피치노의 사랑론과 예술적 영감

Abstract

The intention of this thesis is to explore the concept of love(amor) and the artistic inspiration that it provided for Renaissance art by examining the Italian Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino's Commentary on Plato's Symposium. The core of Ficino’s Platonism is the immortality of the soul, for which the goal of the human soul as the mediator of the universe is the union with God through a contemplative ascent. Accordingly, the immortal soul is the evidence of human dignity and divinity. The other aspect of the ascent of the soul is love. Love is the motive force of the whole universe, the universal pursuit of God, and so the key to Ficino’s entire system. In connection with Ficino’s cosmology, beauty is the radiance of the divine goodness, in which the actively loving God lights the universe. So it appears as a harmonious structure in the universe. That is, beauty is the lucid proportion(lucida proportio), and it motivates the ascent of the human soul by rousing love. Accordingly, love is the principle for cosmic harmony and unity, and so through the divine madness(furor divinus) of love, the human soul becomes united with God and acquires beatitude and immortality. This is the meaning of the ‘Platonic love,’ espoused by Ficino. According to Ficino’s thought which was influential in Renaissance period, art, which handles, changes, and forms the materials of the world, is the production of a god on earth, and a reflection of the divine. So, the concept of love became the inspirational principle for the exalted artist as the divine maker. Thus the role bestowed upon Renaissance artists was to intuit and represent the supreme beauty by the ascent to intelligible principles from sensible experiences through the divine madness of love for beauty. The divine madness was the creative motive for artistic activity. Thus, love is the motive for the inner ascent of the human soul. Indeed, through love for beauty as the splendor of the divine goodness, man can ascent from the earthly love to the heavenly love to unite with God, and artist can intuit the divine beauty from the sensible beauty for artistic creation.