The Choleric Temperament

1511

Not on view

This work belongs to a set of personifications of the Four Temperaments. A landmark in the history of art, the series is the first post-antique representation of the theory of the physician and writer Hippocrates (460–370 BCE) that human well-being and health depend on the balance of four bodily fluids, or humors. Each humor was later linked to a particular personality. Nervous, energetic, ambitious, aggressive, and inclined to emotional outbursts, a person with a choleric temperament was thought to have small but pronounced muscles, sharply defined features, and abundant hair, as seen here.

Artwork Details

Title: The Choleric Temperament
Artist: Hans Schäufelein (German, Nuremberg ca. 1480–ca. 1540 Nördlingen)
Date: 1511
Medium: Oil on limewood
Dimensions: 12 × 8 in. (30.5 × 20.3 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Promised Gift from a Private Collection
Object Number: L.2016.68
Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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Unfalo Causing Theuerdanck to Fall into a Trap during a Hunt, from Theuerdanck, Hans Schäufelein German, Woodcut — Unfalo Causing Theuerdanck to Fall into a Trap during a Hunt, from Theuerdanck
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