The Four Elements in Raphael's 'Stanza della Segnatura'

Abstract

Of the many mythological figures which decorate the base of the tomb of St. Sebaldus at Nuremberg many have not yet been identified with certainty, nor has their source been traced. The solution of this problem is important, first, for a knowledge of the monument as a whole. For opinion is divided as to whether the function of these figures is purely decorative, like the putti scattered on the socles and the harpies carrying the candles, or whether they also have an allegorical meaning ; if the latter is the case, there must be a general scheme underlying the figures, which is related to the plan of the whole monument. Secondly it would be important to see how far mediaeval elements are mixed with Renaissance ideas which were at this time reaching Germany from Italy. General explanations for the presence of the latter in Vischer's work have been suggested. Vischer could have come to know antiquity through the Nuremberg Humanists, such as Schedel, Celtis, Pirckheimer, or through his sons who had visited Italy. So, for instance, M. R'au2 has shown that one of the Muses is taken from an engraving in the Quatuor Libri Amorum of Celtis, and that the Marsyas is derived from a woodcut which forms the frontispiece to a Venetian edition of Ovid (1497). S. Meller has found in a drawing by Peter Vischer the Younger, lately in the Henry Oppenheimer Collection, the siren holding a mirror, with the inscription Scylla.3 For my part I have come upon the source of the crowned Apollo, holding a sceptre and seated on two swans, in the very curious figure which occurs in the famous Mantegna Tarocchi series (D 20) (P1. I4c, d). In spite of the alteration of a few details the likeness leaves no doubt about the connexion. It will be noticed that the sculptor has even copied the mysterious sign in the corner of the Tarocchi. It is surprising that this likeness has not been observed till now. The influence of the Tarocchi in Germany has long been known. Loga detected it in Nuremberg from 14904; the Apollo was copied by Durer himself about 14955; and the strange and splendid fate of the Mercury, its naturalisation in Germany by Ditrer and Burckmair, is well known.6