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Wikimedia Commons · CC0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileExemplaar van de onder RP-P-1887-A-12391 beschreven prent
after Hendrick Goltzius
This vast engraving presents a tiered landscape where humanity enters through a gate on the far right and traverses a world filled with personified virtues and vices. The central figure of Fortune stands precarious on a globe, while those who seek higher wisdom must climb a steep, narrow path leading to a circular temple of Salvation at the summit. Detailed Latin labels identify figures like Deceit, Lust, and Penance, mapping out a psychological and spiritual itinerary for the viewer to follow.
Based on a Greek text once attributed to Cebes of Thebes, this work is a foundational Neoplatonic and Stoic allegory of the soul's ascent and purification. It reflects the Renaissance interest in moral cartography, where the landscape serves as a mnemonic and meditative tool for the pursuit of 'True Learning' over material illusion.
DOMICILIUM SALUTIS SALUS VERITAS FORTITUDO CONTINENTIA VERA DISCIPLINA FORTUNA GENIUS INTROITUS SEDUCTIO OPINIONES CUPIDITATES VOLUPTATES INCONTINENTIA LUXURIA AVARITIA ADULATIO POENITENTIA TRISTITIA DESPERATIO Hocce artis Chalcographię Symbolum, Humanissimo Dño Petro Boom, viro Consulari Amstelredamensi, cebetis tabulę flagrantissimo cultori, effini suo Moestissimus Fruentur amicitię ergò D.D. Jacobus Mathamius Goltzij priuignus sculp. Anno 1592.
Translation
DOMICILE OF SALVATION SALVATION TRUTH FORTITUDE CONTINENCE TRUE DISCIPLINE FORTUNE GENIUS ENTRANCE SEDUCTION OPINIONS DESIRES PLEASURES INCONTINENCE LUXURY AVARICE FLATTERY PENITENCE SADNESS DESPAIR This symbol of the art of chalcography, to the most humane Master Peter Boom, a man of consular rank of Amsterdam, a most ardent cultivator of the Tablet of Cebes, his friend, most sorrowfully [dedicated]. For the sake of friendship, he gives and dedicates it. Jacob Matham, stepson of Goltzius, sculpted it. In the year 1592.
Cebes of Thebes, Tabula Cebetis
The engraving is a direct visual translation of this ancient dialogue describing the path to wisdom.
Corpus Hermeticum
The theme of the soul's ascent through spheres of influence and the rejection of material 'Fortune' mirrors the Hermetic journey toward gnosis.
Object
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Engraving
allegory
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · CC0
http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.339911
Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication
9790 × 4952 px
09aa06e8c92baf803b112c026dc27fdfc42a5555
December 5, 2019
March 23, 2026
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.