The Dürer Society (12.1911)

wall above, upon the position in life of the man of melancholic
temperament: the " tabula Jovis," or " mensa Jovis," confers upon
him power and wealth.
The sketch represents a child genius, standing on a wall in course
of construction, holding a quadrant and a plumb, with which he is
testing whether the stones are well and truly laid. Behind the plumb,
on the top of the wall, and in front of the child's feet, lies a graduated
level, to be used for a similar purpose.
The winged genius represents one of those supernatural beings,
" ^a^o^ et spiritus," which descend from heaven under the attraction
of the melancholy spirit ("anima melancholico humore impulsa "). In
the engraving itself such a genius is seen writing. He stands, accord-
ingly, for literary inspiration. Our drawing shows that before Durer
had decided to give such prominence to the literary capacities of the
melancholic temperament, he had considered the question of intro-
ducing, either beside, or more probably in place of, the writing genius,
a genius of geometry and architecture. In the end he contented himself
with symbolizing these gifts by the geometrical bodies and the
builder's tools and measuring instruments which are introduced in the
engraving. On the back of the paper is written a single word, which
I can only read as " lesendt," though I am not quite certain about the
third and seventh letters. It is worth recording, in case it should
mark yet another stage in the evolution of the " Melancholia," the
idea of a reading, instead of a writing, genius. The date of the draw-
ing must be 1514, or at the earliest 1513.
XIII.
A Griffin with flint and steel.
British Museum {Add. MS. 5231, fol. 91 v). Pen and ink. Size of sheet,
30 by 21 cm., 11^ by 8§ in. Watermark, the Fugger trident.
The rest of the sheet is occupied with mathematical calculations, which
have no bearing on the sketch of the griffin. The flint and steel are,
of course, part of the emblems of the Golden Fleece, and griffins were
used by Maximilian I. as supporters of his arms. They occur in a
prominent position on the Triumphal Arch (see Durer Society, IV.
xxvii., xxviii.), and the sketch is a study for one of those woodcuts
(xxvii.). It is briefly mentioned, without any interpretation, by
Conway (" Literary Remains," p. 277), and more definitely in con-
nection with the " Ehrenpforte," by Dodgson (Catalogue, I., 318), and
Giehlow (" Beitrage zur Kunstgeschichte Fr. Wickhoff gewidmet,"
P- 92).

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