Lipsius and his dogs: humanist tradtion, iconography and Rubens's "Four philosophers"
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Jan Papy [1]
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[1] KU Leuven
KU Leuven
Arrondissement Leuven, Bélgica
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- Localización: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, ISSN 0075-4390, Nº 62, 1999, págs. 167-198
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
The writer discusses Justus Lipsius's affection for his dogs in the context of the humanist tradition and iconography, and Ruben's painting The Four Philosophers. Lipsius's attitude towards his dogs should be examined in the light of many learned humanists at the time being engaged in poetic jeau d'esprit, pitting their own talent against that of Catullus in descriptions of various animals. A similar spirit of imitato lies behind the tradition of composing animal epitaphs, as Lipsius did for his dog Saphyrus. This humanist background is even clearer in Lipsius's letter on dogs, which not only displayed the breadth of his erudition, but was also meant as a stylistic exercise to be imitated by his students. In respect of iconography, the dog that appears in The Four Philosophers is likely to be Lipsius's dog Mopsus; it was probably meant to be the embodiment of the virtues of a good dog, and therefore, a good scholar.
