Vida y hechos del ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Compuesta por Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Londres: por J. y R. Tonson, 1738. Plate 1, Volume 1. Classmark: Ee.4.1

Designed by John Vanderbank, this is one of the copperplate engravings featured in the 1738 “deluxe” edition of Don Quijote -the first Spanish-language edition of the novel to be published in England.

The soon-to-be Don Quijote is here seen in a moment of meditation: he has interrupted the reading of one of his beloved books of chivalry and his eyes are now fixed on the weapons of his ancestors. The hidalgo’s pose is somehow melancholic. In fact, a number of elements traditionally associated with the melancholic temperament -pensiveness, studiousness- are captured by this image.

Like ingenuity, melancholy in Cervantes’ age was the subject of extensive theoretical treatment and discussion. In some sectors it was still perceived as a pathological condition associated with idleness, acedia or even madness. In others it was regarded as a worthy attribute, given the associations of the melancholic temperament with individuals of exceptional talents. In addition to Huarte de San Juan’s Examen de ingenios para las ciencias, this period saw the publication of numerous treatises devoted to melancholy, from Andrés Velásquez’s Libro de la melancholia (1585) to Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy (1621).