Learned Man of Antiquity

This man’s extended arm may seem awkward, but when installed high on the wall it would have looked well proportioned, an effect called foreshortening. Dosso Dossi painted the figure for a private library as part of a series that likely represented the liberal arts—like grammar, logic, music, and astronomy—in human form. The mysterious numerical symbols on the tablet held by this man suggest he represents arithmetic. Installed in a library, it would have conveyed the ideal of learning as a noble pursuit.

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