Jean-Yves Artero noticed a couple of marks apparently added to a woodcut reproduced in Frederick Goodman's (1989) "Zodiac Signs", and wondered if they might be some kind of astrological signs - what do you think?

"Astrological woodcut of 1527, from Lichtenberger's description of the effect of the opposition between Jupiter (in Taurus) and Saturn (in Scorpio)."

"An interesting woodcut of c. 1527 shows Taurus in the form of a bull being wrestled to the ground by a man, while a maimed older man hobbles towards the animal as though intent on cutting its throat. In fact the image is an allegory, relating to an opposition in the skies between Jupiter and Saturn, an opposition which occurs sufficiently rarely to frighten those who know little about astrology: many predictions were made about this particular 1527 opposition, but those who wrote the pamphlets which published the predictions failed to point out that the opposition occurs at least every thirty years, and scarcely has an influence on social life of nations. The scorpion in the air relates to the mamed man, who is a personification of Saturn: the sickle in his hand is one of his social attributes, a reminder that in early days Saturn was an agricultural god, though by the sixteenth century the sickle had become one of the destructive instruments of Saturn in his role of "Father Time". It is the personification of Jupiter who is wrestling the Taurean bull to the ground - for reasons which are not clear, since the influence of Jupiter is generally regarded as being benign."

The first problem we have here is that Goodman did not give a reference to the source for this woodcut, so that forms our first research target here. If you do know where this copy is (or even what these marginalia are!), please email me (thanks!), and we can all move this story forward...

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....