The Intellectual Virtues in C
The illustration in C of Book VI (Figs. 34 and 34a) dramatically reveals the first major revision of the second half of the program. Most obvious is the increase by two thirds of the height of the illumination from that of Book V.[28] The large size is undoubtedly a response to the crowding of figures and inscriptions noted in the miniatures of Books IV and V. The ample space now available accommodates the expanded subject-guide function of this illustration, which now occupies about half the folio. The two-register format also permits an orderly sequence for presenting not just two of the intellectual virtues (as in Fig. 33) but all five. The enhanced frontispiece status of Figure 34 is emphasized by its placement between the rinceau of the upper left border and the large initial P containing a ferocious dragon below. The exquisitely refined, softly modeled grisaille figures stand out against the apricot and blue backgrounds of the upper and lower registers. The Master of the Coronation of Charles VI himself appears to have executed the first miniature of the revised part of the program. Yet the process of revision brought new challenges and problems for Oresme, Raoulet d'Orléans, the illuminator, and the reader.
As usual, the sequence of personifications begins on the upper left of the top register and proceeds to the right. The same order is observed in the lower zone. The system of presenting the five intellectual virtues in a sequence follows the order of the chapters in Oresme's translation. When Oresme and Aristotle name them in Chapter 2 of Book VI, however, Art comes first, followed by Science, Prudence, Sapience, and Entendement. In Figure 34, Science, Art, and Prudence (Practical Wisdom) occupy the upper zone, and Entendement (Intuitive Reason) and Sapience, the lower one. It thus appears that chapter order has priority over other principles of grouping, since in Aristotle's discussion of the intellectual virtues Science belongs with Entendement and Sapience as parts of the scientific faculty of the soul concerned with theoretical wisdom.[29] Figure size and placement
Figure 34
Above, from left: Science, Art, Prudence; below, from left:
Entendement, Sapience. Les éthiques d'Aristote, MS C.
Figure 34A
Detail of Fig. 34
in the pictorial field emphasize the importance of Entendement and Sapience. Indeed, the disparities in scale, not only between the figures of the upper and lower zones but also between those of Entendement and Sapience, create a somewhat unharmonious effect. Still, the contrast between the relatively busy upper zone and the spacious quality of the lower one suggests a more tranquil environment for the loftier concerns of Entendement and Sapience.
Science (Episteme ), the first virtue represented in the upper register of Figure 34, is seated on a low bench, arms upraised, gazing at an open book supported on a lectern. Her iconographic type is extremely similar to that of Sapience in Figure 33. Like all the other female personifications in C , she wears a nunlike costume. Her small scale, gesture of wonder, and slight features give her a somewhat childish appearance, quite at variance with the formidable values she personifies. Science, as defined by Aristotle and translated by Oresme, stands for pure knowledge, which can be taught, involves a rational principle, and is concerned with what is necessary, eternal, and invariable. Science proceeds by the syllogistic process,
beginning with induction, "which supplies the first principles."[30] Obviously, the visual characterization of Science is a difficult task. Oresme and the illuminator limit the representation to suggest that Science involves an authoritative knowledge based on book learning.
The next personification, Art, is exceptional in several ways. The experimental nature of the representation is first revealed by the unusual position of the identifying inscription above the frame. In comparison to the blacksmith in Figure 33, the representation of Art in C shows a radical transformation. Most obvious is the sex change. The reversed gender is part of the attempt in the program of C to make all the personifications, except for Fortitude, uniformly feminine. Although there was a complex tradition of personifying the liberal arts in the Middle Ages by both masculine and feminine figures, there also existed textual and visual sources for cycles of mechanical, or nonliberal, arts.[31] An early fourteenth-century manuscript of Brunetto Latini's Li livres dou trésor contains a full-page frontispiece in which the seven liberal arts are depicted in a central column flanked on left and right by the same number of representations of practical and mechanical arts respectively.[32] All but the personification of Weaving are represented as men.[33] Despite such cycles of mechanical arts, the representation of Art as a generic concept seems quite rare.
Also unusual is the manner in which Art is portrayed. Lined up with the running title of the folio and the space between the two text columns, she is the central figure of the upper register. Moreover, she stands full-length and almost totally frontal in a majesty pose. Despite these signs of her importance, her tucked-up apron reveals that, unlike her sister virtues, she belongs to the working class.[34] This unusual tribute to Art continues in the extensive surface area devoted to the depiction of the various tools grouped under her aegis that symbolize the useful arts and crafts. In addition to the mallet and harp that Art holds in her right and left hands, the other implements are a hammer, carpenter's square, scissors, plumb line, saw, pruning hook, axe, spindle, comb, and a pronged implement.[35] Figures working on either side of Art personify the cultivation of sheep and agriculture. Such a tribute to the arts is consistent with the high status they enjoyed in the encyclopedic tradition represented by Vincent of Beauvais or Hugh of St. Victor.
The productive activities of medieval society in which tools are also symbols of the human ability to make useful objects from raw materials give the definition of Art a wider compass than the representation in Figure 33 of the solitary and engaging blacksmith. The comprehensive nature of this visual definition accords with the didactic aims of the cycle of illustration in C . Finally, the importance of Art among the intellectual virtues is conveyed by the mode of representing her and her attributes. Together with her frontality, the vertical deployment of the tools and implements calls to mind such popular devotional images as the Man of Sorrows, in which Christ is surrounded by instruments of the Passion.[36] This example of the migration of an image from the religious to the secular sphere raises the question of the degree of spiritual value assimilated by the secular representation. Even without such an association, the image of Art is a compelling creation.[37]
Another dimension of the depiction of Art is its ingenuity. It is characteristic of Oresme's inventive spirit that he found so apt an iconographic formula to suit the needs of his concept of Art. The mode of depiction not only informs the reader but invites participation in identifying the crafts symbolized by the tools. Such a process of naming these pursuits is a form of visual riddle that also serves as a learning device. In effect, the reader is re-creating the visual definition as a way of understanding the verbal concept. The radiating presentation of Art's domains is also consistent with the mnemonic function of the image.
A further example of Oresme's visual imagination and wit is the next and last figure of the upper register of Figures 34 and 34a, Prudence, or Practical Wisdom (Phronesis ). In Aristotle's ethical system, Prudence has a key role, as it embodies "the power of good deliberation" in human affairs.[38] Practical Wisdom guides activity in both individual and political affairs through reason "with regard to things good and bad for men."[39] As noted earlier, this type of wisdom, one of the four cardinal virtues, had for obvious reasons long been associated with the ideal ruler. Book VI of Oresme's translation of the Ethics discusses Prudence in ten of the seventeen chapters. Moreover, Oresme's commentary in the last chapter speaks of Prudence as a cardinal virtue and voices pragmatic considerations about various levels of interaction with the other virtues.[40] In addition, Chapter 9 explores the connections between practical and political wisdom.[41] Oresme then goes on to explain the parts of Prudence, some of which directly involve the political process itself.[42] The glossary of difficult words provides six (of a total of fifty-two) definitions relating to the parts and qualities of Prudence.[43] Thus, Oresme's verbal definition is consistent with the central importance of Practical Wisdom in individual and political conduct.
The image of Prudence is compressed and cryptic, as spare and contained as Art is expansive. But both virtues stand in a dignified, frontal position. Prudence's hands are crossed on the hips of her draped mantle and lend an illusory repose to her figure, for below her nunlike head covering a strange apparition appears. A grotesque, mummified set of features, highlighted by sunken eyes and gaping teeth, stares out at the reader. Further study of the masklike head with a triangular protuberance on each cheek turns out to reveal three faces—two in profile on left and right and a central frontal one.[44] This is the vultus trifrons , an iconographic type with antique roots.[45] The three faces are identical and refer both to past, present, and future aspects of time and to Prudence's three psychological faculties associated with them: memory, intelligence, and foresight. The appearance of Prudence as a death's-head or skull also is a characteristic of this iconographic tradition.[46]
Whether this startling image was intelligible to the contemporary reader is a legitimate question. Oresme, however, was not convinced that the visual definition alone was sufficient to convey the trifrons symbolism. An inscription was added to explain the threefold orientation and faculties of Prudence: "Mémoire des choses passées, ordenance des présentes, provisions pour celles à venir" (Memory of things past, ordering of things present, provision for those to come).
Oresme's instructions were apparently misunderstood, so that the words were placed not above Prudence's head but over that of Sapience, below. Surprisingly enough, the source of the inscription does not occur in Oresme's translation. This literary formulation goes back at least to Cicero, whereas its medieval history can be traced to a sixth-century bishop, Martin of Braga. Martin's formula, thought to be an authentic writing of Seneca, found its way into medieval encyclopedias. Martin's words on Prudence are almost identical to those of the inscription in Figure 34: "set in order the present, foresee the future, recall the past."[47] Among the popular late-medieval encyclopedias mentioned by Erwin Panofsky as a source of the tripartite definition of Prudence is the Repertorium morale of Pierre Bersuire,[48] whose influential French translation of Livy was discussed in Chapter 1.
The Ciceronian tripartite division of Prudence and her intellectual capacities is also found in Mirror of Princes texts. In the French translation of Giles of Rome's De regimine principum executed for Philip the Fair, the three capacities of Prudence are considered necessary qualities for the ideal ruler.[49] The Morgan Avis du roys (fols. 27v–28v) also stresses the necessity for the king to have memory of the past to ordain the future and to provide for the present. In the Summa theologica (2a 2ae 49) Thomas Aquinas follows an eight-part division of Prudence in which the three capacities are included.[50] In short, many medieval sources made the inscription originally intended for Prudence in Figure 34 an obvious choice for explication of the trifrons aspect of the image.
In contrast, direct visual sources for Prudence are difficult to find, particularly in northern art. Relevant as an analogous type of knowledge is the tripartite crown worn by Philosophy. This personification figured in a miniature of the Hortus deliciarum (now destroyed), the famous twelfth-century encyclopedia compiled by Herrad of Landsberg.[51] In Christian iconography the tricephalic head also symbolizes opposing concepts of good and evil: the Holy Trinity and Beelzebub.[52] More immediate precedents for the iconography of Prudence come from trecento Italy. In addition to a fresco representing a trifrons in Pistoia cathedral dated 1347, an illuminated frontispiece of a Bible shows a two-headed Prudence among the virtues surrounding King Robert of Anjou.[53] The motif of the death's-head in Figure 34 may also have been suggested by the skeleton featured in the story of the Three Living and the Three Dead. A famous example of this type is the bifolio in the Psalter of Bonne of Luxembourg, mother of Charles V.[54]
Once again, Oresme's choice of an image reflects his predilection for a visual riddle. In the case of Prudence, the need for an explanatory inscription, which was then misplaced, shows that sometimes his imagination and learning may have led to overambitious experiments. To put it another way, the didactic goals of the cycle in C gave rise to complex, as well as complete, visual definitions. On some occasions the scribe and miniaturists capably translated Oresme's instructions into an intelligible, aesthetically pleasing sequence of images. For various reasons, not easy to explain, other attempts were less successful. While certainly arresting, the personification of Prudence belongs to the category of daring and memorable illustrations. Perhaps these representations served as talking points for Oresme's oral explication requested by his patron.