A Personification Of Geometry 

Dosso Dossi painted this "Personification of Geometry" sometime in the 16th century, using oil on canvas. The artist’s material sensibility is evident in the way he renders the geometry book, which has a tactile quality, like slate. We can imagine the geometrician scratching figures into it with a piece of chalk. This simple, direct method of inscription contrasts with the implied complexity of geometry itself. Of course, the painting is itself constructed by hand, built up from layers of pigment and brushwork. Dossi was working at a time when oil paint allowed artists to create incredibly lifelike effects, and his understanding of light and shadow is apparent in the figure’s powerfully rendered anatomy. Notice how he's carefully arranged the drapery, to highlight the figure’s masculinity. Even this is a kind of geometric demonstration. Ultimately, this painting reminds us of the inseparability of intellectual pursuits and the skilled labor that makes them visible. Dossi elevates this labor through his fine art, and thus prompts us to question the very definitions of those terms.