Art and Science
The personified portrayal of the arts and sciences in the Middle Ages was based on a Christian moral and doctrinal system and was intended to convey complex facts using vivid (visual) language. With the help of symbolic attributes, actions and social relationships, personifications not only convey knowledge, but they can also make medieval systems of knowledge comprehensible to a modern audience. Art and science were not separated in the Middle Ages as they are today. The artes formulated in antiquity are an important frame of reference: while the seven liberal arts (lat. artes liberales) were educational subjects with theoretical aspirations, were analogous to the seven practical arts (lat. artes mechanicae), which were based on craftsmanship and included architecture and blacksmithing. The practical arts were mostly subordinate to the liberal arts. When considered within the spectrum of art and science, the means of personification could be used to illustrate theories or to reflect the creation of art. In this way, they functioned as a concept that formed knowledge and provided insight.
