In Albert Dürer's engraving Melencolia I, an angel sits in the middle of a construction site, surrounded by hammers, planes and geometrical devices. It wears a dark and withdrawn countenance while Saturn radiates nocturnal light over the ocean behind. The engraving suggests a mysteriously balanced stillness between opposites. Dürer's angel is winged, yet immobile and heavy. The bell is silent and the tools are at rest. There is an hourglass containing equal amounts of spent and unspent sand. On the wall, below the bell, hangs a "magic square" of numbers arranged in rows of four: they always add up to 34, whether counted vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

The joy of sadness

View Melencolia

Magical texts