English: Detail of a scene in the bowl of the letter 'P' with a woman with a set-square and dividers; using a compass to measure distances on a diagram. In her left hand she holds a square, an implement for testing or drawing right angles. She is watched by a group of students. In the Middle Ages, it is unusual to see women represented as teachers, in particular when the students appear to be monks. She is most likely the personification of Geometry, based on Martianus Capella's famous book De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, [5th c.] a standard source for allegorical imagery of the seven liberal arts.
Illustration at the beginning of Euclid's Elementa, in the translation attributed to Adelard of Bath.
Français : Détail d'une enluminure du XIVe siècle, contrepoinçon d'une lettre capitale P, au début des Éléments d'Euclide, dans une traduction attribuée à Adélar de Bath. Une femme porte une équerre d'une main et utilise un compas de l'autre pour mesurer des distances sur un diagramme. Un groupe de moines, apparemment ses étudiants, la regardent. Au Moyen Âge, la représentation d'une femme dans un rôle d'enseignant est inhabituelle. La femme représentée ici serait donc plutôt une personnification de la géométrie.
Date
between 1309 and 1316
date QS:P571,+1350-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1319,+1309-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1316-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
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Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
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https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/PDMCreative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0falsefalse
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Assessment
This file was a candidate in Picture of the Year 2006. This is a featured picture on Wikimedia Commons (Featured pictures) and is considered one of the finest images. See its nomination here.
Likely represents Sophia/logos (red robe with purple high status) Illumination of P Pythagoria Pi and phi - geometrical shapes set within circle bounded in green representing material world
Likely represents Sophia/logos (red robe with purple high status) Illumination of P Pythagoria Pi and phi - geometrical shapes set within circle bounded in green representing material world
Woman using a compass to measure distances on a diagram. In her hand she hold a square, an implement for testing or drawing right angles. She is watched by a group of students. In the Middle Ages, it is unusual to see women represented as teachers, in pa
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