The Memory Theatre of Giulio Camillo ; Renaissance Memory
Giulio Camillo, born in 1480, was an Italian philosopher best known for his Memory Theatre in the sixteenth century. His fame knew many ups and downs after his death but was reestablished during the 1900s by the British historian Frances Yates in her book on The Art of Memory which opened up new research possibilities in these areas.
The way in which Yates approaches Camillio's Memory Theatre in her book is through his own quotations or through the words of Viglius Zuichemus, a friend of Erasmus. Such a dualism of representation makes reading the book quite interesting, as we are first hand observers of two different schools of thought which divided the Renaissance thought at the time, trying to decipher the byproduct of occult philosophy; The Memory Theatre. On the one hand we have Giulio Camillo, a Hermetist, who tries to construct a physical representation of the sort of mental memory palaces that had been crucial to orators, philosophers, and others in the days before printing, in which was to be a component of the mystic and magical that he would reveal to no one but Francis the first and on the other hand there is Viglius who represents Erasmus, a humanist scholar, and from his letters to Erasmus we get an idea of what the wooden model of the theatre looked like, though the mystical connotations are lost on him.
As is written in one of Viglius's letters, the theatre (which Viglius refers to as the Amphitheater), was a wooden model marked with many images arranged in various orders and grades. According to Camillo, it is because of the corporeal looking, where a human can perceive things hidden in the depths of the human mind which he otherwise could not see with the corporeal eye through expressing them by certain corporeal signs, that he calls it a theatre. In a sense, the description Camillo gives to his theatre is similar to the Mind Palace mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes series today, where Sherlock reaches every time he needs to remind something stored inside his mind. There is also quite a resemblance of Camillio's theatre with the Vitruvian amphitheater in terms of construction, as well as seating plans. As for example in the ancient amphitheaters the most distinguished persons sat in the lowest seats, so in the theaters the greatest and most important things will be in the lowest place.
Regarding the order of the theatre, it rises in seven grades which are divided by seven gangways representing the seven planets. This theatre functions opposite to a classical one, with a solitary spectator standing where the stage ought to be gazing at the auditorium and the images on the seven times seven gates on the seven rising grades. Camillos' memory building is to represent the order of eternal truth. The very division on the theatre in seven parts is meant as an epos of the creation of life and the universe. Here we see a resemblance with Plato's theory of the creation of men. However, different from Plato, Camillo describes the creation of men as a two way process with the mind and soul generated firstly and then connected to the body, wheres according to Plato, the mind, soul and body were all created together. With Camillo's theory in mind, each of the seven grades of the theatre starting from the second one, while in the first one the planets are put, represents step by step the creation of the universe.
The order of the theatre goes this way: first is the appearance of the simple elements from the waters on the Banquet grade; then the mixture of the elements in the Cave; then the creation of man’s mens in the image of God on the grade of the Gorgon Sisters; then the union of man’s soul and body on the grade of Pasiphe and the Bull; then the whole world of man’s activities; his natural activities on the grade of the Sandals of Mercury; his arts and sciences, religion and laws on the Prometheus grade.
In his philosophical model, Camillo has included theories from Plato, Neoplatonist, Aristotle, Ficino, Christian religion, Hebrew religion, and most importantly the Hermetic philosophy. It is through the hermetic philosophy (doctrine that affirms the existence of a single, true theology that is present in all religions and that was given by God to man in antiquity) whose influence is evident throughout Camillo's letters, ideas and model, that Camillo managed to bring his own version of the art of memory by mixing up many philosophical and religious ideas into one, with the most evident "the usage of the holy number seven" and the "Jewish Sephiroth". He also stands true to the Renaissance influence of the time by reflecting through his memory system the perfectly proportioned images of Renaissance art.
If we were to analyze Giulio Camillo not only through his work but through a more complex medium we could say he was an occult philosopher who very different from Erasmus, would weight more on the side of the mystical and magical. However absurd it may sound today, it was a doctrine which highly influenced the Renaissance people and which is claimed to have led to todays scientific approaches even more than Erasmus's theories could ever have done. On the other side, Camillo was a philosopher turned "architect" whose work was never fulfilled and who never managed to leave a full written description of it afterwards. He regarded himself as "divine", writing even a fable where a lion attacked him but than withdrew because of Camillo's solar virtue and divinity.
No matter how we decide to view Giulio Camillo, his work had a vast impact not only during his lifetime but in the 18th century too, as well as being mentioned by various famous lecturers in Oxford and other universities. It nonetheless, when regarded from an architectural perspective remains a work of the past with historical value.
The way in which Yates approaches Camillio's Memory Theatre in her book is through his own quotations or through the words of Viglius Zuichemus, a friend of Erasmus. Such a dualism of representation makes reading the book quite interesting, as we are first hand observers of two different schools of thought which divided the Renaissance thought at the time, trying to decipher the byproduct of occult philosophy; The Memory Theatre. On the one hand we have Giulio Camillo, a Hermetist, who tries to construct a physical representation of the sort of mental memory palaces that had been crucial to orators, philosophers, and others in the days before printing, in which was to be a component of the mystic and magical that he would reveal to no one but Francis the first and on the other hand there is Viglius who represents Erasmus, a humanist scholar, and from his letters to Erasmus we get an idea of what the wooden model of the theatre looked like, though the mystical connotations are lost on him.
As is written in one of Viglius's letters, the theatre (which Viglius refers to as the Amphitheater), was a wooden model marked with many images arranged in various orders and grades. According to Camillo, it is because of the corporeal looking, where a human can perceive things hidden in the depths of the human mind which he otherwise could not see with the corporeal eye through expressing them by certain corporeal signs, that he calls it a theatre. In a sense, the description Camillo gives to his theatre is similar to the Mind Palace mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes series today, where Sherlock reaches every time he needs to remind something stored inside his mind. There is also quite a resemblance of Camillio's theatre with the Vitruvian amphitheater in terms of construction, as well as seating plans. As for example in the ancient amphitheaters the most distinguished persons sat in the lowest seats, so in the theaters the greatest and most important things will be in the lowest place.
Regarding the order of the theatre, it rises in seven grades which are divided by seven gangways representing the seven planets. This theatre functions opposite to a classical one, with a solitary spectator standing where the stage ought to be gazing at the auditorium and the images on the seven times seven gates on the seven rising grades. Camillos' memory building is to represent the order of eternal truth. The very division on the theatre in seven parts is meant as an epos of the creation of life and the universe. Here we see a resemblance with Plato's theory of the creation of men. However, different from Plato, Camillo describes the creation of men as a two way process with the mind and soul generated firstly and then connected to the body, wheres according to Plato, the mind, soul and body were all created together. With Camillo's theory in mind, each of the seven grades of the theatre starting from the second one, while in the first one the planets are put, represents step by step the creation of the universe.
The order of the theatre goes this way: first is the appearance of the simple elements from the waters on the Banquet grade; then the mixture of the elements in the Cave; then the creation of man’s mens in the image of God on the grade of the Gorgon Sisters; then the union of man’s soul and body on the grade of Pasiphe and the Bull; then the whole world of man’s activities; his natural activities on the grade of the Sandals of Mercury; his arts and sciences, religion and laws on the Prometheus grade.
In his philosophical model, Camillo has included theories from Plato, Neoplatonist, Aristotle, Ficino, Christian religion, Hebrew religion, and most importantly the Hermetic philosophy. It is through the hermetic philosophy (doctrine that affirms the existence of a single, true theology that is present in all religions and that was given by God to man in antiquity) whose influence is evident throughout Camillo's letters, ideas and model, that Camillo managed to bring his own version of the art of memory by mixing up many philosophical and religious ideas into one, with the most evident "the usage of the holy number seven" and the "Jewish Sephiroth". He also stands true to the Renaissance influence of the time by reflecting through his memory system the perfectly proportioned images of Renaissance art.
If we were to analyze Giulio Camillo not only through his work but through a more complex medium we could say he was an occult philosopher who very different from Erasmus, would weight more on the side of the mystical and magical. However absurd it may sound today, it was a doctrine which highly influenced the Renaissance people and which is claimed to have led to todays scientific approaches even more than Erasmus's theories could ever have done. On the other side, Camillo was a philosopher turned "architect" whose work was never fulfilled and who never managed to leave a full written description of it afterwards. He regarded himself as "divine", writing even a fable where a lion attacked him but than withdrew because of Camillo's solar virtue and divinity.
No matter how we decide to view Giulio Camillo, his work had a vast impact not only during his lifetime but in the 18th century too, as well as being mentioned by various famous lecturers in Oxford and other universities. It nonetheless, when regarded from an architectural perspective remains a work of the past with historical value.
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