ABSTRACT
Marsilio Ficino prefaces his master work on Platonic Theology with a visual metaphor: “In the sphere of moral philosophy, one must purify the soul until its eye becomes unclouded and it can see the divine light and worship God.” The wings described in Plato’s Phaedrus, which grow or wilt according to the soul’s disposition and action, were without doubt a visual reality for Ficino. Even while developing the visual analogies provided by the sun and the stars, Ficino is aware of the limitations of this method. The chapter aims to show how his visual allegories and figurative descriptions contribute to that search. They are not occasional “extras” or mere divertimenti but are intimately linked to other more conventionally philosophical forms of reasoning. The chapter outline some ways in which words and images enjoyed a reciprocal interaction in Ficino’s writing, especially during the 1480s, around the time of the painting of the Primavera, and on into the 1490s.
