Cleveland Museum of Art

The Angel of the Eighth Sphere (from the Tarocchi, series A: Firmaments of the Universe, #48)

Master of the E-Series TarocchiLinkedCulture matchlcp-0e90d5e870aa

Date

before 1467

Medium

engraving

Culture

Italy, Ferrara, 15th century

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Object ID

106393

This engraving is part of the Tarocchi group marked with the letter “A”, and named Firmaments of the Universe . This series comprises the seven planets from the classical astronomy (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) and the three celestial spheres that separate them from the Supreme Entity ( Prima Causa ) from which everything was originated. Here, Octava Spera (Eight Sphere or the Angel of the Eight Sphere) is personified as a full-length winged figure, turned to left, and holding up a starry sphere in its hands. This stationary angel embodies the firmament as a fixed pattern of stars, which according to Ptolemaic thought was believed to revolve around the planet earth.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.