In my introduction to the course, I discussed Raphael’s painting “The School of Athens,” in which Aristotle is one of the two central figures. We will be spending a considerable amount of time in this course discussing the works of Aristotle, in the subject areas of astronomy, meteorology, physics and biology. In fact, we will spend more time examining Aristotle and his influence than any other figure in this course. However, the Aristotle that you will encounter in this history of science course is not the Aristotle you would encounter in a philosophy course or a political science course. We will focus on a few selected works by Aristotle on a relatively narrow range of topics given Aristotle’s total output. Further, there is a huge gap between the actual flesh and blood man named Aristotle who lived in Athens over two thousand years ago – a person we can only know in a fragmentary way through his extant writings and some archaeological evidence – and historical reconstructions of Aristotle. I say “historical reconstructionS” (plural), because there are and have been many many different historical reconstructions of Aristotle. In different times and places people have imagined who Aristotle was and why he was important in very different ways.
Last week we explored some of these different ways of imaging Aristotle. We began by looking at one of the most common images of Aristotle in the modern Western world. A Google image search on “Aristotle” pulls up dozens of versions of this image:
This bust is a Roman copy in marble of a Greek bronze bust of Aristotle by Lysippus, ca. 330 BCE. I think the fact that this is the first and most common image of Aristotle that pops up on a Google search suggests that we in modern America tend to see Aristotle as a venerable, ancient, historical figure. We see him as very far removed in time from us – the marble bust is not nearly as lifelike as the richly imagined, colorful figure in Raphael’s painting. Further, we tend to associate Aristotle with a number of fields that have been (and to a large extend continue to be) predominantly white and male: science, philosophy, and politics. (I judge this in part by the types of websites that use this particular image of Aristotle.) And yet, this is not, historically the only way of imagining Aristotle or the only way of assessing his importance. I asked students to explore different ways of imaging Aristotle by finding images of Aristotle from a range of periods and contexts. Each of the five discussion groups selected a different image of Aristotle and discussed possible meaning of this image. Each group selected a different image – and to my relief, no two groups picked the same image! The five groups picked widely varying images in different media, by different artists and from different time periods. I’ve arranged them here in chronological order, along with some of the information and links each group found.
1) This image was contributed by Zachary Connor, Sofia Buscarini, Lindsey Hamilton, Bryce Corlee, Nicole Palmeter, Benjamin Kraft and Cameron Owens.
This is an illumination from an Arabic manuscript produced in Baghdad in the first half of the thirteenth century. It depicts Aristotle (on the right) instructing Alexander the Great (on the left). The manuscript itself is a compilation of Aristotle’s works on animals together with works by the Syrian physician ‘Ubayd Allah ibn Bakhtishu. It is titled The Description and Uses of Animals, and it is currently held by the British Library in London (MS Or.2784, folio 96r). The artist is unknown. The group noted that this depiction of Aristotle in a medieval Arabic manuscript indicates his and his fellow Greeks’ influence on the approach to science in Islamic culture. They further noted the interesting detail that Aristotle is positioned slightly higher than Alexander the Great, perhaps indicating the very high esteem philosophy and Aristotle were held in the Islamic world.
2) These images were contributed by Conrad Young, Taylor Greene, Brandon Curd, Jason Troy, Kiley Poppino, Matt Banks, Michael Rath, John Stacy and Addie Bickerstaff.
All of them depict the apocryphal story of Aristotle and Phyllis, a popular tale in the late Middle Ages and early modern period. There are some different variations of this story, but the basic gist is that Phyllis is the wife or mistress of Aristotle’s student Alexander the Great. In one version, Aristotle tells Alexander to refrain from sexual intercourse, and in retaliation, Phyllis seduces Aristotle, telling him that she will have sex with him if he will get down on all fours like a beast and let her ride him. The group thought that these images humanized Aristotle, commonly regarded as the father of Western philosophy. These images – which portray a woman using her powers of seduction to overcome the male intellect – may also reflect changing ideas about women and gender in this period. For more images of this story, click here. For a nice thought piece on this story, see Justin Smith’s blog.
3) This image was contributed by Zachary Smith, Eric Lopez, Austin Dickerson, Sam Black, Drew Bonham, Michael McQuaid, Justin Thrash, Sage Ranallo and Justin Mullins.
This is a painting of Aristotle produced in 1637 by the Spanish artist Jusepe de Ribera. It is currently in the Indianapolis Museum of Art. It was one of six in a series commissioned for the Prince of Lichtenstein, all of which were ancient philosophers. The group pointed out that Ribera has depicted Aristotle in contemporary dress, rather than historical garb. Also, he holds a book and paper (two inventions that came long after Aristotle’s lifetime!). Ribera’s perception of Aristotle is that of an impoverished philosopher (note the torn sleeve), something that in the time period was becoming more prominent – very much akin to the “starving artist image” now. Perhaps his implication was that philosophers are not motivated by money. If you zoom in on the image, you can see that the top paper under Aristotle’s hand contains the artist’s signature. The paper below this appears to contain geometrical diagrams.
4) This image was contributed by Wamika Kumar, Vanessa Maynard, Kim Brooks, Courtlan Roland, Tanner Linn, Nathan McGuffey, Jessica Caballero and Morgan Blodgett.
This is a painting titled “Aristotle with a Bust of Homer.” It was painted by the Dutch artist Rembrandt Van Rijn in 1653 for a Sicilian nobleman and art collector named Don Antonio Ruffo. The painting is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The group states that the image has been interpreted in different ways by scholars. Some argue that the image depicts Aristotle looking at the bust of Homer, envying his work. Another argument is that since Aristotle’s right hand (the dominant hand) is on top of the bust of Homer’s head, and his left hand is in the dark holding a golden chain, Rembrandt implies that knowledge (hand on brain) is more important than wealth (the hand with the golden chain in the dark). There are some interesting similarities with the Ribera image painted just a few years earlier. Rembrandt’s Aristotle, like Ribera’s, is dressed in contemporary fashion, and the theme of the superiority of knowledge to wealth may be present in both. However, note how splendidly Rembrandt’s Aristotle is dressed, with the enormous puffy silky sleeves and the heavy gold chain. This is a far cry from the tattered robes on Ribera’s Aristotle! For a great spoof of this image, see “Arisfroggle Contemplating the Bust of a Twerp.”
5) This image was contributed by Daniel Chamberlain, Jacob Moore, Ryan Fransen, Jacob Curtis, Laine Abernathy, Jessica Robertson, Carlos Ybarra, James Johnson and Collin Wade.
This is a painting of Aristotle from 1811 by the Italian artist Francesco Hayez. He painted this while in Rome (1809-1814). It is currently in the Galleria dell’ Academia in Venice, Italy. Venice was Hayez’s hometown. In the painting, Hayez shows Aristotle deep in contemplation. Unlike the other four images of Aristotle, where he is shown in contemporary dress, Hayez portrays Aristotle in classical garb. The group suggests that by painting Aristotle in an ancient costume, Hayez depicts him more of a person from the past (rather like our picture of Aristotle today, as represented by the bust at the beginning of this post.) He’s someone in the pages of a history book, not a person whose work is still relevant. This could show the progression of modern thinking in Italy and Rome around the beginning of the nineteenth century.
If anyone has further information or thoughts on any of these images, or has more images of Aristotle to contribute, please comment!