Interpreting Masonic Artworks

here are literally thousands of interesting and creative Masonic artworks handed Tdown over the centuries. The Fraternity brims with symbols, philosophies, history, scientific and musical references, along with profound writings and literature exploring the connections between the great cultures their beliefs and values. Themes have also included alchemy, regalia, and geometry on a list that is only as exhaustive as the minds of free-thinkers over the centuries influenced by our Gentle Craft.

Some, although tempting to accept as being influenced by Freemasonry, are not always a direct product of such.

Art and Masonic Interpretations

Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man

he Vitruvian Man is a drawing created by Leonardo da Vinci circa 1487.

T It is accompanied by notes based on the work of the Roman architect, Vitruvius. The drawing, which is in pen and ink on paper, depicts a male figure in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and simultaneously inscribed in a circle and square. The drawing and text are sometimes called the Canon of Proportions or, less often, Proportions of Man.

The drawing itself is often used as an implied symbol of the essential symmetry of the human body, and by extension, of the universe as a whole.

The drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise De Architectura.

Vitruvius described the human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the Classical orders of architecture. Leonardo's drawing is traditionally named in honor of the architect.

Is there a Masonic Connection within the Vitruvian Man?

Vitruvian Man is often suggested as “Masonic” art. Some believe the spread legs could easily represent the Masonic compasses, but there is no square accompanying the compasses. There question often arises too as to why he drew the feet as he did with one foot turned at a 90 degree angle and one pointing straight ahead forming a perfect right angle.

The interpretation is often taken further. The man stands inside of a square positioned inside of a perfect circle. The geometric center of the circle is his navel – or point within the circle. Some interpret the image as Da Vinci was illustrating the lesson of the point representing an individual brother, while the circle portrays the boundary line of his duty to God and man, beyond which he is never to suffer his passions, prejudices or interests to betray Him.

There is no evidence da Vinci was illustrating anything that later could be taken as Masonic, yet the interpretations are left open to the person examining his work.

The Genius of France between Liberty and Death

Jean-Baptiste Regnault, a French painter, created many thematic images. There is no record of his being a Freemason.

In 1795, he painted The Genius of France between Liberty Death. There are Masonic symbols and more than we often see interpreted in other paintings professed to be Masonic by such painting such as Hieronymus Bosch’s The Wayfarer or Albrecht Dürer’s, Meloncolia 1.

In Regnualt’s painting he creates the image of death on the left side of the Promethean angel and on his right we see Sophia the archetype of wisdom. The angel baring fire (the tool of the gods to be brought down to earth) is stretching out his arms in both directions.

This painting, to some, is steeped in Masonic symbolism and alludes to Humanity hanging in the balance at this fate full moment in time and the sublime implications of that peril. The right has been understood to be the strong creative side and the left the opposite. The lady of wisdom sits on an ascending stair leading up to heaven this represents the promise of progress. At the foot of the stairs lays the democratic fasces indicating the power of the people against the monarchy. Below the world sits in darkness awaiting illumination.

Within his art work, Regnualt obviously inserted the square and plumb line and used the Masonic concept of good and evil, light and darkness in his theme. Although Regnault left no record of affiliation with Freemasonry, the painting was created in 1795 – during the years of the French Revolution. Use of Masonic concepts within the painting, which is now in Kuntshalle, an art museum in Hamburg, Germany, was not particular unique to the period in which Masonry was widely respected.

William Blake’s Urizen

Blake, an English poet, painter and printmaker, was largely unrecognized during his lifetime, but is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age, and held in high regard by critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work

Urizen is the embodiment of conventional reason and law. He is usually depicted as a bearded old man; he sometimes, in many of Blake’s paintings, bears architect's tools, to create and constrain the universe.

While there is no record of Blake’s affiliation with Freemasonry, he was attracted to the Masonic and Druidic speculations of William Stukeley. Stukeley was an English antiquarian who pioneered the archaeological investigation of the prehistoric monuments of Stonehenge - work for which he has been remembered as an early forerunner of the discipline of archaeology. Stukeley was also one of the first biographers of Isaac Newton, of whom he was a friend. He was an Anglican clergyman and Freemason.

The compass and other drafting symbols that Blake associates with Urizen borrow from Masonic symbolism for God as the "Great Architect of the Universe.”

The Ancient of Days is the title of another design by William Blake, originally published as the frontispiece to a 1794 work, Europe a Prophecy. It shows Urizen crouching in a circular design with a cloud-like background. His outstretched hand holds a compass over the darker void below.