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An Assembly of Scholars
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
In this imaginary, idyllic realm, classical philosophers and scholars gather to teach and learn. The men and women in the foreground examine a book of astrological signs. Behind them, a second group studies an armillary sphere, a celestial globe invented in ancient times that became a symbol of knowledge during the Renaissance. A woodcut version of this scene appeared as an illustration in the fortunetelling book Garden of Thoughts , published in Venice in 1540. In that context, the group of three women in the foreground might be seen as the three fates, and the man with the globe as a personification of astrology.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineAn Assembly of Scholars, c. 1515/1527. Circle of Marco Dente (Italian, c. 1486–1527), after Giuseppe Porta (Italian, 1515–1580). Engraving; sheet: 24 x 19.8 cm (9 7/16 x 7 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, 1926.441
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