Frances A. Yates (1899–1981), after Giulio Camillo: The Memory-Theatre

This (ideal) Teatro della Memoria, which was probably executed as a wooded model, not only illustrates a definite gathering place for all human achievements, divided into seven segments according to the plantes known at the time. It also exemplifies the viewer's position: situated as in the midst of the orchestra, the muses' domain, the ranks of knowledge in the form of emblematic images rise up to Promethean creative power as the common denominator and unifying principle.

Giulio Camillo: design for a Teatro della Memoria, originally from aus: L'Idea del Teatro, 1550. Here shown in an illustration by Frances A. Yates for The Art of Memory, 1966. © The Warburg Institute, London.