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 Tarocchi

Date: before 1467
Medium: engraving
Culture: Italy, Ferrara, 15th century
Department: Prints
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

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.

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