Symbolica
Sol indiget lunâ, ut gallus gallinâ

Sol indiget lunâ, ut gallus gallinâ

The Sun and the Moon as the central motif, with the Bird in a secondary part. From Atalanta Fugiens.

Matthaus Merian, attributed, for Michael Maier, 1618. Engraving.

Public domain, 1618 printing · Web copy 1400 by 1206 px · Internet Archive, Getty Research Institute copy, leaf 136

What is happening

Michael Maier, 1618 “Sol indiget lunâ, ut gallus gallinâ.” Atalanta Fugiens, Emblema XXX, page 129, the motto printed over the engraving.

Symbolica, 2026 Maier’s Latin, put into English here: The Sun needs the Moon as the cock needs the hen.

Key · 2 motifs

The motifs the picture carries, filed by role. The marks on the picture itself come with the entry.

  1. 1The Sun and the Mooncentral motif as it reads here: Emblema XXX
  2. 2The Birdsecondary motif

The picture

The sun-headed man and the moon-headed woman facing each other, the cock and the hen at their feet. By eye

Not yet decoded: the motifs are tagged by eye and the readings above are quoted from their sources. The marks on the picture and the sourced notes come with the entry.

Also carrying the Sun and the Moon

20 works carry it. The 6 where it is the central motif are here. The symbol.

Where the detail is the subject

the Bird

This is in the picture without being what it is about. Below, 3 works that are about it.

In the same series

Atalanta Fugiens, 1618

Record

Source
Internet Archive, Getty Research Institute copy, leaf 136
Rights
Public domain. The book was printed at Oppenheim in 1618 and its author, engraver, printer and publisher have been dead for more than three centuries; the Getty Research Institute's scan of it on the Internet Archive carries no further restriction.
Restoration
None. A 1400 by 1206 pixel web copy made from the source file; nothing retouched, nothing upscaled.
Series
Atalanta Fugiens, 1618
Artist
Matthaus Merian, engraver and publisher, 1593 to 1650, to whom the fifty plates of Atalanta Fugiens are attributed by tradition rather than by signature
Titled here
Sol indiget lunâ, ut gallus gallinâ. Internet Archive catalogues it as: Emblema XXX, from Atalanta Fugiens, page 129
Checked
the Science History Institute's catalogue of the same 1618 Oppenheim printing, 4 September 2026: Maier as author, de Bry as publisher, Galler as printer, Merian as engraver, and Public Domain Mark. The engraving is attributed to Merian by tradition and is not signed. The image here is from the Getty Research Institute's scan of the same edition on the Internet Archive; the leaf is named in the source line. Not seen in the hand.
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One symbol a week, decoded.

This picture is free at full size from its source, linked above. What an address gets is the Sunday letter: one picture, one symbol marked on it, what it meant and who said so, and the master files of the decoded plates as they are verified. Leave any time.

Cite
Symbolica, “Sol indiget lunâ, ut gallus gallinâ”, Matthaus Merian, attributed, for Michael Maier, 1618. thesymbolica.com/work/sol-indiget-luna-ut-gallus-gallina/