Dialectic

This tapestry belongs to a set of eight on The Arts and Sciences in the Colección Santander, which must in turn have been part of a larger group of which some are now missing. The different size of the individual tapestries is due to the fact that they were woven for specific locations, forming what was known in Brussels as a chambre en tapisserie.

Framed within a majestic architectural setting suggesting a temple of knowledge, a female figure represents Dialectic, seated on a marble throne (as used for depictions of Philosophy). She converses with various philosophers and is watched by another woman. On the ground are various volumes of texts by Aristotle, Lucian, Gorgias and Zeno. In the background three figures engage in debate in a public square.

The image is completed by a border of fruit and flowers and a cartouche with the inscription “DIALECTIC” in the upper part, matched at the bottom with a trophy comprising a sphere, clock and armillary sphere. As with the other tapestries in this set, the composition is based on Cesare Ripa’s Iconology, which was first published in 1593.

All the tapestries in the set involve two themes: a moral one relating to the life of man, his virtues and vices, and an exaltation of the Arts, encompassing the Liberal Arts and the so-called Fine Arts.