Astrolabe tapestry
Type:
Tapestries,
Textiles
Date:
ca. 1400–50
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Spain
Dimensions:
415 × 800 cm
Description:
At the upper left of this tapestry, God—the "potentia prime motoris" (power of the prime mover)—emanates wavy rays of light while directing cosmic motion in the movable plate (rete) of an astrolabe. The device is set in motion by two figures (labeled "volitional intelligence" and "mobile agility") who turn the universe, represented by the astrolabe, with their hands and with a crank. Below them, at the lower left, Atlas supports the astrolabe-universe. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus described Atlas as a North African king who made the first celestial globe.
Inside the astrolabe are the zodiac signs and 25 constellations, which encircle the central pole star. The constellations are drawn from the 48 identified by Claudius Ptolemy in the second century CE; these were the only ones known until the seventeenth century, when new explorations enabled European astronomers to see the sky of the southern hemisphere. At the bottom is the constellation Perseus, who holds the head of the Gorgon; Centaurus is recognizable at the upper right.
On the right side of the tapestry, the enthroned personification of Philosophy is surrounded by female personifications of Geometry, Arithmetic, and Astrology (inseparable in the Middle Ages from Astronomy). They are witnessed by two male figures: the Roman poet Vergil (first century BCE) and the mathematician-astronomer Hipparchus (second century BCE).
The three Latin texts at the top on fictive scrolls are typical of tapestries produced in Tournai. They say:
Inside the astrolabe are the zodiac signs and 25 constellations, which encircle the central pole star. The constellations are drawn from the 48 identified by Claudius Ptolemy in the second century CE; these were the only ones known until the seventeenth century, when new explorations enabled European astronomers to see the sky of the southern hemisphere. At the bottom is the constellation Perseus, who holds the head of the Gorgon; Centaurus is recognizable at the upper right.
On the right side of the tapestry, the enthroned personification of Philosophy is surrounded by female personifications of Geometry, Arithmetic, and Astrology (inseparable in the Middle Ages from Astronomy). They are witnessed by two male figures: the Roman poet Vergil (first century BCE) and the mathematician-astronomer Hipparchus (second century BCE).
The three Latin texts at the top on fictive scrolls are typical of tapestries produced in Tournai. They say:
Left: "The fixed stars adorn the sky, who revolves under the pole both through the direction of the North Wind and the South Wind; according to their different effects they correspond to different people and the various signs and planets while the belt of the zodiac controls their movement." Center: "The poets say when the angel acts under the power of the prime mover; the world harmonizes to this with its own agility [and] the sky revolves controlling its motion." Right: Abrachis [Hipparchus] understood through Philosophy and through Science these facts of Astrology, of which the poet Virgil speaks. Others possess this knowledge through geometry and mathematics, and their number is growing."A sixteenth-century inventory records that the cathedral of Toledo had two more tapestries that depicted astrolabes. This is extraordinary, because most tapestries had religious or mythological iconography. The combination of sacred and scientific on this tapestry reflects medieval thinking about God's control of the universe. It was especially appropriate for display in the cathedral of Toledo, a city long known for scientific learning where astrolabes had been produced for centuries.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
10
Image Credits:
Linda Safran
