Durer's Astrology Chart
Over 35 of his paintings and woodblock prints
Magnificent scans of woodblocks

Copperplate engraving Melancholia in great detail

Albrecht Durer, the first Modern Man? Yes, many would say so. But let's begin at the beginning.

Most of the inspiration for this article comes from a very beautiful book called, The Moment of Self-Portraiture in German Renaissance Art by Joseph Leo Loerner which I had the pleasure of devouring almost eight years ago when I was taking private studies in German and Austrian language and history. The name Durer has an umlaut on the "u" and would normally be transliterated Duerer in English but I am going to use the simple spelling Durer without the umlaut, since some computers don't have them.

If you've never heard of this man, Albrecht Durer, you may be aware of his bunny rabbit painting which is quite famous.

This clipart barely does it justice. Of course the original is in natural color. You may be surprised to learn that Albrecht Durer is considered in some symbolic sense to be the first "Modern Man". This is, of course, by people who know about those sorts of things, including the author of the book Moment of Self-Portraiture. Even among the best educated in English speaking countries, many do not study German history because Germany was never "Romanized", never was conquered by the Romans, and has fallen out of the liberal arts basket in most colleges. Germans may not have contributed as much to our early cultural heritage as, for example, Shakespeare, but German philosophers and composers are without equal. Eight out of the top ten composers in the western world are German (or German speaking Austrians) by most standards of reckoning and the list of philosophers includes Kant, the most important since the ancient Greeks, also Hegel, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, and later (20th century) Husserl, Heidegger, Gadamer and Habermas.

"Germany", never really a country, but a loosely associated group of fiercely warring provinces, contributed thoughts, feelings and expressions of beliefs that were outside the mainstream cultural experience of most Europeans during the 18th and 19th centuries. In addition, Germany and other countries suffered cultural inferiority complexes to France well into the 19th century, whether warranted or not. This may be another reason you haven't heard of Durer. But now you have :-) so let's begin.

In the same way that Friedrich Nietzsche seems to be the first man of the Aquarian Age, at least a good symbol for it, Albrecht Dürer was the first Modern Man, the first man to step out of the dark recesses of the Middle Ages with self consciousness.

Albrecht Dürer was born on May 21, 1471 in Nuremberg, Germany. He was one of eighteen children born to a Hungarian father (originally the name was Atjos).

Albrecht Dürer's first self portrait

Dürer's famous self portrait as a rich artist,
one of the first artists in history to figure out a way to make money
doing what he loved doing (1)

Durer's major works began just at the turn of the century. His personal seal shows the year 1504 with his initials AD.

Dürer was as interested in mathematics as he was art and traveled to Italy several times during his life to get new inspiration. He life was a struggle financially and his marriage was not a happy one. He cared for his nearly blind mother during her reclining years as well as his wife. He created one of his most famous woodcuts, Melancholia the year she died.

Portrait of his mother, by Albrecht Durer

Durer traveled to Italy in the mid 1490s and met many artists but, according to O'Connor and Robertson from the University of St. Andrew's School of Mathematics and Statistics, "does not seem to have met with any of the major Italian mathematicians on his journeys ... he did meet Jacopo de Barbari who told him of the mathematical work of Pacioli and its importance to the theory of beauty and art."

Pacioli had written a book with Leonardo da Vinci about recreational magic and Pacioli by himself had written a book summarizing "all there was know" about mathematics up until that time. Durer did not meet da Vinci either but he did learn how important da Vinci considered math to be to his work. You will recall that at this time, Italy was well into a Renaissance which was barely touching the northern European areas such as Germany.

When he returned to Nuremberg, Durer began a serious study of mathematics which was to last for the rest of his life. According to the scholars at St. Andrews, he read Euclid's Elements and the important treatise De architectura (On Architecture) by Vitruvius (1st century BC), the famous Roman architect and engineer. He also became familiar with the work of Alberti and Pacioli on mathematics and art, in particular work on proportion. Pacioli's work was later to show up in one of the most famous woodcuts in the world, Melancholia.

From 1505 to 1507, Durer made a second trip to Italy, to Bologna to meet with Pacioli whom he considered held "the mathematical secrets of art".

When he returned home, Durer's health became worse. He continued work on art and mathematics, writing the first mathematics book published in German, (1525-27), Unterweisung der Messung mit dem Zirkel und Richtscheit.

[The factual statements in this article have been provided by J. J. O'Connor and E. F. Robertson, University of St. Andrews School of Mathematics and Statistics]

Albrecht Durer also produced the first printed star charts in 1515, which were more accurate than most. You can see in this woodcut, some of the common alchemical symbols out in the ocean areas, remembering that this is only very shortly after Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

The positions of the stars were accurately fixed (according to Ptolemy's catalog), and the figures were artistically portrayed, in a classical style. Durer's maps were accurate whereas those of his predecessor, Honter, were off in coordinate system by nearly thirty degrees. My, how times have changed with the computer.

The Constellations (a map by Durer)

Another angle of Durer's constellations.

Susan Hudes has captured some of the beauty of German Renaissance Art (like Durer's) in her tarot deck. Click here to see the Hudes Tarot Deck.

Albrecht Durer created his famous woodcut Melancholia in 1514, showing a brooding figure which some believe is the prototype of The Thinker and other renderings of people deep in thought. From an astrological perspective, the "ruler"of this piece would be Saturn (melancholia) and the natural antidote or "cure" in elemental magic would be something representing the sanguine (or fiery) element, thus Jupiter. The Square of Jupiter has been chosen.

Melancholia woodcut by Albrecht Dürer featuring the Jupiter Square

Also visit Eleonore Weil's site to see this woodcut Melancholia in clear detail.

Close up of the Jupiter Square -- all columns add up to 34 including diagonals.

This "cure" is intuitive and similar to the redirecting of energy in Feng Shui or meditating on the Wheel of Fortune card in the Tarot Deck, which is a Jupiter ruled card. Meditating on this card will raise your spirits immediately. Give it a try. To learn more, visit the Online Tarot Course.

There are many different kinds of Magic Squares with different properties. Durer may have gotten the Jupiter Square from Luca Pacioli's DeViribus. Here is an index to scanned copies of the actual manuscript pages from DeViribus.

Miscellaneous:

For more information on Magic Squares, please click MARK SWANEY ON THE HISTORY OF MAGIC SQUARES.

To learn more about the Magic Square through the ages, visit THE SATOR MAGIC SQUARE.

Here is an excellent collection, CHRONOLOGY OF RECREATIONAL MATHEMATICS by David Singmaster hosted by Brad Spencer of EldarOrg.

From the collection of origins of "magic tricks", comes this entry also by Singmaster, a TWO PERSON MENTAL ACT from De Viribus Quantitatis, the book written by Luca Pacioli and Leonardo da Vinci. I can't link directly to the drop down page, but look near the bottom of the list for "Two Person Mental Act" in the left hand column and click there.

Click here for a POSTER OF LUCA PACIOLI 1445-1517 who wrote a book combining all the mathematics up to his day, a book which may very well have influenced Dürer at St. Andrews College.

Click here for a BIOGRAPHY OF LUCA PACIOLI at St. Andrews College.

HERE'S WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID:

Dear Nancy,

In Munich, Germany, I saw Durer's 1500 self portrait. Natuarally I was impressed, and wanted to know more about him. I wanted to know him from a deeper level. I enjoyed your article about him. Could you expound on his chart for me or direct me to where I can get more information on him. -- KS

Now let's look at Dürer's chart and learn some astrology.

SOME INTERPRETATION OF DüRER'S ASTROLOGICAL CHART

We don't have the exact time of birth so it's not possible to do a thorough analysis. I will work with the planets and their aspects to one another.

Significantly, Saturn is conjunct Dürer's Sun so that ironically pulling out his own identity was arduous and difficult. As is so often the case, where Saturn is, that is our gift back to the world. The conjunct is between two different signs, Taurus for the Sun and Gemini for Saturn. The South Node is also in Gemini though not close to Saturn or Venus.

Those with North Node in Sagittarius are learning to see unity in diversity but the South Node in Gemini gave Dürer the sophistication and charm it took to round up patrons and support wherever he went. Gemini presents a person with flexibility, brokerage talents, good "horse trading" skills, the ability to bamboozle, surprise and delight all at the same time. A good example of this might be the song Richard Gere did in Chicago, "Razzle Dazzle 'Em". Snake oil salesman, actually.

Dürer's visits to foreign lands to gather experience and support is indicated by his reaching for that North Node in Sagittarius. This is also the signature of a "Renaissance Man" and perhaps the reason he was so attracted to what was going on in Italy and with others of his artistic stature It was his South Node in Gemini, however, that enabled him to turn these talents into a personal fan club and dynasty!

Jupiter in Virgo may be what enabled him to succeed in the microcosm and the macrocosm. It is amazing to me that he was able to obtain a printing press, for example. The organization and teamwork genius he displayed comes from this earthy sign ruled by Mercury, yet the emphasis may ultimately rest on the education of the listener. Dürer had the desire to serve which is normally associated with Virgo but in this case together with the planet that rules the Renaissance Man, Jupiter.

Dürer had a mutable T-square as follows:

• Moon at 4 degrees Pisces square
• Venus at 10 degrees Gemini and Saturn at 0 degrees Gemini square
• Pluto at 10 degrees Virgo

A T-square gives dynamic tension to a chart. In Dürer's case, the planets are in mutable signs giving him a nervous excitability. There is also some speculation as to whether or not he was homosexual, energy often associated with the mutable signs. His dislike for his marriage was well known and is discussed in the book, The Moment of Self Portraiture.

T-squares are noted for keeping a person hopping. The worst thing a person can do with a T-square is sit on it, aim too low, play too small or do too little.

It would be safe to say with this configuration that Dürer loved money as much as he disliked or mistrusted women. My reason for saying this is that Saturn/Venus indicates a misogynist and Pluto/Venus in a man can be someone filled with avarice, an insatiable desire for gold coins. Dürer married a wealthy woman.

The missing leg with this T-square is Sagittarius. Dürer does have his North Node there but it is not in the configuration. It just adds further emphasis to the importance of Jupiter and Sagittarius for this man and for the northern Renaissance.

If there is one thing that personifies the power of the individual, it is the genius working alone producing greatness in many diverse fields. Leonard da Vinci (below), Michelangelo, Goethe and others are examples of this phenomenon.

What exactly is a "Renaissance Man". This is the definition, also distinguishing it from "genius" that I found in wikipedia.com, not a scholarly source but good enough for this purpose.

A polymath (also known as a polyhistor) is a person who excels in multiple fields, particularly in both arts and sciences. The most common other term for this phenomenon is Renaissance man, but also in use are Homo universalis and Uomo Universale, which in Latin and Italian, respectively, translate as "Universal Man". (NB In Latin homo may be male or female, as in "mankind" or "human being"; the Latin word for a male human being vir.)

Many notable polymaths lived during the European Renaissance period, and a rounded approach to education was typical of the ideals of the humanists of the time.

A gentleman or courtier of that era was expected to speak several languages, play a musical instrument, write poetry and so on, thus fulfilling the Renaissance ideal. During the Renaissance, Baldassare Castiglione, in his The Book of the Courtier, wrote a guide to being a polymath. On the other hand "polymath" may be applied more strictly, taking Leonardo da Vinci or Goethe as prime examples, and requiring a universality of approach. A polymath may not necessarily be classed as a genius, which is a related classification; and certainly a genius may not display the breadth to qualify as a polymath. Albert Einstein is a prime example of a person generally regarded as a "genius" who was not a polymath.

Mars in Aries is of course the very signature of "the entrepreneur". Dürer has only one major aspect to his Mars and that is a sextile to Venus. He loved beautiful things and did what he needed to do to get them.

Another way of seeing a person's identity, which Dürer personified for all of us, is through the Ascendant and with the time of birth unavailable, we can't know what the Ascendant or Rising Sign is.

Dürer's narcissism is not commented on in the writings above, but could be seen in his Pisces Moon. If I had to guess, I would imagine he has Virgo Rising which puts his Moon in the 7th and Mars in the 8th. It would put the T-square in cardinal houses (1, 7 and 10). It would put Sun/Saturn and Venus in Gemini near the Midheaven. This makes sense to me.

Virgo Rising shows the very fine detail he put into things like the bunny rabbit, his own beard and the fur trim on his coat in three different paintings. These paintings reflected his own delicate and detailed self image. There is an incredible nude self portrait Dürer did when he was nearly sick unto death one time and when I saw it, I flashed on the sensitive and delicate constitution of most Virgos.

This would also put Pluto and Jupiter rising, descriptive of the impact of this man, his "grear wealth" and power. Neptune in Scorpio falls in the third house emphasizing again his Ulyssean ingenuity and business prowess where street smarts are concerned.

Moon opposite Pluto across the 1st and 7th houses describes the kind of absorption with appearance and identity that might result in Dürer's masterpieces, especially as they square Sun and Saturn (plus Venus) at the Midheaven. He would want to tell the world about it.

Nancy R. Fenn

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