The Seven Liberal Arts Persecuted by Pluto and Bacchus 1554 - 1600

Editor: Here we have Jost Amman's "The Seven Liberal Arts Persecuted by Pluto and Bacchus," created sometime between 1554 and 1600. It's an engraving. It strikes me as quite chaotic – figures battling amidst dense foliage. What stands out to you? Curator: Chaotic is a brilliant word for it, I feel it too! Amman really captures a sense of intellectual turmoil. Imagine a world where learning is under attack. What if poetry was banished, or rhetoric silenced? It's as unsettling now as it was back then, perhaps even more so. See how Pluto and Bacchus, god of the underworld and of wine, seem to preside over this chaos? Editor: Yes, there’s that figure draped in grape leaves… So, it’s a visual representation of knowledge being suppressed? Curator: Precisely. Each figure being attacked represents one of the liberal arts – grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. But Amman isn't just making a political statement. There's also a dark humor, don't you think? Pluto, looking quite disgruntled, while Bacchus seems to be enjoying the ruckus a little too much! What’s your gut feeling about this playful yet cautionary vibe? Editor: It feels a bit contradictory, actually. It's almost as if Amman is saying, "We need to protect knowledge, but hey, let's not take ourselves too seriously." Curator: Precisely! It’s a tightrope walk between satire and sincere warning. Editor: It gives me a lot to think about – how societal attitudes toward knowledge and intellect evolve but how maybe they also remain constant. Curator: Agreed. And sometimes, it takes a chaotic image like this to truly appreciate the fragile beauty of learning.