوهر آهو خانم

Saturn and Melancholy Studies in the

History of Natural Philosophy Religion and Art

by

Raymond !'libansky

Erwin Panofsky and Fritz Saxl

Tomh of Robert Burton, Chriilt Church Cathedral, Oxford

KRAUS REPRINT

Nendeln/Liechtenstein

1979

,

Preface to Reprint .

SfIturn and Melancholy has been out of print for a long time. Following requests from scholars in many countries the book is now made available again. Much could be added to it. especially in the Hght of recent studies in the history of ancient medicine. However this would hardly be possible without affecting the balance of the whole. Since neither of my co-authors is alive - Erwin Panofsky di.ed in March 1968. - I considered it best to leave the work in theform in which it first appeared fifteen years ago.

R.K.

1964 Oxford, February 1979.

Preface

From the remote times when events in the world of man were first held to be linked with the stars, Saturn was thought to retard any undertaking connected with him. No doubt the ancients would have found ample evidence of his sluggish influence in the fate of this book. In :1923. Erwin Panofsky and Fritz Saxl published Diirers 'MelenCQlia. r .Einl. quellen- uKil typengeschichiliche Untersuchung (Studien der Bibliothek Warburg. B. G. Teubner, Leipzig). When this study was out of print, it was decided to prepare a new, revised and enlarged edition in which the development of the doctrine of the temperaments would be described in detail and the history of "Saturn, Lord of Melancholy" traced to the threshold of modem times. 1n due course, the broadened scope of the work made it necessary to abandon the framework of the monograph on DUrer's engraving. The plan of a new book on Saturn and Melancholy emerged, to be undertaken by the three authors whose names now appear on the t itle-page. At every stage, the preparation of the book was beset by delay and adversity. After a lengthy interruption due to the political upheaval in Germany d!Jring the 'Thirties and to the authors' emigration from that country, work was resumed in Britain. In the summer of 1939, the final proofs were rf:t tlmed to the printers in GHickstadt near Hamburg; shortly after the Armistice. in 1945. it was learned that the standing type had been destroyed during the war. To resurrect the now defunct German book seemed oui of the question. Instead, the authors agreed to publish an English t ranslation, '., be made from a surviving copy of the German proofs. Owing to the untimely death of Fritz Saxl in March 1948. the execution of this project suffered a long delay. When eventuaUy the work was taken in hand again, some rearrangements and several modifications were found necessary; however, the contents of the book were left substantially unaltered. During the last two decades much has been written concerning the various fields touched upon in this book; in particular. almost every year presents us with new interpretations of Durer's engraving, a few of which are mentioned in E. Panofsky's Albrecht Dilrer (4th edition, Princeton 1955). Any attempt to take account of all this literature would have swelled the present volume to an unman-ageable size. Some further details might have been filled in. some controversial points more fully discussed; yet the authors feel confident that the argument as a whole would not have been affected. At the same time, they are aware of some gaps in the treatment of their vast subject. There ' are many related themes which might have been foUowed up. To name only a few: The legend of Democritus, the melancholy philosopher. whom "the world's vanity, full of ridiculous contrariety," moves to laughter. could have been traced from its Hellenistic origins to it s memorable appearance in the preface by 'Dcmocritus Junior' to the Anatomy of Jlelancholy. :'Ilueh might have been added concerning the part played by

melancholy in French literature of the later Middle Ages, e.g. in the poetry of Charles d'Orh~ans. In treating of astrology, the authors confi.ned themselves to inYestigating the historical origins and the development of the belief in Saturn's influence; there remain the wider tasks of understanding the signifi· cance of any such belief in the power of the stars and of elucidating the reasons for which human beings have invested the planets ... ,ith the very forces that rule their own microcosm. The limits set to this book excluded any endeavour to do justice to the complex and enthralling topic of Elizabethan and Jacobean melancholy. Tempting as it was to delve into the riches of Burton, the authors had to content themselves with paying homage to the great 'melancholizer' by prefixing his effigy to the present volume. Our warm thanks are due to Miss Frances Lobb who carried out the

arduous task of preparing the first draft of the translation from ~e German. \Vith part icular gratitude we record the aid received from the staff of the \Varburg I nstitute, University of London, above all in procuring the phot

libraries whose collections we were able to use: in particular, to the Johns Hopkins Institule of the History of Medicine, Baltimore, and to the Institut liir Geschichte der i)ledizin, J ohann Wollgang Goethe--Universitat. Frankfurt (Main) ; to the Courtauld Institute, University of London; to the British Museum, London; to the Bodh:iall Library. Oxford; to the Dayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich, and to the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana; last; not least , to the librarians and the staff of the Redpath Library and the Osler Library of McGill University. Montreal. We are obliged to the .many scholars and collectors who answered our enquiries; and to Miss Desiree Park, M.A .. {McGill), for sharing the burden of reading the proofs. We are most grateful to all those who collaborated with us in revising the translation: Dr Gertrud Bing, London , Miss Rosemary Woolf, Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford and above all Dr Lotte Labowsky. Lady Carlisle Research Fellow of Somerville College, who by her valuable observations also helped in establishing the Greek text of the famous Problem XXX, I, attributed. to Aristotle. Finally, we are indebted to the publishers, Thomas Nelson & Sons, for their patience and assistance in seeing the book through the press.

.Acknowledgements

Most of the illustrations in this book are reproduced from blocks made for the projected German book of 1939. Grateful acknowledgements for permission to reproduce manuscripts. paintings or drawings in their possession are made to the Trustees of the British Museum, the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, and to the authorities of the following libraries and museums: Antwerp, Musee Royal des Beaux·Arts; Athos, Panteleimon; Autun, ?!fusee Rolin; Bamberg, Staatliche Bibliothek : Basic, Kupferstichkabinett : Bayonne. Musee Bonnat; Berlin. Deutsche Staatsbibliothek and Kupferstichkabinett; Bonn, Landesmuseum: Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner ) [useum ; Bremen, KW\SthaUe; Brussels. Bihliotbeque Royale; Budapest, Library of the Hungarian Academy of ?ciences; Cambridge, Gonville and C.1.ius College; Chantilly, Mus~ Cond!! : CittA del Vaticano, Biblioteca Vaticana; Copenhagen, Royal Museum of Fine Acts; Dijon, MUS« Magnin; Dresden, Landesbibliothek and Kupferstichkabinett; Erfuct, Wissenschaftliche Bibliothek and Anger-~luseum; Frankfurt, Stlidelsches Kunstinstitut; Gotha, Museum; The Hague. Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum ; Hanover, Kestner-Museum ; Leiden, University Library; Madrid, Instituto Valencia de Don Juan; Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana; Monte Cassino. Biblioteca Abbaziale ; Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and Alte Pinakothek; Naples, Museo Nazionale ; New York. Pierpont Morgan Library; Nuremberg, Stadtbibliothek ; Oxford, Bodleian Library; Paris, Biblioth~ue Nationale, Musie du Louvre, Ecole des Beaux-Arts and Mus6e J aquemart-Andre; Rome, Museo del Laterano; Stuttgart, Landesbibliothek; Ttibingen, UniversiHi.tsbibliothek; Vienna, Oesterrcichische Nationalbibliothek and Kunsthistorisches Museum; Wolfegg, FUrstliche Sammlungen; WoUenbo.ttel, Hertog August Bibliothek; ZUrich. Zentralbibliothek. The photographs for pis. 10, 32, 33 and 49 were supplied by Messrs. Aliuari. for pI. 13 by the Archivio Fotografico of the Gallerie Pontificie, for pis. 86 and 88 by the Courtauld Institute of Art, for pI. 55 by the German Archaeological Institute in Rome, and for pI. 100 by Mademoiselle M. Houvet, Chartres.

PART I

The Notion of Melancholy and

its Historical Development

In modem speech the word "melancholy" is used to denote anyone of several somewhat different things. It can mean a mental illness characterised mainly by attacks of anxiety, deep depression and fatigue-though it is true that recently the medical concept has largely become disintegrated.1 It may mean a type of character-generaUy associated with a certain type of physique-which together with the sanguine, the choleric and the phlegmatic, constituted the system of the "four humours", or the "four complexions" as the old expression was. It may mean a temporary state of mind, sometimes painful and depress~ mg, sometimes merely mildly pensive or nostalgic. In this case it is a purely subjective mood which can then by transference be attributed to the objective world, so that one can legitimately speak of "the melan~ choly of evening", "the melancholy 9f autumn'',' or even, like Shake~ speare's Prince Hal, of "the melancholy of Moor-ditch".3

____________'

1 See E. Ka .... ' .. l,ItI', Ma .. ~DlprQri~, ImaNuy IIftd Pafa"oia. Tralltl. by R. M. B&rclay, Edlnburgh 1921; G. L. DUYI'U5, Di, Md"nMllif, with PRI&ee by E. KIlA., .. LUf, Jena 1907; E. L. HO' .. W .. LL-A$H, MManliclif iPJE"'Y14ay Pt-lJdia, L:lDdou 1934 ; E . U,clUII..un.'s survey 1);, MIlsOlCltotilfr..,. i .. Liln4Jl4r 14"" S4tisli", MS. di.MeI"tation, Jena 1916; L. BIHSW.NG .... MeJ.PJduJlUl

$I"" Maif. Pfulli.D.geu 1960. .. I It is curious bow tbe&e literary commonplaoes in wWch 'melaocbol.y' is used as a mattu of course, at denoting a subjective mood, still echo the ancicut !Iledieal and cosmological correla.tions {see below, p. n.5J. I He"", IV, PT. I, I.iI, 88.