Zoo-aspect in Baroque culture: Giovanni Bonifacio's Treatise on Liberal and Mechanical Arts

Abstract

The paper aims to draw attention to how animal symbolism appears in the iconographic tradition of the medieval septem artes liberales and septem artes mechanicae, as well as in the studia humanitatis, which is one of the philosophical foundations of the Renaissance. For this reason, I analysed the treatise published in 1628 and entitled L'arti liberali et mecaniche come siano state da gli animali irrationali à gli huomini dimostrate (The Liberal and Mechanical Arts, presented to Men by Irrational Animals) written by an Italian author of the Baroque period, Giovanni Bonifacio. The analysis of the work focuses on the symbolism of animals with special regard to sources and their combination, a method so dear to the Baroque style.