Arthur Friederich Theodor Bohnenberger

German, 1826 - 1893

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Created with fine black lines printed on an ivory-white paper, a winged woman sits with her head in one hand, surrounded by tools, a dog, and a baby-like, winged putto perched on a millstone, all in front of a distant landscape with a still body of water under an arched rainbow in this vertical engraving. Filling the lower right quadrant of the composition, the winged woman, Melencolia, sits with her body angled to our left, and she looks in that direction from under furrowed brows. Lit from our right, her face is cast in shadow, but she has a straight nose and her lips are closed. She wears a ring of leaves over hair that falls in waves over her shoulders. Wings curve up from her back, and she wears a long-sleeved dress with a tight bodice and a voluminous, pleated skirt. She rests her chin on one tightly closed fist. The other arm rests on a book in her lap, and she holds one of the two legs of a tall compass in that hand. Several keys hang on a ribbon looped onto her belt, and they nestle into the deep folds of her skirt. Around her feet are a purse cinched closed, several nails, the metal tip of a bellows, a saw, a plane, the end of a pair of pincers, an ink pot, a molder’s form for baseboards, and a round sphere about the size of a basketball. The dog lies in a tight circle to our left of Melencolia’s feet, its chin resting across its paws. The dog’s ribs show through the short fur of its hide. Next to the dog, the millstone leans against the building that fills the right half of the composition. The millstone is round and flat, is about the height of the woman's torso, and a hole is cut from its center. A chubby child sits atop the stone. It has short, curly hair, stubby wings, a loose robe, and it draws on a tablet propped on its lap. Beyond the child, a wooden ladder leans against the building, and a pair of scales hangs above his head. On the face of the building, hanging over Melencolia’s head, is an hourglass with the sand about halfway spent and a magic square, which is a grid of four rows and four columns. The numbers in the grid read, from left to right, 16, 3, 2, 13 in the top row; an upside down 5, a 10, 11, and 8 in the second row; a backward 9, a 6, 7, and 12 in the third row; and a 4, 15, 14, and 1 in the bottom row. A bell hangs from a ring above this grid. On the step beyond the sleeping dog and millstone, another large stone is carved into flat planes to create an irregular, geometric, rhomboid form about as tall as the millstone. A hammer lies in front of the rhomboid, and beyond it is a melting pot sitting among tongues of flame in a mug-like cup. In the upper left quadrant of the composition, a placid body of water leads back to a distant town and small boats, beneath a starburst that fills the sky. An arched rainbow crosses the sky over a rat-like bat with its sharp teeth and tongue showing. It holds a banner reading “MELENCOLIA I.” The artist signed and dated the engraving as if he had carved into the front face of the step on which Melencolia sits, near the lower right corner: “1514 AD,” with the uppercase D nestled between the long legs of the wide, uppercase A.
Albrecht Dürer, Melencolia I, 1514, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.3522

Melencolia I

Albrecht Dürer · 1514 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.3522

Albrecht Dürer, The Resurrection, 1512, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.3512

The Resurrection

Albrecht Dürer · 1512 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.3512

Albrecht Dürer, Saint Peter and Saint John Healing a Cripple at the Gate of the Temple, 1513, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.3513

Saint Peter and Saint John Healing a Cripple at the Gate of the Temple

Albrecht Dürer · 1513 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.3513

Albrecht Dürer, The Entombment, 1512, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.3510

The Entombment

Albrecht Dürer · 1512 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.3510

Albrecht Dürer, The Betrayal of Christ, 1508, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.3500

The Betrayal of Christ

Albrecht Dürer · 1508 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.3500

Albrecht Dürer, Christ in Limbo, 1512, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.3511

Christ in Limbo

Albrecht Dürer · 1512 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.3511

Albrecht Dürer, The Flagellation, 1512, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.3505

The Flagellation

Albrecht Dürer · 1512 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.3505

Albrecht Dürer, Christ on the Mount of Olives, 1508, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.3499

Christ on the Mount of Olives

Albrecht Dürer · 1508 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.3499

Albrecht Dürer, The Crucifixion, 1511, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.3502

The Crucifixion

Albrecht Dürer · 1511 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.3502

Albrecht Dürer, Christ before Pilate, 1512, engraving on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.3504

Christ before Pilate

Albrecht Dürer · 1512 · engraving on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.3504