Mnemosyne Atlas 75
Theater of Death: pathos and logos
Emancipation of intellectual practice from Antiquity to the Modern era (exemplified in Northern 17th century works of art): a path from ‘anatomic magic’ practiced on animals (divinatory use of hepatoscopy), to scientific anatomy on humans, through (Democritean) research on the physical location of the soul. From the pathetical contemplation of the dead (mourning) to the scientific contemplation of the corpse (Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lesson), in relation to the spiritual meditation on Death (see Carpaccio, plate 42).
Appunti di Aby Warburg (1929)
Demokrit. Anatomie
Democrito, anatomy.
Notes by Aby Warburg and coll. (1929)
Magische Anatomie. Gedärmschau – Suche nach dem Sitz der Seele. Wissenschaftl. Anatomie = Kontemplation durch Einströmen der Totenklage. Tieranatomie – Menschenanatomie pathetisch und kontemplativ [vgl. Carpaccio].
Magical anatomy. Haruspication – search for the seat of the soul. Scientific anatomy = contemplation through incorporation of the lament for the dead. Animal anatomy – human anatomy, pathos and comtemplation [cf. Carpaccio].
Notes by Gertrud Bing (ca. 1940)
Die “interesselose” Betrachtung des Mensch. Körpers im Gegensatz zur 1) mirakulösen (Lykosthenes) 2) magischen zu Weissagungszwecken (Demokrit + Heraklit) 3) Affectbetonten (Totenklage) 4) ein verleibenden (Totenfresser). Demokrit + Heraklit als Vertreter des Wendepunktes. Die Weissagungsleber wird zum Objekt der (philosophischen) Kontemplation. 1. Anatomie bewahrt das formale Schema der Totenklage resp. Grablegung (ebensowie d. gleichfalls medizinische Holzschnitt des Anglicus).
The “disinterested” consideration of the human body in contrast to: 1) the miraculous (Lycosthenes) 2) the magical for the purpose of divination (Democritus + Heraclitus) 3) the emphasis on sentiment (funeral lamentation) 4) incorporation (eating corpses). Democritus + Heraclitus as representatives of a turning point. The divinatory liver becomes an object of (philosophical) contemplation. Anatomy retains the formal schema of lament and burial (just like Anglicus’ medical engraving).
