The epistemological and artistic relevance of Robert Fludd’s memory theatres

This article explores the memory theatres in Robert Fludd’s major work Utriusque cosmi historia (History of both worlds), focusing in particular on their epistemological and artistic relevance. My recent research into Fludd’s manuscripts has revealed that the British philosopher invested his personal skills in the art of drawing, in order to materialise his ideas for images. He created appealing designs for his books, which worked as visualisations of his philosophical texts, both allusively and didactically. In this article, I develop my earlier findings by arriving at the conclusion that Fludd also used skills in the art of memory to create and organise his ideas for images. Most notably, Fludd preferred round and square shapes, corresponding to the shapes that he applied in his “Ars memoriae”. I conclude the article by exploring the further historical reception and development of Fludd’s hermetic art of memory, showing the shift from mnemonics as a competency in Renaissance arts and sciences to mnemonics as an artistic subject and method in modern and contemporary fine arts.