On the Shadows of Ideas and the Art of Memory

De umbris idearum, published in Paris in 1582 and dedicated to King Henri III of France, was the first major work Giordano Bruno printed after leaving Italy, and it established his reputation as a master of the art of memory. It was issued together with a practical companion, the Ars memoriae. The first part is philosophical: drawing on Neoplatonism and on the Hermetic tradition, Bruno argues that human knowledge grasps not the divine Ideas themselves but their ‘shadows’, which descend through the hierarchy of being to the senses and imagination, and that a disciplined imagination can climb back up the ladder toward unity. The Ars memoriae then turns this into a technique. It describes systems of memory places and images arranged on concentric revolving wheels, partly inspired by the combinatorial art of Ramon Llull, with lists of mythological, astrological and inventive figures that can be combined to remember and generate words, ideas and arguments. Among these are images of the decans and planets taken from the tradition of astral magic, which Frances Yates famously read as evidence of a Hermetic-magical programme. Later scholars, including Rita Sturlese, Marco Matteoli and others, have stressed the work’s technical ingenuity and its place in the mnemonic and Lullian traditions, while still recognising its metaphysical ambition. The book remains central to the study of Renaissance memory arts and of the links between imagination, magic and knowledge.

What it contains

• Dedication to Henri III of France
• Philosophical dialogue and thirty ‘intentions’ on shadows of the Ideas
• Thirty ‘concepts’ on the ascent of knowledge through imagination
• Ars memoriae: rules for memory places, subjects and images
• Revolving combinatory wheels in the manner of Llull
• Lists of images including decan and planetary figures