The Liberal Arts

The seven Liberal Arts, a medieval form of education derived from classical antiquity, were taught in two groups; the trivium with Grammatica, Dialectica and Rhetorica and the quadrivium with Musica, Arithmetica, Geometria and Astronomia. Although de Vos followed this division for the most part in the present composition, he did exchange Dialectica with Astronomia, shown to the far right and left. Several of the figures in this drawing are very close to those in engravings made after de Vos' inventions; Dialectica is particularly close to an engraving by Crispijn de Passe (1564-1637) (see Hollstein 1512), and Geometria is close to an engraving by Johannes Sadeler I (1550-circa 1600) (see Hollstein 1522). The figure of Time shown in the background can be compared to the figures in the series of engravings The Use and Abuse of Time by Crispijn de Passe (see Hollstein 1261-64).