1546
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Seven Liberal Arts is a 1546 by Virgil Solis, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This print shows seven women standing in a row, each holding or pointing to something different. The first holds a scroll, the second gestures with an open book, the third has a globe, the fourth a lyre, the fifth a compass, the sixth a trumpet, and the last a wheel. They’re dressed in flowing robes with classical-style hair, and the background looks like a grassy field with a few plants. The Latin text at the top names them the "Seven Liberal Arts"—subjects like grammar, music, and math that were key in Renaissance education. The bottom text says something like *"No sweeter comfort in life exists for human misfortune than art."* Look up Renaissance next to see how these ideas shaped art and learning.
Virgil Solis or Virgilius Solis (1514 – 1 August 1562), a member of a prolific family of artists, was a German draughtsman and printmaker in engraving, etching and woodcut who worked in his native city of Nuremberg.
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