Due Sep 29
The Copernican Revolution
Copernicus’ Model; Brahe’s Observations. Shakespeare’s s. Writing in the Arts: stylistic analysis of theater playbill essays.
Astronomy Reading
- Openstax Astronomy (pdf | online), re-read Chapter 2.4.
- MacTutor, “Biography of Copernicus.”
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Biography of Copernicus.”
Fieldwork
Data collection for the Autumnal Equinox fieldwork assignment (linked at right) on 9/22—or shortly thereafter, if prevented by overcast conditions.
Arts Assignment: Renaissance Astrology
Copernicus circulated his heliocentric theory as early as 1514, but he didn’t publish it until 1543. What’s more, while his account revolutionized how Europeans conceptualized the heavens, it took over a century for his views to be widely embraced, even among intellectuals. As a sample of educated mainstream thinking in the period leading up to the publication of Copernicus’ model, I’d like you to examine the “Seven Planets,” a 1531 woodcut series by German artist Georg Pencz. (This British Museum page features just the Moon, Mars and Venus, but has an excellent curator’s note. If you’re curious to see Pencz’s woodcuts for the other four “planets”—the Sun, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury—Google Image is your friend.)
Taking the “Curator’s Comments” on the British Museum website as your starting point and focusing on a particular detail of one or more of Pencz’s astrological woodcuts, write a 1-¶ appreciation of the cosmological belief-system expressed herein. The most successful pieces will tie together specific visual details in a way that evokes a sensation of wonder and/or deep understanding.
In Class: Shakespeare’s Astrologer
We will discuss Shakespeare’s Sonnet 14, “Not from the stars…,” during class. As you may know, this poem is part of a larger sonnet sequence, in which Shakespeare addressed himself as the infatuated lover of a young nobleman, urging his beloved not to waste his youth in pleasure but to have children and so immortalize his beauty. This particular sonnet is of interest for our class because the speaker compares himself to an astronomer, providing a sense of popular beliefs about star-gazers in the 1590s.
I wanted to discuss the illustration of Venus. I find the entire wood carving fascinating and chalked full of interesting details and symbols that demonstrates contemporary beliefs. Firstly, I noticed the chariot being pulled by what I can assume to be doves as a symbol of love and something closely related to Venus. Near the chariot Cupid(or a random cherub) is there with his bow and arrow shooting arrows at a nearby dove; whilst next to him is the alchemical for Venus or as most people know it now as the symbol of females. This ties together the current understanding of the god Venus and their interpretive depiction of her crossing the sky, just as they would see it with a telescope. The scene below is interesting to me because it isn’t just a standard depiction of love and romantic intrigues, but a full display of art, music, fine architecture, leisure, nature, and civility. All of these qualities evoke human expression, creativity, and most importantly freedom. I must appreciate the artists illustration of fine detail to show how Venus is viewed.
The thing I think is most awesome about these pieces is that the gods are all being carried on chariots. Having done the Norse chariot two weeks ago as my arts assignment, it’s interesting to see how humans still think that chariots or wheel motion is the fastest kind of travel. So, to account for the movement of heavenly bodies in the sky, they are put on chariots. It’s also interesting that these ideas still kind of hold influence today. People say love travels fast, and Venus is on a chariot. War spreads easily, and Ares is on one as well. This kind of expression/connection is something that’s very cool to me, and the fact that it stays relevant in today’s world is pretty sweet.
In the Venus woodcut, there are many elements showing Venus’ role in society. In the foreground, there are couples playing music. Not only is Venus the goddess of love, but the planet is the musical planet, showing both important roles. They are harmonized together, creating balance. On the right of the composition, your eye is drawn to follow the midground up to the background. As you do so, you see couples bathing, finalized with what appears to be a church on top of a hill. The bathing is reflective of Venus’s beauty of self-care. Once you get to the top of the hill, which is the closest to the heavens, there is a church to show worship and the importance of the gods and the cosmos. The amount of detail shows how carefully constructed and thoughtful the human mind thinks of and represents the heavens, connecting the two together.
What I find most interesting about the woodcut is the way they make the cosmos feel directly connected to human life. In Luna, the people fishing and working near the water show the moon’s association with water, fishing, and milling. In Mars, the violent attack on peasants, the stolen cattle, and the burning village connect the god of war with fear and reflect the Peasants’ Revolt of 1525 as a historical context. Compared to the other two, Venus offers a very different scene: couples court each other in a peaceful landscape, reflecting Venus’s association with love and desire. Taken together, I think these prints show that people did not see the planets as distant objects alone, and instead understood them through familiar gods, everyday work, love, and even the violence of their own historical moment. The heavens in their belief system seem to be woven into every part of their life.
I chose the Luna woodcut because I think the connection between the Moon and people’s daily life is very clear. In the image, Luna is shown above in the sky, while people below are fishing and working near the water. The British Museum explains that the Moon was connected with water, so it was also connected with activities like fishing and milling. To me, this shows that people at that time did not see the planets as only objects in the sky. They believed the planets could have some influence on people’s jobs and daily activities. I find this interesting because the image connects the sky and normal human life in a very direct way. It makes the universe feel much more connected to people than how we usually think about planets today.
I was able to find the Sun version of the carvving of the Seven Planets, and found it quite beautiful with a positive message. The citizens of the town seem at peace, seemingly living their own lives without anything negative happening. In addition to this, there is an emperor sitting atop a chariot in the sky, seemingly commanding the sun’s presence. This could either represent the current king, or more likely, the god that rules over the sun. The sun brings abundant harvests, chases away the night, and is a warm light source for people back then. Therefore, it is no surprise that the sun is portrayed as a sign of good fortune and peaceful times. Art mirrors real life, so it can be safe to assume that citizens during this period also thought the sun was a positive influence.
What I find most interesting about Pencz’s Luna woodcut is how closely the Moon is connected to ordinary human activities. Luna is shown above a scene where people are working around the water, including people fishing and using the water for their work. The Moon is not presented as something distant and separate from human life, but as something that has an influence on what people do on Earth. The connection between Luna and the water is interesting because it reflects the belief that the Moon affected water and, therefore, activities such as fishing and milling. Looking at the image, I get the sense that people saw the universe as something that was constantly interacting with their everyday lives. Instead of simply looking up at the Moon as an object in the sky, they connected it to the work they depended on and the world around them.
What I find most interesting about George Pencz’s Seven Planets is how strongly it demonstrates the influence the gods have on normal civilization (or so they believed). In the woodcut of Mars, the god sits high above the Earth in his chariot, sword and shield in his arms, seemingly going into war. However, it isn’t the god who appears to be in immediate danger, but the humans down on earth. This is reflected amongst the village people fighting, fleeing, and stealing – a state of destruction. I find this contrast between the heavens and earth a large indicator of humans unwavering belief in the gods. With this carving depicting they will do just as their god says/does, even though they are the only ones who reap the consequences – further highlighting the separation between the value of a god and mere human.
The “Seven Planets” wood inscription calls back to the idea that human interactions and common themes are attributed to the influence of gods, not just human consciousness. I find it interesting how all seven inscriptions are meant to go together, carrying similar compositions and lighting patterns. The planets are therefore lined up, creating almost a storyboard of humanity’s behavior. Each panel dissects a planet or spiritual figure and reflects below the almost juvenile behavior of people as a result. The first god depicted is Luna, with her movements of the moon changing the behavior of fishermen below; a more utilitarian approach. This is contrasted by the next panel of Mars, the God of War. Below him, men attack each other and children run, blinded by anger. The final panel is similar, with Venus reflecting courtship and human compassion and love. I find a theme similar to what I found in Virgil’s Aeneid II: humans trying to find reason. People reject the idea that bad actions are a direct result of human stupidity or malintent. Instead, we want to give behavior a face: something to blame, laugh at, or beg to. No human interaction can be seen in isolation, rather, this artist was attempting to find a driving force behind the chaos of emotion.
What I find most interesting about Georg Pencz’s Seven Planets is the way the planets are presented as forces that have a direct influence over human behavior. This is especially clear in the woodcut of Mars, where Mars appears above the scene holding a sword and shield while riding through the sky, and below him the people are surrounded by violence and conflict. Soldiers fight, people flee, and even a robbery takes place, making it seem as though the qualities associated with Mars have spread from the heavens into everyday life. I think what is most fascinating about this image is how interconnected the heavens and Earth are. Today, I tend to think of planets as distant physical objects that move according to forces that have little to do with my everyday actions. In Pencz’s world, however, looking toward the sky could also mean trying to understand what was happening around you. The planets helped explain why people behaved the way they did and why certain events occurred. There is something almost comforting about that idea, because it transforms the universe into something that feels connected and meaningful rather than distant and random.
What I find most fascinating about the seven planets artwork is on first glance, the three columns emphasise a transition from light to dark. When focusing on “Luna”, the shading is much less contrasted compared to the other two and lighter. Which to me, contradicts the connotations associated with the moon. Fishing and milling are labor activities done during the day, yet it’s depicted as a light night, providing a juxtaposition to the moon. Additionally, from my interpretation, these activities are seen as intensely tiring and physically demanding which could be used to symbolise Copernicus’s heliocentric view of the moon continuously only orbiting the earth. Fundamentally depicting the moon with emotional exhaustion and physical tiredness. This is then transitioned to the Mars column. What I find most interesting about this section is its symbol at the top. Although suggesting it as a Mars astronomical symbol, it can also be a male symbol. Highlighting the brutal, emasculating energy from the God of war attacking a peasant family and creating chaos and aggression in the village. As modern research indicates Mars and Earth share the most key similarities, it almost foreshadows the reflection of the current detrimental effects as a result of man-made activities and sins on earth like pride and wrath to the future “earth” like Mars. Overall, as previously discussed about the symbolic connotation of the number 7, I find it interesting how there are 7 planets and 7 woodcuts, showcasing an alternative Heliocentric model idea of just having 6 planets.
What stands out to me most in Georg Pencz’s Seven Planets is how strongly the images connect what is happening in the sky to what is happening on Earth. In the woodcut of Mars, Mars appears above the scene holding a sword and shield, while below him the people are surrounded by violence, theft, and confusion. What I find especially interesting is the contrast between Mars looking powerful and controlled in the heavens while the people underneath him seem completely caught up in chaos. That makes it feel like the qualities associated with Mars are almost being passed down into human behavior. I also think this says a lot about how people during the Renaissance understood astrology. The planets were not just distant objects to observe, but forces that could help explain why certain events happened and why people acted the way they did. In a way, that belief could make the world feel more organized because even violence and disorder had some larger explanation behind them. At the same time, I find the image a little unsettling because it suggests that people may not have had complete control over their own actions. To me, Pencz’s woodcut shows both the comfort and the fear that can come from believing human life is connected to forces in the heavens.
For me, each of these prints evokes a different emotional reaction as they depict different aspects of life and how the people at the time may have viewed the heavens.
In Mars, we see the god of war in his chariot pulled by two hounds; the term “hounds of hell” comes to mind and I’m struck by the brutality of the scene depicted below, with men, women and children being attacked. This print, representing the quelling of a peasant uprising, depicts the worst of humanity, and reinforces the idea that the fate of humans is in the hands of the gods, and mere mortals – or peasants – are no match for their power.
In Venus, we see the goddess of love in her chariot pulled by two doves, symbols of peace and harmony. Indeed, the scene below depicts “amorous couples in an idyllic landscape”, and yet I can’t help but notice that Venus is keeping a tight rein on cupid, as she decides where his arrow will fly. This again reinforces the idea that the fate of humans is in the hands of the goddess, as they look to Venus to satisfy that most human longing, to love and be loved.
However, we’re not in a constant state of war nor a constant idyllic state, so the print that I most resonated with is Luna. Here we see the goddess in her chariot pulled by two female figures, as she carries the moon across the sky. The scene below is more balanced than the other prints, with people working and living in harmony. Water features strongly in the print, with the mill and men fishing in the foreground and a boat in the background. This to me is a nod to the moon’s role in the ebb and flow of the tides, and looking at the people in the print engaged is the activities of daily life I feel peaceful and comforted by the knowledge that regardless of what is happening on any given day, the tide will come in and go out.
What I found particularly intriguing in Pencz’s Luna woodcut is the strong link that exists between the Moon and mundane activities performed by humans. The Moon depicted in the picture appears above a scene where people are engaged in working near the water, which includes fisherman and people engaged in milling and other works near the water. The Moon in the picture is not shown as something detached from human life, but rather as something that has some impact on people’s activities on the planet Earth. The association between Luna and water in this picture is intriguing because it shows the way in which people believed that the Moon had an impact on water and, consequently, activities like fishing and milling. From this picture, I have got a feeling that people regarded the Universe as a constant interaction between people and their surroundings.
What I found interesting about Georg Pencz’s “The Seven Planets” was how he represented the astrological associations with each planet. In the Curator’s Comments curators connect the wood cut prints to an Italian series by Baccio Baldini that included descriptions of “various characteristics and occupations which the planets control”. Pencz depicts laborers in the Luna print, soldiers in the Mars print, and musicians in the Venus print. I think it’s interesting to see the very practical connections drawn between occupations and the skies, whereas contemporary astrology is used more to analyze personalities. Today astrology is decently superstitious, but through Pencz’s illustrations we can see how integrated cosmology was in everyday Reformation life. I wonder if natal astrology pushed people toward certain jobs, or if individuals found wisdom from different deities based on their employment?
What I noticed most in Pencz’s Luna is the extent of the goddess’s influences reaches Earth. In the artwork, she rides high above, holding the crescent moon, in a chariot pulled by two women. To me, it looks like an efficient teamwork with the goal of moving the moon across the sky. This course of action is also reflected below on land. People are fishing, and everything happening on the ground is not missed and easily accessible to the Luna’s sight. This includes the man coming out of the lake, where his back is facing the audience – a reference according to the Michelangelo’s Battle of Cascina, as based on the Curator’s comments. In the Battle of Cascina, the soldier was a hero pulled from his bath by an alarm. Similarly, Pencz depicts him into an ordinary fisherman and seemed to be pulled out of the water by the moon. Additionally, I found how the decorative borders, though similar looking, are beautiful, as they surround all the seven planet prints, and the shading demonstrates light entering from the right direction, in everyone. The Museum suggests these different scenes hang side by side, so someone viewing this artwork can see the fisherman of Luna, to the burning village in Mars. Both scenes, one peaceful, one violent, sit under the same light and sky. It does symbolize that every job, pleasure, disaster, duty, is already monitored by every planet – and for every individual, their life story is already written out.
What I found most interesting about this woodcut print is the structure of the print itself. This print is split up into 3 parts: Luna, Mars and Venus. Yet the story itself seems to be told across the whole print. At the top of the woodcut, it seems to be a repeating image of a man being pulled in some sort of chariot. In the section of Luna, the man seems to be guided by the moon more metaphorically as he is holding a crescent moon. In actuality, the man is being pulled by two women figures. In the middle section, the man is wearing some sort of shield on his right arm and is being guided by the male symbol sign. In actuality, he is pulled by two dogs. Finally, in the last section of Venus, the male symbol is swapped for a female symbol, making it seem like a female force is guiding them. In actuality, this is represented by two birds. In contrast to the shield represented in Mars’ version, Venus has some kind of cupids figure guiding it.
I think this section of the chariots being over what is happening on earth points to this meaning of the planets ruling life on earth. Below each section is the people doing actions. Perhaps in Luna, the moon is assoicated with water and prosperous fishing. And in Mars, maybe there is some anger associated with the sign, hence troops attacking and stealing. In Venus, as the goddess of love and victory, controls relationships and courtships, representing many couples in an idyllic landscape.
It is incredibly interesting to see the way that the people had perceived the planets in their interaction with day to day activity such as working, fighting, and courting. It seems to be portraying the heavens as looming above them; guiding them when performing these tasks. It makes me question: Do they believe that the Gods’ existence, in their attribution to certain human tendencies (war, love, etc.), are responsible for making them happen? Or are they something that humans do completely on their own accord, and the gods are merely attributed to them to guide the humans through their own decisions? Both seem to be possible ideas in this piece. Are the planets ruling the people or are the planets guiding and helping the people with issues and tasks of their own creation? Each God being in a chariot really shows how highly the planets and the Gods were taken seriously, and it seems that the humans are unable to see them or acknowledge them presently, showing the reverence that the people had for them.
At first, Pencz’s Mars might look like a crowded scene of soldiers and villagers, but the details become much darker the longer you look. Soldiers attack a peasant family and steal their cattle, while smoke rises in the distance and people appear to be tied to trees in the background. The scene would have reminded viewers of the Peasants’ Revolt of 1525, when thousands of peasants were killed. With Mars, the god of war, above the village, the woodcut connects this suffering on Earth to a power in the heavens. It shows a way of seeing the universe in which the sky was closely tied to ordinary people’s lives, even during their most frightening moments.
The cosmological belief system at the time was to attach gods of a certain importance to the celestial objects. Most understandably the moon, or Luna, would be referred to with water because it was known during that time that the moon did influence the waves and tide on Earth. The extensive detail and nature surrounding specific scenes insinuate that the planets influence human events and/or actions. These gods are depicted above humans with humans courting or fighting each other as the main visual focus. It implies that the behavior of humans is the main focus on what these gods as celestial objects do to people.
Looking at Venus specifically, there’s an appreciation for love and relationships because they deemed Venus as the goddess of love. It’s interesting how the gods are also gendered, Mars being a god and Venus being a goddess. The moon is interestingly not a specific god, it is its own being. This could be because the moon was closer, more noticeable, and with more tangible effects (e.g. high tide) that it is more human as compared to a distant god with direct effects on humans only. Perhaps since the celestial objects are so far away, and people back then had evidence for the moon affecting water by being close, they created an assumption that the further planets must be capable of affecting humans as much as the moon affects the earth.
I think the woodcut of Mars is particularly interesting because it depicts a state of chaos and disruption that is much more relatable in 1531, when the woodcut was created. It specifically references in the Peasants Revolt of 1525 and directly ties the chaos to a cosmological explanation. Mars, the Roman god of War, is seen overhead as responsible for initiating the chaos seen in the ground. The god rides with a shield and a sword on a chariot pulled by two dogs, doubling as the physical planet as well. The scene on the ground shows a face off between a soldier wielding a sword and a peasant defending with a shovel as well as soldiers driving off a herd of cattle. The entire image is filled with motion, and chaos, with multiple stabbings scattered in the foreground and background of the image. The scene reflects a cosmological belief that Mars’s orbit overhead is causal and divine, which is underscored by the biblical-like postures of the peasants and soldiers in the foreground. It seems as though the chaos of human nature is governed by the sky.
In Georg Pencz’s woodcut of Luna, we see an old way of understanding the universe where heaven and Earth are heavily connected. The Moon glides across the sky above common people working with water below, showing fishermen pulling in nets, a waterwheel spinning, and a swimmer climbing onto the bank. Before Copernicus changed how people saw the solar system, Europeans believed the planets directly governed human life and nature. Pencz captures this shared rhythm in simple, everyday terms: by looking up at the Moon, people weren’t just staring into cold, empty space, but discovering the unseen forces that shaped their daily work and lives.
What I found particularly fascinating about Mars’ illustration is how it portrays a violent force against the lower classes. I first noticed that the two aggressive dogs pulling Mars reminded me of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, giving Mars an association with founding privilege and the aggression it passes down over generations. There is a definite sense of desperation in the peasant family also, particularly with how the father tries to use a household shovel to fend off against elite military forces in their multitude of horses and spears. This could mean that the violence Mars brings is more elitist and upper-class, antagonistic toward daily peasant life. The soldiers stealing the family’s cattle also seems to confirm this; while the soldiers themselves likely do not need the extra assets, they still take away the family’s livelihood in food and income. Finally, the tree stump in the background can represent how something ordinary and in large numbers (the general population) is being upended, destroyed, and killed in the name of progress. All of these traits combined show a nuanced lens of Mars as a profoundly class-based god, an outlet for the lower classes to attribute their frustration against elitist and economically better-off powers. This likely helped these overbearing powers continue in growth, as it may have partially redirected the lower classes’ more abstract anger toward the institution to a more tangible object in the sky, Mars.
The detail that got me is in the Mars woodcut. The museum notes that the mercenaries attacking a peasant family, driving off cattle and burning the village would have read to contemporaries as the Peasants’ Revolt of 1525, an uprising that was only put down after thousands of peasants were killed. That was six years before the print. So this isn’t war in the abstract. It’s the specific slaughter everyone in Nuremberg still remembered, and Pencz puts it directly beneath a god riding a chariot pulled by dogs. What makes it stranger is that all seven prints were meant to be joined together as a frieze, with the shading on the ornamental columns lit consistently from the right so they would line up along a wall. You would hang the entire system in your house. Luna above the fishermen, Venus above the lovers, Mars above the massacre. In this worldview recent history isn’t something that happened to you. It’s what the sky was doing that year, and you framed it as decoration.
This woodcut series makes clear how deeply ingrained the belief in astrology was in 1531. One of the most interesting pieces by Pencz was “Mars.” In the top illustration, Mars, the god of war, is riding through the sky. His children, mercenaries, are represented below him. They have gone to a village of peasants and attacked them, stealing their cattle and burning down their houses. The curator explains that this piece illustrates the Peasants’ Revolt of 1525, which was only suppressed after thousands of peasants were slaughtered. I found Pencz’s version of this revolt particularly interesting. His audience had lived through this event only six years earlier, and he illustrated it as if it had come from the sky. We generally think of astrology as using your birth sign to interpret your character, but Pencz seems to be telling us that you can also read suffering in the stars. It is not random; according to this piece, war is the business of Mars, just as fishing is the business of the Moon and love is the business of Venus. What is especially interesting is that these prints were meant to be hung as one large frieze on a wall. All seven planets would be in the same room, and everyone’s fate, whether love or war, would be shown as determined by the heavens. Twelve years later, Copernicus published a theory that would completely change the concept of the heavens.
What I like most about Pencz’s Luna is how the river connects work, labour, enjoyment, and the higher beings (heavens). People pull fishing nets through the water, bathe, and use it to power a mill, while in the back, there are well dressed figures in hats gather around a table and seem to enjoy food and drinks. Their different activities belong to the same landscape under the Moon’s influence. As the curator explains, the Moon’s association with water connected it to fishing and milling. There is also a lobster creature on the chariot’s wheel which adds another connection, it represents Cancer, the zodiac sign traditionally ruled by the Moon. An aquatic creature appears in the sky above people who depend on water below. The waterwheel also echoes and plays with the chariot’s wheel, making me imagine heavenly movement continuing through the river and mill, and this all connecting together. The name also is very familiar because “луна” means “moon” in Russian. I find something beautiful in this cosmology, where a river connects ordinary life to the order of the universe.
Pencz’s astrological woodcuts feature 3 connected scenes featuring the earth and the sky under the planets “Luna,” “Mars,” and “Venus.” Each scene is characterized by a set of individuals acting out a task or behavior under the namesake god or goddess the planet was named after. Under the moon (Luna), people are seen fishing, which the author argues is due to the moon’s association with water, denoting a connection with fishing and milling. Under Mars (the god of war in Roman mythology), troops are seen attacking a peasant family, stealing cattle, and burning a village. Under Venus (the goddess of love in Roman mythology), there are amorous couples pictured in an idyllic landscape. All in all, the woodcut scenes are based on the belief that human behavior is altered/affected by what planet they are “under.” This in turn mirrors the widespread popularity of astrology, the belief that the positions and movements of stars and planets can influence human behavior at the time as an actual science.
Georg Pencz’s woodcut series, Seven Planets, gives an interesting look at how those before us viewed and understood the universe. In the woodcut of Mars, in the sky, there is what looks like a powerful figure or solider riding off to battle. The scene on Earth shows an intense battle. These two images are both connected by there themes of war, violence, but also strength. This correlation between the heavens and the earth in this photo suggests to us that they believed Mars was more than just a planet in the sky. They may have believed that it had actual influence over the human race. In the woodcut of Venus, the image of the heavens shows a depiction of love, beauty, and fertility. This is the same as the depiction of Earth below. There is lots of love and human connection and embrace in this woodcut. Like the depiction of Mars, there is again a correlation between the heavens and the Earth and it shows the power the heavens had on the Earth. This trend also can be seen with the woodcut of the moon. In that image, the heavens depicts labor and hard work and image on Earth reflects that as well. In todays world, we see the planets as physical objects moving through space, but centuries ago humans saw life completely differently. This image helps us, today, understand the connection between the heavens and the Earth that our ancestors long before us believed to be true.