Ordnung und Austheilung der Elementen · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Ordnung und Austheilung der Elementen
Period: 1550-1600;
Geographic: Ancient Greece; Ancient Rome
Description: This illustration depicts a god of an unknown name, surrounded by disorder. Ovid describes that the origins of the world were chaotic, unorganized, and all things were unstable. The image shows a god fixing the chaos and separating all the elements into stability. His right hand appears to be creating separation between day and night, where the sun is on the left top side of the image, and the moon on the right, with clouds in between them. The rest of the image is difficult to interpret which symbolizes the chaos in which Ovid describes.
Image Creator: Virgil Solis (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:20713
Language: ger
Source Name: P. Ouidij Nasonis, deß Sinnreichen und hochverstendigen Poeten, Metamorphoses oder Verwandlung, mit schönen figuren gezieret, auch kurzen Argumenten und außlegungen erkläret, und in Teutsche Reymen gebracht, durch Johann Spreng von Augspurg [Publius Ovidius Naso, the Ingenious and Highly Understandable Poet, Metamorphoses or Transformations, Adorned with Beautiful Images, and also descriptions of Short Arguments and Explanations, Brought into German Rhymes by Johann Spreng of Augsburg]
Parent Collection: 1564 Frankfurt Spreng
Image: mta_20713_OBJ.jpg
Collection: Ovid's Metamorphoses
Subject: Chaos; Disorder; Organization; Disorganization; Stability; God; Mythology; Creation

Media: mta_20713_OBJ.jpg