Tempus Edax Rerum: Time and Demise of Human Achievement in Renaissance Allegory

Early Italian illustrations to Petrarch’s Trionfo della Morte and Trionfo del Tempo already introduced the theme, not only of the man’s transitory existence but also of the destruction and decay of his worldly achievements. The association of the concepts of Time and Death were also mirrored in the interchange of their attributes in the Trionfi illustrations and other allegorical depictions. By the second half of the 16^th c. time and death were often shown to destroy all human achievement, thus introducing a pessimistic and sometimes cynical attitude to the ideals of scholarship and cultural endeavor. The iconographic analysis of these modifications demonstrates changing attitudes towards the concepts of Time and Death.