Melancholia I

A brooding, winged figure sits amidst a clutter of tools and instruments associated with geometry, architecture, and artistry in general. The inscription engraved on the wings of the bat-like creature identifies her as Melancholy, one of the four fundamental character types thought to govern human behavior. Renaissance writers understood melancholy to be a condition of creative genius. This print provides a powerful statement about the paralyzing inertia that can plague artists and impede their productivity. As the only composition to be named by Dürer, it has been interpreted as a self-portrait.