Melissa (Circe) 1516

Dosso Dossi painted this oil on canvas, entitled ‘Melissa (Circe)’, in Italy around the 1520s or 30s. In it, we see a depiction of a sorceress surrounded by the tools and victims of her trade. The artist worked in Ferrara for the Este court, and it is likely that this painting idealizes courtly life. It does so by using Melissa as an allegory for the wise ruler, who is able to see the truth of things, turning vice into virtue as the painting turns men into animals. The composition of the painting is cleverly organized to make this point; the sorceress is at the center with nature and society carefully arranged around her. The image creates meaning through mythological association. The artist perhaps expects his viewers to see the ruler as a divinely ordained figure, a magician wielding symbolic power. Social historians of art seek to challenge such assumptions by revealing the real economic and political conditions that give rise to these images. In doing so, we aim to open up the picture’s meaning.