The arrow of time (2): Francesco del Cossa

[continued from the previous post:]

 

(click for enlargement)
 

The Arrow of Time (almost final design)

The basis of the design is formed by a detail from the fresco `Allegory of March: the triumph of Minerva’ by Francesco del Cossa (1430-1477 apprx).

 

 

 

Of course this is not meant as an art blog, but nonetheless I like to point out sources and alterations. You can see (if you are so inclined) that I did some work with Photoshop and Illustrator to revitalize the fresco detail sufficiently for use in an A_0 poster.

The visual strength of the design (to which I referred in the previous post) for me stems from multiple factors. One of these is the pretty superficial clue of the arrow which is held by the central figure…but a more content-related factor is the wear-and-tear of the fresco itself. We see that it is old…because of the wear, the damages, which is the physical manifestation of time (increase in entropy; whether this supports the idea of an arrow of time will be discussed in later posts).

Finally, this mysterious circle held in the other hand to me signifies a combination of mathematics, infinity, divinity…and mystery of course.

Other designs that I made sometimes were more intriguing, but they lacked this direct intuitive appeal.

(to be continued)