Tre forme di malinconia : Una ricognizione su figure di malinconici, a partire dall'Atlas Mnemosyne

This reasoned survey of melancholy images contained in the Atlas is followed by an in-depth analysis on the theme of “Three forms of melancholy: an interpretation, from the Bilderatlas and other images”. In fact, the figures with the hand-to-face posture that you encounter in the Atlas may be divided into three groups that we have distinguished in order to map out a diagram of the analysis: Melancholy I. ex acedia; Melancholy II. ex otio; Melancholy III ex maerore. The precariousness and permeability among these typings are highlighted by the overlay of the three inclinations − sloth, thought, pain – that are present in almost all melancholic figures, especially in figures that do not allow themselves to be framed in one of the predefined categories. The sequence of images, through the highlighting of kindred relationships and of ‘nerve connections’, then offers possible further articulations – further overlays – of the tripartite scheme. The examples are taken from images that are displayed in the Atlas as well as other sources, which the Atlas-machine comes to summon.