This drawing was inspired by a number of works; two songs and two Medieval documents. The songs, Noothgrush's Deterioration in the upper banner, and Krallice's The Clearing, outline the totally incomprehensible scope of the universe, and the insignificance of humanity in comparison. A text which appears in the right hand column, is from Giordano Bruno's On the Infinite Universe and Worlds, one of many books he wrote which resulted in his being labelled a heretic and his subsequent persecution. Bruno was born in the sixteenth century and expounded a number of revolutionary beliefs; in an infinite number of worlds like our own, in a heliocentric universe, and in pantheism.
Naturally, this got him in a great deal of trouble, and like many progressive thinkers, he was murdered for it.
The two Medieval texts are an alchemical image usually referred to as The Music of the Spheres, and St Anselm of Canterbury's Meditations. The former depicts a Greco-Roman inspired hierarchy, depicting gods and the known planets, along with a giant serpent. The latter is a very inspired manuscript, whose capitals (the ornate, illustrated letters at the beginning of paragraphs, which we associate with the idea of illuminated manuscripts) are (mini) masterpieces of composition and creativity.
The giant snake is a nod to the snake logo I've made (and blogged) in the past, a snake eating the sun, which is apparently what some people thought occurred during an eclipse. As well, it looks like the snake in the Music woodcut, and it recalls Jormagund and the Ouroborus.
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