Dr Darrelyn Gunzburg

Department of History of Art, University of Bristol, and Sophia Centre, University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Motif and memory within the zodiac constellations in art: a 'pittura franca'

Abstract

In 1967 Salvador Dali (1904-1989) created a limited edition series of lithographs of the twelve signs of the zodiac. As a surrealist, Dali's objective was to clarify through art that which was hidden, irrational, and the imaginary. That said, these zodiac images are surprisingly non-surrealistic. What they do show, however, is a remarkable affiliation with zodiac constellation images that we also recognise in synagogue mosaics of the first-century CE, Islamic astrological literature of the ninth century, and medieval wall and ceiling frescoes. According to Francesca Rochberg, images of the constellations that describe the path of the moon begin to appear in the middle of the first millennium BCE. As images these remain consistent across time. Many scholars would call this a lingua franca. Yetthis paper argues that these images have left the sky and are no longer cartography and have become instead motifs in their own right, visual depictions of the signs of the zodiac that connect us to a visual astrological tradition as an unspoken mnemonic. Furthermore, in the same way that saints in the Christian tradition have religious iconographies, this paper contends that the twelve zodiac images are to the sky as the attributes are to the saints. One recognises the ram as Aries in many different forms, just as within the art history traditionone recognises St Peter by his various attributes. The only variable that changes over time is the style of the artist. Thus finally this paper explores a range of artists, known and unknown, who have depicted the constellation images of the zodiac and suggeststhat, rather than a lingua franca, what we may be looking at is a 'pittura franca', raising the question of whether astrology is a language or an art - or both.

Biography

Darrelyn Gunzburg holds a PhD, History of Art (2014) from the University of Bristol, and a BA Hons (Open) (2006) from the Open University). She is a permanent part-time member of staff at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (School of Archaeology, History and Anthropology). She is also a professional consulting and teaching astrologer and co-principal of Astro Logos, an astrological school dedicated to the education of practicing astrologers. (www.AstroLogos.co.uk). Her doctoral thesis was entitled 'Giotto's Salone: an astrological investigation into the fresco scheme of the first floor Salone of the Palazzo della Ragione'. She has also written extensively for The Art Book (Wiley-Blackwell) and Cassone: The International Online Magazine of Art and Art Books. From Oct 2010-Jan 2015 Darrelyn taught medieval art and medieval history for the Department of History of Art at the University of Bristol. Darrelyn's astrological publications include: Life After Grief: An Astrological Guide to Dealing with Loss (2004), AstroGraphology (2009), and Restoring The Heavens to Astrology (2010) (with Bernadette Brady). Darrelyn's academic publications include: 'The Imagined Sky: cultural perspectives' (ed.), Sheffield: Equinox Publishing (forthcoming 2015); 'Giotto's Sky: The frescopaintings of the first floor Salone of the Palazzo della Ragione, Padua, Italy', Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture 7, no. 4 (2013): 407-433; 'The Perugia Fountain: An Encyclopaedia of Sky, Culture and Society', in Sky and Symbol, edited by Nicholas Campion and Liz Greene, 103-118. Ceredigion: Sophia Centre Press, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, 2013; 'How Do Astrologers Read Charts? , in Astrologies: Plurality and Diversity, edited by Nicholas Campion and Liz Greene, 181-200. Ceredigion: Sophia Centre Press, University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, 2011; and 'Looking Back: The Transgression of Social Codes Explored through the Direct Gaze in Fra Angelico's San Marco Altarpiece When Compared with Madonna and Child with Eight Saints', St Andrews Journal of Art History and Museum Studies 14 (2010), 31-44 .Her research interests liein the art historical and visual astronomical exploration of frescos and sculpture in medieval Italy, as well as how,in contemporary western astrology, meaning is derived from natal horoscopes.