Dürer and his magical mathematical enigmas in art

Alberto Durero is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting and enigmatic Renaissance painters, but within his works, one of the most curious is, clearly, «Melancholy I».we see an angel with an expression between angry and sad and around him, in addition to rising up a fabulous compendium of symbols, we find the so-called magic square .Do you want to know what it is? Then read on, we are sure you would love to know this little mathematical and artistic challenge.

The desolate angel of «Melancholy»

Melancholy I, Alberto Dürer

« Melancholy I »is one of Dürer's most famous engravings and is part of what is known as the «Master Prints», along with three more engravings: «The Knight, Death and the Devil and St.Jerome».However, the one we present in the drawing above It is, unquestionably, his most challenging work.

The central character of this picture is an angel.Seeing his expression already catches our attention.Are you angry, thoughtful or, maybe, sad? For many specialists it is simply a winged woman.A lady who rests her head on her closed left puno.On the other hand, she holds a compass.

The name of this woman-or angel-is Melancholy and his anger seems to fall rather into the world of sadness or helplessness.It is surrounded by mathematical instruments and has the attitude of the scientist who fails to find a solution.A wise woman with wings that «fails to take off her knowledge ».Her hair is crowned with the laurels of triumph, but her mouth does not draw the satisfaction of a winner at all.

Durero's magic cube

Dürer and his magical mathematical enigmas in art

Detail of the magic cube in the engraving «Melancholy»

The detail of Magic Cube is an example of how Dürer wanted to pay a tribute to mathematics from art.Besides being a great master painter, he always and I like to use the geometry as well as the mathematical proportions in his paintings in the most refined way possible.Moreover, I build some instruments to ensure that his paintings and prints have an exquisite and almost perfect perspective.

But look now at that square on the left in his drawing.It's a magic cube.And what's so special? Let's do a little exercise of mental calculation. Add the numbers of your rows and columns.What number do you get? 34.Now also add the diagonals.The result? again 34.

Now, let's do another little test. Let's add the numbers of the four corners (16 + 3 + 4 + 1) What figure does it give us again? 34.But let's grow even more the game of this magic cube.Let's now add the central numbers: 10 + 11 + 7 + 6=34.Indeed, and the funny thing is that the game does not end there, the central ones of the first and the last column will also give you this number (5 + 8 + 9 + 12).And if you now want to divide the square in half both horizontally and vertically, you will get four smaller squares with four numbers each, whose result will remain the same.Fix:

16 + 3 + 5 + 10=34
2 + 13 + 11 + 8=34
9 + 6 + 4 + 15=34
7 + 12 + 14 + 1=34

Fabulous, right? Even if you are not a math lover, you will find it interesting to find this curious magic cube in an engraving.We cannot finalize this article without giving you even more amazing information.The year in which Alberto Durero made this engraving entitled "Melancholy I" was in 1514 (these numbers appear in the last row: 15-14-1).And another thing, look at the numbers of the corners of the last row.They are 4 and 1.The numbers that in the alphabet represent D and A. Alberto Durero .

Initials If you have found this story interesting, do not miss the article about fractals either.Do you know what they are?

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