Allegory Of Rhetoric — Circle Of Maarten De Vos And Frans Floris, Late 16th Century

Oil on wood panel (oak), 30.5 x 23 cm, Antwerp School. This panel depicts the Allegory of Rhetoric, one of the seven Liberal Arts. The female figure, richly dressed in gold, holds a caduceus—an attribute borrowed from Hermes/Mercury, a symbol of persuasive eloquence—which she brandishes toward a seated man dressed in ancient style. On the pedestal at her feet, the inscription “AESCHINIS” refers to Aeschines, the famous 4th-century B.C. Greek orator and rival of Demosthenes, who is depicted here receiving instruction in the art of oratory. In the background, an architectural view evokes the ancient urban setting where public speaking took place.Like the panel depicting Astronomy (also available), this work belongs to the same type of allegorical series on the Liberal Arts, whose iconography draws on the repertoire of the Antwerp masters Maarten de Vos (Antwerp, 1532–1603) and Frans Floris (Antwerp, 1519/20–1570). An engraving by Cornelis Cort after a composition by Frans Floris, dated 1565 and titled *Rhetorica*, presents a very similar scene (a female figure with a caduceus leaning toward a young man writing, a bearded old man placing his hand on the young man’s shoulder, birds perched on a stack of books by ancient authors), attesting to the circulation of this type of composition among the Antwerp masters in the late 16th century.