Philosophy (from the Tarocchi, series C: Liberal Arts, #28) (before 1467): Art, History and Details

Philosophy (from the Tarocchi, series C: Liberal Arts, #28) (before 1467) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Master of the E-Series Tarocchi (Italian, active 1460s).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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, Philosofia (Philosophy) is personified as Athena, goddess of war and wisdom. She holds up a lance in her right hand, while with her left hand firmly grasps her aegis, a shield bearing Medusa’s head. This was believed to have the power of turning any opponent into stone.

Object facts

• Title: Philosophy (from the Tarocchi, series C: Liberal Arts, #28)
• Date: before 1467
• Creator attribution: Master of the E-Series Tarocchi (Italian, active 1460s)
• Culture: Italy, Ferrara, 15th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving, hand-colored with gold
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1924.432.28

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.