Sight - Cornelis Cort

An allegorical engraving by Cornelis Cort depicting the sense of Sight, featuring a female figure with an eagle and a mirror.

This engraving by Cornelis Cort, after a design by Frans Floris, represents the sense of Sight. It is part of a series depicting the five human senses, a popular subject in sixteenth-century European art. The composition features a central female figure, personifying Sight, who holds a mirror in her right hand. Her gaze is directed towards the sun, which radiates light from the upper centre of the print. Beside her sits an eagle, an animal traditionally associated with keen vision and the ability to look directly into the sun.

The figure is draped in classical-style robes, seated upon a rocky outcrop near a stone column. In the background, a distant coastal scene includes a small town or fortress. The Latin inscription at the base, 'SENSORIVM VISVS EXTERIVS QVIDEM SVNT OCVLI INTERIVS VERO DVO NERVI A CEREBRO PERTINGENTES AD OCVLOS', translates to 'The external organ of sight is the eyes, but the internal organ is the two nerves reaching from the brain to the eyes'. This text reflects the period's interest in the intersection of classical allegory and early anatomical observation.

Cort, a master engraver from the Netherlands, spent much of his career in Italy, where he refined his technique. His work is characterised by precise hatching and cross-hatching, which he used to create volume and texture in the drapery and the eagle's plumage. The print demonstrates the technical skill required to translate a painter's design into a monochrome medium. The balance between the human figure, the symbolic animal, and the celestial light source creates a structured, intellectualised image typical of the Mannerist period. This print offers a clear example of how Renaissance artists utilised classical iconography to explore philosophical and physiological concepts.