Rhetoric: The Seven Liberal Arts

A semi-nude female figure representing the art of Rhetoric sits beside Mercury, who is portrayed here as an older bearded man. She wears a laurel wreath signifying poetic triumph and looks toward Mercury as he gestures with his snaked-entwined staff over an open book. This engraving is the fourth plate in a series dedicated to the Seven Liberal Arts.

In the Renaissance, Rhetoric was viewed not merely as public speaking but as the divine power of the Word (Logos) to move the soul and the cosmos. Its association with Mercury (Hermes) highlights the Hermetic belief in the sacred nature of language and its role in the mediation between the human and divine realms.