The statue in alchemy

Statues have been associated with spirituality since earliest recorded time to the present-day. From the Minoan Age and throughout the Mediterranean world of antiquity, statuettes of gods in human or animal shape were carved from terracotta, bronze, wood, or stone. Inanimate objects were worshipped for their supposed magical powers or because they were considered to be inhabited by a spirit. Unsurprisingly therefore, the statue has several, if varied roles within the western esoteric traditions of hermeticism and alchemy.

In the Corpus Hermeticum, a mixture of  Egyptian, Greek and Gnostic wisdom texts originating from the early era of Christianity, a dialogue between the mythic sage Hermes Trismegistus and Asclepius occurs. Trismegistus celebrates humankind’s ability for learning the art of “god-making” – making statues come alive by drawing divine powers into them, stating-

TRISMEGISTUS : But the figures of gods that humans form have been shaped from both natures - from the divine, which is purer and more divine by far, and from the material of which they are built, whose nature falls short of the human - and they represent not only the heads but all the limbs and the whole body. Always mindful of its nature and origin, humanity persists in imitating divinity, representing its gods in semblance of its own features, just as the father and master made his gods eternal to resemble him.

ASCLEPIUS : Are you talking about statues, Trismegistus ?

TRISMEGISTUS : Statues, Asclepius, yes. See how little trust you have! 

I mean statues ensouled and conscious, filled with spirit and doing great deeds; statues that foreknow the future and predict it by lots, by prophecy, by dreams and by many other means; statues that make people ill and cure them, bringing them pain and pleasure as each deserves’. [1]

After being damaged in an earthquake in 27 BCE, one of the colossi of Memnon, twin statues of the ruler Amenhotep III (14th century BCE), were believed to emit sound. Many travelers throughout antiquity travelled to Egypt to visit Amenhotep’s statue in the hope of hearing it, including Roman Emperors. The Greek historian Strabo, the travelogue author Pausanias and the Roman satirist Juvenal, all claimed to have heard Amenhotep’s statue. Pausanias compared its sound to 'the string of a lyre breaking’, Strabo reported it sounding, 'like a blow', but its sound was also likened to the striking of brass or whistling.

The seminal Swiss psychologist, C.G. Jung in Mysterium coniunctionis (1956) observed - ‘the statue plays a mysterious role in ancient alchemy’[2]. Jung noted the medieval cleric Thomas Norton (1433-1513) in his Ordinall of Alchemy depicts the seven metals/planets as statues. In the anthology of alchemical texts Aurora Consurgens (1566) Mother Alchemy or mater alchemia is portrayed as a statue of different metals, as are the seven statues in the writings of Raymund Lully. In the German Rosicrucian Michael Maier’s Symbola aureae mensae (1617) the protagonist on his peregrinations through the continents encounters a statue of Mercurius with a golden head who indicates the direction of Paradise.

Commenting upon the biblical verse, ‘And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house’. (Genesis 28: 22) C.G. Jung theorized- ‘If our conjecture is correct, the statue could therefore be the Cabbalistic equivalent of the lapis philosophorum.’ [3] In agreement with the Gnostic’s teaching that the biblical Adam was a  'corporeal or 'lifeless' statue, Jung concluded his survey of the statue’s role in alchemy stating- 

‘The statue stands for the inert materiality of Adam, who still needs an animating soul; it is thus a symbol for one of the main preoccupations of alchemy’. [4]

Statues, as C.G. Jung detected, are often encountered in alchemical themed artwork and literature, frequently within the setting of a rose garden, sometimes speaking or guiding the questing adept or even emitting an ethereal light from their eyes. The alchemical operations of thawing and warming in order to bestow life upon the inert, readily lent itself to the notion of statues coming alive.

The alchemical author J. D. Mylius (c.1583 -1642) in his Philosophia Reformata (1622) stated –'It is a great mystery to create souls, and to mould the lifeless body into a living statue.’  In the first of the illustrated series of Philosophia Reformata (above) a group of alchemists drink wine from statues which spout wine. When intoxicated with vinum nostrum (our wine) they walk into the dark corners of a mountain in order to begin the task of mining the prima materia from the rock, intending to refine its impure metals into gold.

There's several other instances of the statue’s animation and relationship to the esoteric in the arts. In Shakespeare’s late drama The Winter's Tale, a statue by,  ‘that rare Italian master, Julio Romano’, of Queen Hermione, who in reality only imitates being a statue, comes to life. [5] 

The statue’s  transcendent ability to symbolically communicate the invisible is alluded to in Sir Thomas Browne’s discourse The Garden of Cyrus  in his numerological consideration that -

‘in their groves of the Sun this was a fit number, by multiplication to denote the days of the year; and might Hieroglyphically speak as much, as the mystical Statua of Janus in the Language of his fingers’.

Perhaps the most dramatic of all tales of statues coming to life occurs in the opera Don Giovanni (K527). Mozart’s anti-hero, hastily returning home through a graveyard at night after an amorous escapade, encounters a statue. He dismissively invites it to dinner. In one of the most intense and psychologically loaded acts in the entire operatic repertoire, the statue of the Commendatore  calls upon the Don knocking loud at his door. Failing to persuade the Don to repent from his dissolute lifestyle, the Stone Guest requests the Don shake hands with him. Locking his hand in an icy, unbreakable grip, the Stone Guest drags theunrepentant Don Giovanni down into the infernal regions.

The many and varied roles the statue plays in the esoteric arts is suggestive that the four statuettes of Christopher Layer’s funerary monument in the church of Saint John's at Maddermarket, Norwich, with their thinly-veiled planetary and elemental symbolism, are superb examples of the statue’s role in spiritual alchemy. For, to repeat, the reviving of the inert, inanimate soul of man plays an important part in the alchemist’s quest to animate the spiritual man within. If conjecture has substance, Mercurius the guiding psychopomp of alchemy who is frequently depicted standing upon a rotundum to denote his world-wide influence in alchemical iconography, is alluded to on the Layer monument in the shape of Vanitas, who is portrayed as a playful, bubble-blowing child upon a rotundum. [6]

Notes

[1] Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius

Brian P. Copenver 1995 Cambridge University Press

[2] CW 14 :  The Statue,  paragraphs  559 -569

[3]  Ibid.

[4]  Ibid.

[5]  The Winter’s Tale Act 5 scene 2

[6] Examples include- Figurarum Aegyptorum secretarum (Ms. 18th c) and Canari Le imagini de I dei  (1581) in C. G. Jung CW vol. 12 illustrations 164 and 165

That Vulcan gave Arrows unto Apollo and Diana

What is more beautiful than the Quincunx, which, however one views it, presents straight lines.

- Quintilian

Just how Sir Thomas Browne’s discourse The Garden of Cyrus (1658) has not been recognised as one of the greatest examples of the influence of hermetic philosophy in English literature, remains a mystery. The very opening page of Browne's discourse includes no less than six major themes, symbols and preoccupations associated with hermetic philosophy and alchemy. Opening with highly original proper-name symbolism, alluding to the patron "deity" associated with Paracelsian alchemy, featuring Browne’s study of comparative religion along with his distinctive spiritual optical imagery, speculating upon the Creation and life’s beginnings, alluding to the potent alchemical symbol of the conjunctio of Sol et Luna and citing Plato’s influential discourse, the Timaeus, Browne could not spell out his esoteric inclinations to his reader more emphatically.

Unsurprisingly, because of its esoteric theme, the reception and literary appreciation of The Garden of Cyrus over the past three hundred and fifty years, has been little more than a potted history of the many prejudices, misapprehensions and hostilities surrounding the hermetic arts. Within twenty years of the first publication of the discourse, the theologian Richard Baxter opposed Browne's Neopythagorean and Neoplatonic vision, declaring to newly-ordained priests in 1678 -

'You shall have more.. solid truth than those in their learned Network treatises'. 

Though appreciative of the stoic gloom and doom of Urn-Burial, Victorians literary critics considered The Garden of Cyrus to be an aberration of the imagination, and the  publishing practice began, utterly against Browne's creative intentions, of dissecting his literary diptych and printing Urn-Burial separately, an erroneous trend which persists to this day. [1] Even Walter Pater a leading literary critic of Victorian England complained of  Browne’s Platonic inclinations - 

'his fancy carries him off it into some kind of chimeric frivolousness here'. 

Edmund Gosse was another who detested it,  petulantly stating -  

'gathering his forces it is Quincunx, Quincunx, all the way until the very sky itself is darkened with revolving Chess-boards' 

Yet Gosse also conceded, - 'this radically bad book contains some of the most lovely paragraphs which passed from an English pen during the seventeenth Century'. 

Literary critics have however  rarely been cognizant of the pervasive influence of the hermetic arts, or the vitality of the esoteric during the 1650’s decade. The decade of the Protectorate of Cromwell saw a ‘boom-period’ in the publication of esoteric literature, encouraged by a relaxation in printing-laws and the psychological Endzeitpsychosis of the era. There can be as few readers now, as in 1658, who have any idea of the artistic motivation behind Browne's penning a Pythagorean hymn in praise of the number five and Quincunx pattern during England’s short-lived Republic. Only his contemporary, the solitary figure of the Welsh alchemist Thomas Vaughan (c.1621-65) may have been aware of the hermetic content of Browne's literary diptych. Alluding to the dominant symbol of each respective Discourse, Vaughan described alchemy’s elusive Mercurius as -

‘our true, hidden vessel, the Philosophical Garden, wherein our sun rises and sets'.

In many ways The Garden of Cyrus with its allusions to astrology, Egyptology, the philosophy of Plato and Pythagoras, the cabbala, physiognomy and Paracelsus, is a condensed compendium of  esoteric lore. Its central chapter also features Browne’s contribution to the emerging new science. Dozens of sharp-sighted, detailed and meticulously recorded botanical observations are recorded. Like other alchemist-physicians, Browne was fascinated with life's beginnings. Many observations and speculations upon embryology, germination and generation dominate the central chapter of the discourse.

The Garden of Cyrus opens with the Creation being likened to the alchemical opus - God himself is viewed as a cosmic alchemist.

 'That Vulcan gave arrows unto Apollo and Diana the fourth day after their Nativities, according to Gentile Theology, may pass for no blind apprehension of the Creation of the Sun and Moon, in the work of the fourth day; When the diffused light contracted into Orbs, and shooting rays, of those Luminaries.'

This extraordinary, literally cosmic, opening, besides naming the Roman god nominated by Paracelsus as representative of the alchemical art and introducing the important themes of Light and Space, also features Browne’s study of comparative religion. Browne detected that the ancient Greek myth which describes the god of fire Vulcan donating arrows, i.e. Light, to Apollo and Diana, as recorded in the Fabulae of Hyginus [2] was a Creation myth in which -just like in the Biblical account of the Creation - Light appears upon the fourth Day. (And God said Let there be Light. Genesis 1:3). The ancient Greek myth in Browne’s view was no blind apprehension but confirmation of the Biblical account of the Creation.

Browne reconciled the wisdom of antiquity to Christianity in exactly the same way as Renaissance scholars Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola, by giving credence of a Pricia Theologia, that is a belief in a single, true theology  threading through all religions, passed in a golden chain through a series of mystics and prophets, including Zoroaster, Pythagoras and Plato. In particular, the mythic Hermes Trismegistus was believed to be a wise pagan prophet who foresaw the coming of Christianity. Christianity appropriated hermetic teaching for their own purposes, proposing that Hermes Trismegistus  or ‘thrice greatest’ on account of his being the greatest priest, philosopher and king, was a contemporary of Moses. Such imaginative comparative religion not only justified the study of philosophers such as Pythagoras and Plato, but also sanctioned the antiquity, wisdom and superiority of the Bible to devout Christians. 

Proceeding on from 'plainer descriptions' by 'pagan pens' Browne next acknowledges the primary  source of another influential Creation myth, Plato's discourse the Timaeus.

Plainer Descriptions there are from Pagan pens, of the creatures of the fourth day; While the divine Philosopher unhappily omitteth the noblest part of the third;

With its myth of the lost civilization of Atlantis, description of the Eternal Forms and proposal that the world was a living being possessing a soul - the anima mundi  or World-Soul, Plato’s Timaeus, first translated in 1462 by Marsilio Ficino, wielded a Bible-like authority amongst thinkers, artists and mystics throughout the Renaissance. The Timaeus was an enormous influence upon the imagination of alchemist and hermetic philosopher alike, in particular for its advocacy of a World-Soul or Universal Spirit in Nature. Browne speculated upon the existence of the anima mundi in Religio Medici thus-

'Now besides these particular and divided Spirits, there may be (for ought I know) an universal and common Spirit to the whole world. It was the opinion of Plato, and is yet of the Hermeticall philosophers; if there be a common nature that unites and ties the scattered and divided individuals into one species, why may there not be  one that unites them all?'  [3] 

Throughout his literary diptych, Browne displays an uncommon familiarity with Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher’s writings being well-represented in his vast library. Browne even describes the 'father of western mysticism' with the self-same phrase as Ficino and John Dee, calling him  the divine philosopher. (Divine pertaining to Plato’s theology rather than the modern term of adulation). The influence of Platonic thought looms large throughout The Garden of Cyrus, in particular the Greek philosopher’s advancing of the anima mundi or Universal Spirit permeating Nature. 

According to C.G. Jung -

The alchemist thought he knew better than anyone else that, at the Creation, at least a little bit of divinity, the anima mundi, entered into material things and was caught there'. [4] 

Just as the diptych companion discourse Urn-Burial depicts the human soul trapped within the corporeal body, so too in The Garden of Cyrus Browne endeavours to demonstrate that the anima mundi or World-Soul is imprisoned in nature, alluding to the anima mundi or World-Soul on several occasions.

In the 'Great Work' of alchemy the initial dark nigredo stage is followed by the albedo or whitening phase and the light of illumination. While Urn-Burial represents the nigredo, its antithesis The Garden of Cyrus represents the albedo and the growth of consciousness. According to Jung-

'By means of the opus which the adept likens to the creation of the world, the albedo or whitening is produced.' [5]  

Starting from the Garden of Eden Browne traces the ubiquity of the Quincunx pattern, firstly as a method of planting to the ancients. The Garden of Eden was a favourite symbol in Christian iconography of Paradise. Its early appearance in The Garden of Cyrus as representing the albedo stage of Browne's literary mandala, is confirmed by Jung's observation that-

For the alchemists Paradise was a favourite symbol of the albedo, the regained state of innocence.[6]

Gardens are often mentioned in alchemical literature. At their highest level they symbolize civilization and man's mastery of Nature, as well as being symbolic of pleasure, Nature's beauty, Order and Rationality, themes highly relevant to Browne's discourse. 

The densely-packed symbolism and imagery of the opening paragraph of The Garden of Cyrus also alludes to the potent symbol of the alchemical opus, the hierosgamos, or sacred wedding, or Conjunctio of Sol et Luna.  Sun and moon are among the most psychologically potent of all symbols, encapsulating nature's greatest division (male and female) as well as the active and passive, light and dark, and consciousness and unconsciousness. Browne’s usage of this commonplace symbol is another strong clue to the alchemical nature of The Garden of Cyrus. Allusion to the alchemical conjunction occurs throughout the discourse in images and symbols drawn from nature, mythology and the esoteric. 

There is also a Gnostic element in Browne’s literary mandala in the highly original usage of optical imagery of light and darkness.The basic mandala of Gnosticism and alchemy, the Ouroboros can also be detected as a template of the diptych. Throughout Urn-Burial  imagery of shade and darkness abounds. As the nigredo stage of the alchemical opus, the discourse is 'lost in the uncomfortable night of nothing' as Browne succinctly defines it. In contradistinction, throughout The Garden of Cyrus imagery of light including starry, astral imagery is replete. At its apotheosis, the short revelatory rudebo phase of scientific certainty is ushered by the demiurge figure of Vulcan, before a final coda and a circular return of night, darkness and doubt which concludes the discourse.

Browne develops his theme of optical imagery in The Garden of Cyrus in a rapturous, cosmic outburst, concluding with a subtle, humorous observation.

Darkness and light hold interchangeable dominions, and alternately rule the seminal state of things. Light unto Pluto is darkness unto Jupiter. Legions of seminal Idæa's lie in their second Chaos and Orcus of Hippocrates; till putting on the habits of their forms, they shew themselves upon the stage of the world, and open dominion of Jove. They that held the Stars of heaven were but rayes and flashing glimpses of the Empyreal light, through holes and perforations of the upper heaven, took of the natural shadows of stars, while according to better discovery the poor Inhabitants of the Moone have but a polary life, and must passe half their days in the shadow of that Luminary.

The concept of polarity (a word introduced by Browne into English language in its scientific context) is an essential component of much esoteric symbolism. The opposites and their union were a fundamental quest of Hermetic philosopher and alchemist alike. Browne’s literary diptych, like all good mandalas of any psychological depth, is a complex of opposites or complexio oppositorum  in imagery, truths and symbols. It corresponds well to the polarity of the Micro-Macro schemata of Hermeticism in which the little world of man and his mortality (as in Urn-Burial ) is mirrored by the vast Macrocosm of the Eternal forms in The Garden of Cyrus. The alchemical maxim solve et coagula (decay and growth) also closely approximates the respective themes of the diptych. The Gnostic progression from darkness and unknowingness to Light and awareness using optical imagery has already been noted. The alchemical feat of palingenesis, the revivification of a plant from its ashes, as reputedly performed by the Swiss alchemist Paracelsus is another alchemical template upon which the Discourses may be considered to bear comparison. The funerary ashes of Urn-Burial burst into  flower in the botanical delights of The Garden of Cyrus. 

Browne’s hermetic vision of the interconnection of Nature via the closely related symbols of the Quincunx pattern, the  number five and the figure X  - identify The Garden of Cyrus, however much previously misunderstood, as a quintessential work of Hermeticism. The ambitious mission of its author is synonymous with the ultimate quest of alchemists and hermetic philosophers alike, to redeem mankind from the dark prison of  ignorance and unknowingness (as portrayed in Urn-Burial) towards recognition of the wisdom of God in number, shape and archetype, all of which are somewhat breathlessly delineated in The Garden of Cyrus.  

In an era of considerable psychological stress and uncertainty, the Quincunx pattern in The Garden of Cyrus assumes a spiritual, mandala-like significance, suggestive that Browne believed he had been permitted to glimpse into Nature's highest arcarna and thus acquire the wisdom of the Stone of the Philosophers no less. Browne’s fixation with the Quincunx pattern may therefore be interpreted as none other than his recognition of a symbol of totality and wholeness - the Unio mentalis or self-knowledge of the alchemists. As ever the foremost interpreter of alchemy in the 20th century, C.G.Jung places Sir Thomas Browne's creativity in clearer perspective, helpfully and tantalizingly Jung notes -

'The quinarius or Quino (in the form of 4 + 1 i.e. Quincunx) does occur as  as symbol of wholeness (in china and occasionally in alchemy) but relatively rarely'. 

Crucially, in words utterly apt to Browne's creativity in The Garden of Cyrus C.G.Jung observed- 

 Intellectual responsibility seems always to have been the alchemists weak spot... The less respect they showed for the bowed shoulders of the sweating reader, the greater was their debt.. to the unconscious. The alchemists were so steeped in their inner experiences, that their whole concern was to devise fitting images and expressions regardless whether they were intelligible or not. They performed the  inestimable service of having constructed a phenomenology of the unconscious long before the advent of psychology. The alchemists did not really know what they were writing about, Whether we know today seems to me not altogether sure. [7]

 Notes

[1] American academic Stephen Greenblatt's recent edition perpetuates this error.

[2] Section 140 in Hyginus Fabulae listed in 1711 Sales Catalogue page.13 no.35 

[3] Religio Medici Part  I Section 32

[4]CW 14 764 

[5] CW 9 ii: 230

[6]  CW 9 ii: 372.

[7] CW 16:497

This essay has been roughly hammered out in time for my mother's birthday and the anniversary of Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus. Both discourses have dedicatory epistles dated May 1st Norwich.

Hubert Gerhard

The angle from which Hubert Gerhard's highly dramatic sculpture Perseus and Medusa (above) has been photographed highlights quintessential characteristics associated with late Mannerist art - violent and/or erotic subject-matter, often within a mythological setting, startling imagery of striking impact and psychological depth, and the utilization of a distorted or unusual perspective.

The myths of antiquity became increasingly popular during the Renaissance. The Greek myth of Perseus rescuing Andromeda for example was painted by many artists in the latter half of the sixteenth century. Another popular myth as subject-matter in art, and equally dramatic, was that of the hero Perseus and  his encounter with the hideous, serpent-haired gorgon Medusa. Whoever gazed upon Medusa's face immediately turned into stone. Perseus however, successfully avoided such a fate and decapitated her. 

Like several other artists of his generation, the Dutch sculptor Hubert Gerhard (b. Hertogenbosch c.1550-1620) left his homeland as a young man, probably to escape from the political upheavals and iconoclasm experienced by the Netherlands circa 1566-67. Gerhard moved to Italy, training how to design and cast bronze sculptures in Florence in the circle of Giambologna, who heavily influenced his style. Gerhard's dominant subject-matter, as with many Northern Mannerist artists, was the mythological gods of antiquity. His early patrons, the banking family the Fuggers of Ausgsburg, commissioned Gerhard to create for their castle at Kirchheim, a mantelpiece, bronze ornaments for a fountain of Mars and Venus and a bronze on a base bordered by fantastic imagery.

While at Augsburg, Gerhard first met the Florentine-trained artist, Friedrich Sustris (1540-1599). When Sustris became the artistic superintendent for Wilhelm V of Bavaria (1548-1626) he persuaded Gerhard to live in Munich, where the sculptor duly resided from 1584 to 1597. Gerhard created large bronzes for  the fountain, garden and grotto of Wilhelm's ducal palace. He prepared the monumental bronze St. Michael Vanquishing Lucifer that adorns the façade of the Jesuit church of St. Michael's in Munich and with Carlo's assistance he also made about fifty over life-size terracotta statues of saints and angels which line the interior of St. Michael's church.

With the financial crisis of 1597, which forced Wilhelm V to abdicate, Gerhard and most of the court's artists were suddenly unemployed. Between 1599 and 1613 Gerhard next worked under the patronage of Archduke Maximilian III of Austria, first in Bad Mergentheim and then in Innsbruck. Unlike Wilhelm V however, Maximilian III commissioned mostly small-scale bronzes, including equestrian portraits and mythological statuettes, in addition to his tomb and other projects.

In 1602 Gerhard added two bronze sculptures to the Augustus fountain in Augsburg in which the four rivers of the city are represented by statues of four river gods around the fountain's basin, the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II when viewing  them critically said  -

 the workmanship is subtle and pure, but the positioning of the figures is rather poor. Master Adriaen, as his Imperial Majesty's sculptor is far more accomplished in this. 

Rudolf's withering remark highlights the rivalry which existed between two art-loving connoisseurs, for at the time Gerhard was employed by Rudolf's younger brother, Archduke Maximilian III of Austria, while his contemporary Adriaen de Vries (1556-1626) was resident sculptor for  Rudolf II.

Gerhard returned to Munich in 1613, where he worked until his death seven years later.

Although Gerhard worked primarily in the medium of bronze he also sculptured in terracotta a quartet of personifications of the seasons. In Gerhard's set of four figurines Spring sits holding a cornucopia or horn or plenty, Summer also female, holds a sheaf of corn, Autumn is represented by a cheerful, wine-drinking youth, while a care-worn, bearded old man personifies Winter.

                                                                                                                           

There's an extraordinary affinity to certain themes and imagery encountered in Gerhard's Four Seasons to the four marble figurines of the Layer monument (anon. Norwich, circa 1600). Intriguingly, Hubert's quartet  are also a complex of opposites in their juxtaposition of classical antiquity and contemporary figures, mortal and deity, male and female, youth and age, pleasure and suffering. Gerhard's sculptures are therefore valuable pieces in completing the jigsaw puzzle of identification of the stylistic source and possible sculptor of the Layer monument's quartet of figurines.

Another remarkable affinity of style occurs between Gerhard's sculpture of the mythological sea-god Neptune (below) and the figurine of Labor (figure higher up on the right here) of the Layer monument. Dating little more than a decade apart, both figures are depicted with wrinkled brows, gnarled high cheek-bones, care-worn expressions and shaggy tufted, highly-stylized designer beards.

Neptune 

The combined factors of close chronology, Gerhard's predilection for producing sculpture in groups of four, his juxtaposition of figures from Classical antiquity alongside the contemporary, as in his allegorical personifications of  Four Seasons, are indicative of an affinity between him and the anonymous sculptor of the Layer monument. However, the quality of artistry, the sculptural medium of marble and geographical distance make it fairly unlikely that the four figurines of the Layer monument were carved by Gerhard, who worked primarily in bronze. In any event Gerard's essentially Northern Mannerist art retains an affinity in subject-matter and style to the Layer monument's figurines. Indeed, as its recorded that Gerhard maintained a workshop with apprentices named as Colin and Alexander Kaspar Gras, it's possible the four figurines of the Layer monument share not only the esoteric template of the quaternity with Gerhard's Four Seasons, but may originate from a workshop closely associated with the Dutch sculptor. 

Notes

I  have no qualms in admitting that most of this post is copied from Wikipedia, for upon discovering it had no entry on  Hubert Gerhard  I wrote one, based and indebted to this review -

Hubert Gerhard und Carlo di Cesare del Palagio: Bronzeplastiker der Spätrenaissance (review)
Jeffrey Chipps Smith
From: Renaissance Quarterly
Volume 59, Number 1, Spring 2006
pp. 241-243

Link to page of sculpture by  Hubert Gerhard

Edward Browne at the Court of Emperor Leopold

Emperor Leopold I in costume as Acis in La Galatea.

After his continental medical studies based at Padua, Montpellier and Leyden circa 1627-30, Sir Thomas Browne hardly ever left the city of Norwich, other than in a professional capacity, usually when visiting patients residing at one of the many ancient seats of the gentry scattered throughout Norfolk's wealthy farming hinterland.

In contrast to his father, Dr. Browne's eldest son, Edward Browne (1644-1708) travelled extensively before settling down to marriage and establishing a medical practise in London. Edward Browne was educated at Cambridge and became first a Fellow, and eventually the President of the Royal College of Physicians. He possessed characteristic traits associated with a youthful traveller - an insatiable curiosity towards the natural world including its people and their customs, the linguistic skills necessary to relate to all, and letters of introduction and relevant social connections to open doors and receive hospitality. Wherever Edward Browne travelled he acted as the ears and eyes of his stay-at-home father, keeping him informed in regular correspondence.

In total Edward Browne made three long journeys. In the first he travelled to Italy and came home through France. In 1668 he sailed from Yarmouth to Rotterdam visiting Leyden, Amsterdam and Utrecht, ending his journey at Cologne. His next destination was Vienna. Using the Hapsburg capital as a base he visited the mines of Hungary and travelled as far as Styria and Carinthia in southern Austria and Thessaly in Greece. Its in correspondence while in Thessaly that a strong reaction of parental anxiety and concern by his loving and indulgent parent's towards Edward Browne's proposal to travel as far as Turkey can be detected. His last European tour was in 1673, visiting Cologne, Aix-la-Chapelle, Liege, Louvain, Ghent and Bruges. Returning home, Edward Browne published a small quarto travelogue, the full title of which gives some indication of his wide travels - A Brief Account of some Travels in Hungaria, Styria, Bulgaria, Thessaly, Austria, Serbia, Carynthia, Carniola, and Friuli (1673). All three of Edward Browne's travelogues were published together in 1686. [1]

There seems to be a close, if not  always an intellectual affinity, then a deep respect, between several notable alchemist-physician father and eldest son's during the late Renaissance. The author of the highly influential esoteric treatise, the Monas Hieroglyphica (1564) John Dee and his son Arthur (1579-1651), the alchemy dictionary compiler's the Ruland's, both confusingly named Martin, the Dutch alchemist and scientist Jean-Baptise Helmont (1580-1644) who saddled his son with the name of Mercurius and Sir Thomas Browne and his eldest son, Edward Browne, all had a close father-son relationship.

Like the Dee's, both father and son, the Browne's moved in the highest social circles. John Dee had enjoyed Queen Elizabeth's friendship and secured through King James I employment for his son as a physician to the Romanov Czar Mikhail, a position held by Arthur for 14 years in Moscow.  When Charles II (1630-85) visited Norwich in 1677, he not only knighted Sir Thomas Browne, but also made a social call upon the learned doctor at home. Browne's eldest son Edward Browne latter became a Royal physician at Charles' court, and an associate to the Monarch. It should not therefore be too surprising that, when in Vienna during his travels, Edward Browne met the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I (1640-1705). While resident at Vienna Edward Browne also met Peter Lambeck (1628-80) a German historian and Library Keeper of the Imperial Library. Leopold I, like his Hapsburg predecessors, Maximilian I and Rudolf II, was a connoisseur of the arts and learning, which naturally included book-collecting. Leopold also had a taste for music, composing several oratorios and suites of dances. The Dutch painter Jan Thomas van Leperen painted a full-length portrait of him wearing a flamboyant theatrical costume (above).

In his Account of Several Travels through a Great Part of Germany (1677) [2] Edward Browne first describes Leopold, then recounts how his father's Religio Medici was read and admired by the Emperor.

His Person is grave and graceful; he hath the Austrian Lip remarkably, his Chin long, which is taken for a good Physiognomical mark, and a sign of a constant, placid, and little troubled mind. He is conceived to carry in his Face the lineaments of four of his Predecessours, that is, of Ruolphus the First, of Maximilian the First, of Charles the Fifth, and Ferdinand the First. He speaks four Languages, German, Italian, Spanish, and Latin. He is a great countenancer of Learned Men, and delighteth to read, and when occasion permitteth, will pass some hours at it.... The worthy Petrus Lambecius his Library Keeper, and who is in great esteem with him, will usually find out some Books for him which he conceiveth may be acceptable. While I was there he recommended a Translation of Religio Medici unto him, wherewith the Emperour was exceedingly pleased, and spake very much of it unto Lambecius, insomuch that Lambecius asked me whether I knew the Author, he being of my own name, and whether he were living: And when he understood my near Relation to him, he became more kind and courteous than ever, and desired me to send him that Book in the Original English, which he would put into the Emperors Library:

Just like the Holy Roman Emperors Maximilian I and Rudolf II before him, Leopold I held a particular interest in hermetic philosophy, alchemy and astrology. During the winter of 1668 Edward Browne was granted permission by Leopold's librarian Peter Lambeck to collate a 'curious catalogue of some hundreds of alchymical manuscripts' from the archives of the Viennese Imperial library, ostensibly for the benefit of the Royal Society of London. Browne senior, upon hearing of his son's access and research of alchemical-related literature at the Imperial Library, composed and sent his son a short verse in Latin; a verse which reveals the highly moral attitude which Sir Thomas Browne held towards the study of alchemy, as well as perhaps a hint to his son to notify him if unearthing any rare esoteric literature.

To one who would study the Occult and inside of his Gold, 
and upon looking to please not only himself

Persian Gold I wish for you

And the finest Alexandrian and Imperial Gold I wish you too

But look beyond the image to the inside of the metal

Nor let your treasure-chest be richer than your mind.

Notes

Top picture -  Leopold I in costume as Acis in La Galatea
by Jan Thomas van Leperen (1667)

[1]  Brown's Travels 1686  - Sales Catalogue page 46 no. 103
[2] Dr. Edward Brown's Travels thro' Germany, with fig. 1677 - Sales Catalogue page 47 no. 40

Link to Edward Browne's Travels through Germany (1677)

Stairway to Sublimation

In the foreground of an illustration found in Alchemia (1606) by Andreas Libavius (above) two lions clash, locked in fusion upon impact they share one conjoined head. Together they emit a powerful, vaporous blast. The two duelling lions are framed by a series of rampant lions ascending a stairway. At the top of the ziggurat pyramid sit  King Sol and Queen Luna enthroned. Above at the apex there is a verdant tree. Seven  planetary stars hover above it.

Andrea Libavius (1555-1616) was a German physician and university lecturer whose major work Alchemia (1597) became a European best-seller which went through several editions in his life-time. Although described as the first systematic chemistry-book, book two of its six books is entitled A dialogue on the Philosophical Mercurius, while book three discusses Azoth, an arcane name for the mercury of the philosophers and universal spirit of the world.  In both chapters all such mysticism is roundly condemned as detrimental to the true advancement of the science of chemistry.

Like many transitional figures in the late Renaissance Andreas Libavius was Janus-like intellect who advanced practical knowledge of chemistry while retaining a belief in the transmutation of metals. He vigorously attacked the ideas of Paracelsus as harmful to the development of chemistry, yet was well-versed in mystical Paracelsian thought himself. Libavius also reproduces in Alchemia John Dee's highly influential glyph in Monas Hieroglyphica, a series of theorems upon  the mystical symbol dedicated to Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian I in 1564.

The pages of Alchemia are a curious conglomerate on practical advice on how to prepare and use chemicals, in particular strong, corrosive acids, alongside illustrations on how to acquire the Stone of the Philosophers (above). Because acids were important for purifying, separating and cleansing metals, in alchemical literature they were often likened to lions for their dangerous and devouring properties. Sulphuric acid, also known as ‘oil of vitriol’ in the sixteenth century was popular amongst followers of the Swiss alchemist Paracelsus (1493-1541) while precipitation of silver from nitric acid solutions baffled and fascinated alchemists of the era.

The startling image of two lions locked in fusion is characteristic of Northern Mannerist art which often employed bizarre imagery from esoteric sources. The image can also be found in the frontispiece of the cosmic mandala of Opus medico-chymicum (1618) by J. D. Mylius (1583-1642) and in his Philosophia  Reformata (1622) below. Such explicitly shared symbolism suggests that the artist of Philosophia Reformata is directly alluding to the original two-in-one lion imagery of Alchemia.

Symbolism involving the lion has a rich and complex history. Because it is essentially a symbol of the self, the lion has many, even contradictory meanings. At its highest level its symbolism is associated with Kingship, Nobility, Dignity, Bravery and the Hero. These archetypal qualities are reflected in the historical figure of  King Richard the Lionheart and in modern times in the popularity of characters in films such as  The Wizard of Oz (1939) in which a cowardly lion quests for a heart and the The Lion King (1994).  On a lower level the lion symbolically represents the animal passions, blood-lust, fierceness, violence and (an aural  pun here) raw nature.

The index to C.G. Jung's Mysterium Coniunctionis (1955-56) lists over 50 references to lions, including as a symbol of Christ and the devil. Symbols can easily absorb such paradox for like the human psyche they are paradoxical in nature. The Lion features among the archetypes of the animal-circle, the Zodiac and in Christianity's major re-synthesis of astrology for its own purpose - in the four-fold symbol of the tetramorph the Lion represents Saint Mark and the strength of Christ. Because of its association with Kingship and Royalty the Lion is also emblematic of kingdoms as well as cities such as Venice, Heidelberg and Norwich.

Whenever two lions are encountered in alchemical symbolism, often in the form of the Green and the Red Lion, the clash of opposites within the human psyche as well as the reconciled and united antagonists are evoked. In the extraordinary illustration in Alchemia rampant lions are seen ascending a stairway, a common symbol of spiritual ascent throughout world religion iconography. The scaled ascent suggests that the initial conflict may  need to be repeated several times before reaching a final sublimation and harmony, as represented by Sol et Luna. With its bestial, lower nature and higher noble nature, the two lions is a fitting symbol of the warring factions at conflict in the human psyche, and exemplary of the depth and understanding of the human condition by alchemists with their  arcane symbolism. Not unlike the  the Mermaid, the two lions in their dual role of healing and harmful are a lesser-known symbol of the elusive 'deity' of alchemy, Mercurius.

Returning to the alchemists and early chemists of the late 16^th and 17^th centuries who investigated nature’s properties, one shudders to think of the possible great minds whose lives may have ended prematurely through dabbling in unknown, hidden hazards while experimenting. Such speculative thinking lays at the heart of the stoical meditations of Browne’s Urn-Burial.

Who knows whether the best of men be remembered, or whether other remarkable persons may have been forgotten ?

Browne and early scientists such as Libavius occasionally and unwittingly one suspects, courted harm in their examination of the physical properties of nature, which includes poisons and toxic substances, fungi and corrosive acids for example. The novice and would-be alchemist are warned of the hidden dangers in  alchemical experimentation in the tract Aurelia Occulta.

I am the poison-dropping dragon, who is everywhere and can be cheaply had....My fire and water destroy and put together; from my body you may extract the green lion and the red. But if you do not have exact knowledge of me, you will destroy your five senses with my fire. From my snout there comes a spreading poison that has brought death to many.[1]

The peculiar properties of the liquid-metal mercury in particular acted as a kind of psychic play-dough upon the imagination of the enquiring alchemist, as can be seen in Browne’s remarkable admission-

I have often beheld as a miracle, that artificial resurrection and revivification of Mercury, how being mortified into thousand shapes it assumes again its own, and returns into its numerical self. [2]

Throughout the pages of Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica  numerous experiments are recorded. Book two of his encyclopaedia includes investigation of the properties of jet, glass, porcelain, coral, magnetism, amber and static electricity.The wide-ranging nature of Browne's many experiments can be gleaned from the entry - Candle, one discharged out of a Musket through an inch board, while the entry - Philosophers Stone, not improbable to be procured reveals like Libavius before him, Browne was a Janus-like figure in the history of science, simultaneously assisting and anticipating advancements in the development of modern science, while also critically assessing ideas associated with western esoteric traditions.

Although Andreas Libavius (above) and his influential chemistry book Alchemia isn't listed in the 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue of  Thomas Browne and his son Edward’s libraries, it’s worth remembering that the fate of Browne’s library was vulnerable to abstraction for almost 30 years before finally being auctioned. And in fact Libavius is fleetingly mentioned by name by Browne, referencing one of his books in Pseudodoxia. It's highly unlikely that such an informer reader and scholar as Browne would not have known of Libavius and his important influence upon the new science of chemistry.

It’s in book four of Alchemia that an illustration of the monument of the alchemical opus can be found. Its useful to juxtapose these two different versions of the diagram De Lapide Philosophorum to appreciate just how much symbolism can vary and alter within a short period of time in the alchemical imagination. Adam Maclean speculates upon their shared symbolism -

These are interesting and yet puzzling. On a superficial view they are very similar in structure, but when one examines the symbolic components in depth, they obviously are emblematising entirely different ideas. The imagery in places is so very different between the two emblems. I wonder what the source was for these two emblems. Were they entirely devised afresh as illustrations for Libavius' text, or were they taken from some earlier manuscript source ? 

Both versions of Libavius' diagram on the Philosopher's Stone includes lions. A lion can be seen on the bottom sphere of the left version while in the version on the right the King is described as in the company of a golden Lion. A rampant red Lion, the heraldic ensign of the Steward family of Norwich can be found on the Layer monument (c.1600). The relationship between Libavius' two mysterious diagrams (below) which were first printed not in the first edition of 1597 but in the 1606 edition of Alchemia raises certain  tantalizing chicken and egg questions surrounding the source of the Layer monument's rich and complex symbolism. 

 

Libavius’s books include –

* Neoparacelsia (1594) an attack on the use of aurum potabile as a panacea.

* Rerum chymicarum epistola forma (1594) A collection of correspondence to German philosophers and physicians warning of the evils of the new Paracelsian iatrochemistry.

* Alchemia (1597) His most famous work includes advice on the preparation of strong acids alongside a declaration in the belief of the transmutation of metals.

* Singularium (1599-1601)  lectures on natural philosophy.

* Defensio …alchymicae transmutatriae (1604)  an attack on the French physician Guibert for his denying of the truth of the transmutation of metals and a statement of belief of the Philosopher’s Stone being known to the alchemists.

*Alchymia triumphans (1607)  926pp. Libavius’s contribution to the confused battle and debate between supporters of Paraclsus, Hermeticism, Galen and Aristotle.

(Bibliographic source:  Haeffner- Dictionary of Alchemy  Harper Collins 1991)

Colossal Greek funerary marble lion 350-200 BC from Knidos, south-west Asia Minor,Turkey. British Museum.

Notes

[1]  Aurelia Occulta  from vol. 4 of Theatrum Chemicum. 
Listed in Sir Thomas Browne's library in 1711 Sales Catalogue page 25 no.125
[2] Religio Medici Part 1 paragraph 48 

Kevin Ayers

Give me leave to wonder that News of this nature should have such heavy Wings...

The sad news of British rock musician and song-writer Kevin Ayers death last week got me thinking about the fickleness of the British music industry and fame and fortune. I can’t remember being so moved over the death of a rock musician since hearing of John Lennon’s assassination in December 1980. 

There’s something very poignant about rock stars ageing, whether gracefully or not, even more so when they die almost forgotten. Those acquainted with the back-catalogue of Kevin Ayers' recordings which span forty years, may well wonder whether his talent for penning witty and wistful songs ever got the full recognition it deserved. Contributing factors include changes in rock and pop fashion over time and Ayers' own refusal to compromise his artistic integrity and play the games dictated by the music industry. 

With his good looks and rich baritone voice Kevin Ayers (1944-2013) was a charismatic rock-star who embodied the free-thinking counter-culture of the 1960's. Celebrant of elegance and decadence, Ayers was at his height of popularity during the mid-70's with the albums - Whatevershebringswesing, Bananamour and The Confessions of Doctor Dream. 

Variously described as an English eccentric, a supreme musical raconteur, a pioneer of psychedelia, and a bon viveur whose inspiration came from fine food, wine and the sunshine of the Mediterranean, Ayers began his music career in the experimental progressive rock band The Soft Machine. 

Closely associated with the Canterbury scene, The Soft Machine were in the vanguard of  'happenings'  in swinging London during the heady days of the 60's. At one gig bassist Ayers brought a motor-bike on-stage and placed a microphone to its engine while revving  it up. 

The family tree of musicians who once played in The Soft Machine reads a bit like a Who's Who of Rock musicians. It includes Dave Allen, who left the band shortly before Ayers to found the Anglo-French group Gong, the saxophonist Elton Dean, the song-writer and drummer Robert Wyatt, and the now distinguished composer Karl Jenkins C.B.E.

Kevin Ayers contributions to The Soft Machine's first album  includes the songs Joy of a Toy and  Feeling' Reelin' Squealin' (Feb.1967) which became the B-side of the band's first single and one of the first ever psychedelic era recordings, it features Ayers in lugubrious and deep-toned mode. The album also includes Ayers' song Why are we Sleeping. 

Why are We Sleeping is an important reminder that Ayers took the esoteric ideas of George Gurdjieff (1866-1949) with his view of human consciousness as little more than 'awake sleeping' quite seriously. There can be little doubt that both  George Gurdjieff and Kevin Ayers would whole-heartedly have agreed with an observation made by Sir Thomas Browne, centuries earlier  -

surely it is not a melancholy conceit to think we are all asleep in this world.

The theme of dreams occurs frequently in Ayers' songs. Why are we Sleeping was later re-worked into a full-blown version on the album The Confessions of Dr.Dream (1974). In many ways however it was the song Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes which became Ayers' signature-song and demanded by audiences as an encore.

After leaving The Soft Machine, Kevin Ayers collaborated with some of the very best British musicians, two of whom have died in recent years, the soprano saxophonist Lol Coxhill (1932-2012) (an improvised session heard at Herringfleet Fayre’80 and a venue at St.Benedict’s, Norwich 1997) and David Bedford (1937-2011) keyboards and instrumental arranger on several of Ayers' albums. (World premiere of Bedford's Recorder Concerto at the Norfolk and Norwich Triennial Festival 1994). 

A very young Mike Oldfield joined Ayers' band The Whole World in 1970 and he features in a guitar solo on the track Everybody's Sometime and Some People's All the Times Blues, while the piano-playing of Elton John can be heard on the album Sweet deceiver (1975). Above all others however, it was his long-term friend and music-partner Ollie Hansell (1949-1992) who recorded on a total of 11 albums  over an 18 year period  who contributed most to Ayers' sound. After Ollie Hansell's death in 1992 Ayers embarked upon one of his longer sporadic reclusive phases, releasing his last album, the first in 15 years, The Unfairground (2007) to critical acclaim.

In addition to his whimsical, melancholic and romantic persona embodied in his quintessential English song-writing, there's also an experimental strand to Ayers' music, notably in the tape-loop riffs of Song from a bottom of a well, the tape-montages of Shooting at the Moon and the extended concept track, The Confession of Dr. Dream (1974) which, with its varied moods, drug-induced paranoia and heavily-phased synthesizers epitomizes the best and worst excesses of 70's Rock music. A long-running humorous allusion to bananas can also be found in several Ayers lyrics. 

The album entitled June 1st 1974 recorded at the Rainbow Theatre, London, seems a high water-mark in Ayer’s live performances. Sharing the bill with Brian Eno and ex-members of The Velvet Underground John Cale and Nico. Its now near common knowledge that John Cale was not particularly happy on the day of the Rainbow theatre performance, having discovered Ayers sleeping with his wife the day before. 

Along with his lounge lizard and melancholic persona, there’s a strong trait of the eternal lover in both Ayer’s music and life. It’s no coincidence one of the few songs he recorded which was not penned by himself is a song made famous by Marlene Dietrich, Falling in love Again. How much persona and real-life inter-acted in Kevin Ayers psyche will never be known. He certainly played up to the role of  eternal lover and Casanova and epitomizes  in astrology the Leonine creative artist. Although little mention of any long-term relationship can be found in Ayers' biography, he is survived by three daughters.   

Ayers was a long-time Francophile and lived on and off in the south of France over the decades. He also occasionally resided at Ibizia, a favourite resort and haunt of Gothic chanteuse Nico. The song Decadence on the album Bananamour is a portrait of Nico. 

Ayers' music often accompanied my own love-trysts and the harmless and risky experiments conducted with Dr. Dream during my teens and twenties. Its also sadly now a reminder of a friend no longer alive who  first introduced me to Kevin Ayers' music, attending with me a gig by Ayers at UEA, Norwich in 1977, if my memory serves right.

With so many great songs to choose from May I ? is as good an introduction as any to Ayer's song-writing talents. In the Youtube clip below Kevin Ayers reminiscences about his experience on the BBC Old Grey Whistle Test  in May 1972, the song begins at 1:35" and features the musicians Lol Coxhill, David Bedford and Mike Oldfield.

Discography
Joy of a Toy -  Harvest November 1969
Shooting at the Moon - Harvest October 1970
Whatevershebringswesing - Harvest November 1971
Bananamour - Harvest May 1973
The Confessions of Dr. Dream and Other Stories - Island May 1974
June 1, 1974 (with Nico, John Cale and Brian Eno) - Island June 1974
Sweet Deceiver - Island March 1975
Yes We Have No Mañanas -Harvest June 1976
Rainbow Takeaway - Harvest April 1978
That's What You Get Babe - Harvest February 1980
Diamond Jack and the Queen of Pain - Charly June 1983
Deià...Vu - Blau March 1984
As Close As You Think -Illuminated June 1986
Falling Up  -Virgin  February 1988
Still Life with Guitar - FNAC January 1992
The Unfairground - LO-MAX September 2007

Notes and Links

Header quote is the opening line of Browne's A letter to a Friend

Quote-  tis no melancholy conceit  is from Religio Medici Part 2: 11 

Wiki-Links

Kevin Ayers      Gurdjieff

Guardian Obituary Feb 13 2013

A mighty Stone falling from the Clouds

Two major astronomical events occurred on Friday 15th February, 2013. First a sizeable meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, Oblast in the Southern Urals, then, 15 hours later, a 50 metre asteroid skimmed a mere 17,000 miles past Earth. The meteorite and asteroid were almost 500,000 kilometres apart and travelling in completely different directions. The Chelyabinsk meteor known as 2012 DA14 is the largest object known to have entered the Earth's atmosphere since the days of the Siberian meteorite of Tungaska in 1908.

Meteorites have long been of interest to scientists. Included among the many curious, rare and imaginary books, paintings and objects conjured from Sir Thomas Browne's fertile imagination and summarily listed in his late miscellaneous tract Museum Clausum (circa 1676) there can be found-

14. Another describing the mighty Stone falling from the Clouds into Aegospotamos or the Goats River in Greece, which Antiquity could believe that Anaxagoras was able to foretell half a year before.

The ancient Greek Anaxagoras (c. 510–428 BCE) was one of the first scientific thinkers to speculate upon phenomena such as eclipses, meteors, rainbows and the sun. The protagonist in American author Gore Vidal's 1981 novel Creation reminds us of the Greek scientist's claim to fame-

'According to Anaxagoras one of the largest things is a hot stone that we call the sun. When Anaxagoras was very young, he predicted that sooner or later a piece of the sun would break off and fall to earth.... The whole world saw a fragment of the sun fall in a fiery arc through the sky, landing near Aegospotami in Thrace. When the fiery fragment cooled, it proved to be nothing more than a chunk of brown rock. Overnight Anaxagoras was famous'.

Sir Thomas Browne's study and reading of early Greek science was exceptional amongst pioneers of the 17th century scientific revolution. The philosophical and scientific thought of Plato, Aristotle and Theophrastus are well-represented in his library, as are books by Archimedes and Euclid. In all probability Browne encountered Anaxagoras's scientific observations when reading either Pliny, Simplicus of Cilicia (c.490-560 CE) or Aristotle's criticisms of the pre-Socratic philosopher. Browne's own scientific speculations  include the observations-

'The created World is but a small Parenthesis in Eternity.' - from Christian Morals Part III, Section XXIX

To make an end of all things on Earth, and our Planetical System of the World, he (i.e. God) need but put out the Sun. - from A letter to a Friend

At present, modern-day science can only predict such events within approximately two weeks of their occurring. The Chelyabinsk meteor was totally beyond prediction or detection until entering the earth's atmosphere and exploding, causing wide-spread damage and shock, injuring over 1,000 people.

The Danish film director Lars von Trier's Melancholia (2011) analyzes in depth the psychological effects experienced by two sisters when faced with an impending cosmological disaster.

Notes

Greek science books listed in the 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue of Browne's Library include-

Archimedes Opera Gk. and Latin. Commentary David Rivalti 1615 p. 28 no. 2

Aristotle  - Over 15 various titles listed.

Plato - Theologia Platonica de Immortalitate Paris 1559 p. 15 no. 95

Plato - Chalcidii Timaeus de Platonis - Notes J. Mersius 1617 p. 11 no. 106

Simplicus - Commentary in Enchiridion  Epistles Gk.  and Latin  pub. L.B. 1640 p. 10 no. 43

Links

Wiki-link to article on the  2013 Russian Meteorite event

Browne's  miscellaneous tract 13  Museum Clausum

The Wedding Feast of Cupid and Psyche

The Wedding-Feast of Cupid and Psyche by Guilio Romano.

All the evidence suggests the Italian painter Guilano Romano (1499-1546) was one the earliest artists who can be defined as Mannerist in creative outlook. Romano's The Wedding-Feast of Cupid and Psyche (1532) includes subject-matter of a mythological nature, its staged in a highly theatrical setting and uses unusual perspective as well as eroticism; all of which are characteristics associated with Mannerist art.

The Wedding-Feast of Cupid and Psyche was also painted by Romano's teacher, Raphael. It is however only one of several fresco's painted by Romano on the walls on the Palazzo del Te at Mantua in Italy. The lively and highly-stylized marriage-feast includes nymphs, fauns, satyrs, a drunken Silenus figure and what were at the time, rare and exotic animals, namely a camel and an elephant, both of which are centre-stage in Romano's fresco.

It was during the late Renaissance that several sources of Greek myth became known to many European poets and artists, including Ovid's Metamorphoses, Hygenius's Fabulae and The Golden Ass by Apuleius. It’s in the The Golden Ass, the sole surviving novel of the Roman-era, that the earliest literary source of the marriage of Cupid and Psyche can be found. Written sometime during the 2nd century C.E. the protagonist in The Golden Ass narrates upon his transformation into a donkey. The reader subsequently shares a donkey’s tribulations and perspective upon life which culminates during a ceremony of the cult of Isis, in which the donkey-narrator eats a bunch of roses, resulting in his becoming human once more.

According to one retelling of the story of Cupid and Psyche, the princess Psyche was so incredibly beautiful that people begin to treat her like a goddess. The goddess Venus became jealous of her and asked her son Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with an ugly mortal. Cupid reluctantly agreed, however just as he was about to shoot one of his arrows, Psyche woke up, Cupid then accidentally scratched his own leg with an arrow-tip and fell in love with her. 

Psyche's parents consult the oracle of Apollo, which tells them to prepare her for marriage as if for human sacrifice. The parents tearfully carry out the oracle's instructions. Psyche accepts her fate, saying she is eager to meet her beautiful new husband. Left to her fate Psyche is transported to a wood, where she finds a beautiful palace. She begins to live there, is served by invisible spirits and even has an invisible lover. However, he tells her that she is not allowed to look at him directly, and visits her only at night. Psyche hears the voices of her mortal sisters calling to her and she goes back to visit them. They hear her stories about her new life, and in jealousy urge her to look at her husband, raising doubts in her mind that he might be a monster. One night she uses a lamp to look at him, she sees that he is a god but startles him, resulting in his knocking the lamp and spilling hot oil on himself. He leaves her and goes back to the realm of the gods.

Psyche returns home and is unhappy. She visits temples and makes sacrifices to all the gods to find out who was her lover. The only god who will answer her is Venus. Psyche's lover turns out to be none other than the son of Venus, Cupid (i.e. Desire or Eros; Venus symbolizing sexual desire, while Psyche's name  originally meant soul). Psyche begs Venus to help her find Cupid.  Venus then imposes a series of labours on Psyche - including a descent into Hades. Psyche achieves these labours with help from divine assistants, including, in her last labour from Cupid. Her successful completion of the labours means that Psyche is at last able to marry Cupid officially - she becomes immortal and together Cupid and Psyche are united in eternity.

Romano’s fresco depicts the reward of Psyche's labours and the apotheosis of her adventures. Two servants at the wedding-feast (on the right of the detail below) exhibit highly-stylized and exaggerated postures, a distinct characteristic of Mannerism portraiture. Nudity and eroticism are also frequently encountered in Mannerist art, including Romano's portrayal of the lovers Cupid and Psyche reclining upon a couch. The male viewer's eyes are inevitably attracted towards the focal point of the shapely female buttocks of Psyche. Its worth noting in passing that the rare word Callipygous meaning well-proportioned or shapely buttocks is one of numerous neologisms introduced into the English language by Sir Thomas Browne.