Spiritus Intellectus (Spirit of Understanding)

Resource added
Sepia-toned reproduction of a woman with winged headdress standing with left hand on hip and right hand holding a spiraled arrow.
Adriaen Collaert (Flemish, 1560–1618) after Maarten de Vos (Flemish, 1532–1603)

from the series Dona Spiritus S[ancti] (The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit), ca. 1595 [?]. Engraving. 25.1 x 15.5 cm. Lent by The New York Public Library, funded by the Kennedy Fund, the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. New Hollstein 1062.

Full description

Standing in a niche, the personification of the Spirit of Understanding wears the breastplate of the high priest Aaron and holds the thunderbolt of Jove. Encircled by a fiery aureole, the Spirit of Understanding’s head is winged and crowned with a chaplet of roses. She stands in a niche framed by two spiral columns from the Temple of Solomon. 

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    Adriaen Collaert (Flemish, 1560–1618) after Maarten de Vos (Flemish, 1532–1603)
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    04