Tick-Tock

This Melencolia I highlights the physical effects like the temporary inability to move and a lost expression, which often comes with a melancholic mood. a deep, pensive and long-lasting sadness. Melencolia I has numerous philosophical interpretations, one of them is it portrayed the artist's frustration on not being able to unlock the secrets of nature.

Inside this engraving, a emaciated hound (which at first sight I thought it was a sheep) is sleeping on the ground next to the brooding winged woman. On the wall behind her, we can see a magic square consisted of 16 numbers, an hourglass, a weighing scale, and a bell. The date 1514 can be found at the two bottom cells of the magic square. There is a putto dozing off on a wheel, which rests on the adjoining wall. A ladder and a huge stone of indefinable shape are also placed near it. In the background, on the left, there is a comet shining bright just under a rainbow. We can also see a chimera there carrying a flag with the title Melencolia I written on it.

The "I" is disputable. Some say it represents roman numeral one and some say it means Imaginative (which means Imagination).

For me, the most amazing part is the magic square. No matter how you add the number horizontally, vertically or diagonally, the sum is always equal to 34, which I find it quite amazing. There are other ways too to get the sum 34. If you want to know more, please click here. Somehow I feel that the 9 was engraved in a strange way, for me it looks more to a question mark without a point . Ha, ok enough crap.

It's just amazing, don't you find it? I am reading Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol and I came across this. Indeed, we still don't really get what the engraver wanted to convey. Does this hide something which had been lost for centuries? It's upon you to imagine that.

For more info, you can check it in Wikipedia or google it.