The plates

Tabulae

The images interleaved between the chapters. On vellum an engraving is printed onto the page rather than pasted on top of it, so the white of the original sheet becomes the paper. In the dark it is left as it is — an engraving is black lines on white, and inverting one would show you a different picture. Each has a note on where it came from.

Melencolia I, Albrecht Dürer — Tabula IMelencolia IAlbrecht Dürer, 1514Thought at rest, surrounded by instruments it will not use.Art Institute of Chicago · CC0

The School of Athens — Tabula IIThe School of AthensRaphael, 1509–1511The School of Athens is a masterpiece of the Renaissance that celebrates human knowledge, reason, philosophy, and the pursuit of truth.Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

The Death of Socrates, Jacques-Louis David — Tabula IIIThe Death of SocratesJacques-Louis David, 1787The Death of Socrates is a powerful symbol of courage, reason, and loyalty to one's principles, even in the face of death.Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Greek philosopher Plato, Unknown — Tabula IVThe Greek philosopher PlatoUnknown, Plato (born 428/427 bce, Athens, Greece—died 348/347, Athens)The Greek philosopher Plato Plato, marble portrait bust copied from an original of the 4th century bce; in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.Capitoline Museums, Rome.

Aristotle, Lysippos cast the primary bronze likeness of Aristotle around 330 BC — Tabula VAristotleLysippos cast the primary bronze likeness of Aristotle around 330 BC, born in 384 BC in Stagira, Greece, and died in 322 BC at the age of 62 in Chalcis, GreeceRoman copy of a Greek bust of AristotleNational Roman Museum (Palazzo Altemps)

St. Jerome in His Study, Albrecht Dürer — Tabula VISt. Jerome in His StudyAlbrecht Dürer, 1514The scholar’s room, drawn as a machine for concentration.Art Institute of Chicago · CC0

Friedrich Nietzsche, Unknown — Tabula VIIFriedrich NietzscheUnknown, born on October 15, 1844, in Röcken, Prussia, and died on August 25, 1900, in Weimar, Germany."God is dead, and your petty distractions won't fill the void He left behind." - Friedrich NietzscheNietzsche in 1869

Alexander the Great, Unknown — Tabula VIIIAlexander the GreatUnknown, born on July 20 or 21, 356 BC in Pella, Macedonia, and died on June 10 or 11, 323 BC in Babylon at the age of 32Philip of Macedon forged the hammer. Alexander just swung it until it broke.Alexandria, Egypt

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, plate 43 from Los Caprichos, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes — Tabula IXThe Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, plate 43 from Los CaprichosFrancisco José de Goya y Lucientes, 1797/99Goya’s caption is a warning about what reason leaves behind when it stops.Art Institute of Chicago · CC0

Buddha Shakyamuni Seated in Meditation (Dhyanamudra), Unknown — Tabula XBuddha Shakyamuni Seated in Meditation (Dhyanamudra)Unknown, Chola period, about 12th centuryA different tradition, arriving at stillness by a different road.Art Institute of Chicago · CC0

Knight, Death, and the Devil, Albrecht Dürer — Tabula XIKnight, Death, and the DevilAlbrecht Dürer, 1513Proceeding anyway, which is most of method.Art Institute of Chicago · CC0

Symposium (Feuerbach), Anselm Feuerbach — Tabula XIISymposium (Feuerbach)Anselm Feuerbach, 18691874 version of the Symposium.Great International Art Exhibition, Munich Germany, 1869

A Sheet of Anatomical Studies, Peter Paul Rubens — Tabula XIIIA Sheet of Anatomical StudiesPeter Paul Rubens, 1600/10The body, sectioned and numbered — the ancestor of every figure on this site.Art Institute of Chicago · CC0

The Giant Wheel, plate 9 from Imaginary Prisons, Giovanni Battista Piranesi — Tabula XIVThe Giant Wheel, plate 9 from Imaginary PrisonsGiovanni Battista Piranesi, 1761Architecture as an argument that never terminates.Art Institute of Chicago · CC0

Self-Portrait Etching at a Window, Rembrandt van Rijn — Tabula XVSelf-Portrait Etching at a WindowRembrandt van Rijn, 1648Light arriving in a room where someone is working.Art Institute of Chicago · CC0

Portrait Bust of a Woman, Ancient Roman — Tabula XVIPortrait Bust of a WomanAncient Roman, Mid–2nd centuryA face kept for two thousand years because of what was said behind it.Art Institute of Chicago · CC0