Time 1540 - 1555

Enea Vico’s engraving, “Time,” presents us with Tempus, a winged, bearded figure using a compass to measure a globe, an hourglass at his side. The image, created around the mid-16th century, encapsulates the Renaissance fascination with classical allegories. The figure of Time, measuring the world, harkens back to ancient Greek and Roman depictions of Chronos or Saturn, often associated with the relentless passage of time and the structure of the universe. The compass, a tool of precision and knowledge, symbolizes Time's role in quantifying and ordering existence. We see echoes of this motif in various forms across centuries. Consider how, in later Northern Renaissance paintings, similar instruments appear, signifying not just temporal measurement but also divine knowledge and exploration of the natural world. The hourglass, an ancient symbol of mortality, reminds us of our limited time. Such images, charged with emotional intensity, evoke our deepest fears and anxieties about temporality, urging us to reflect on our fleeting existence and the eternal rhythms of the universe. Time— relentlessly measured, endlessly cyclical.