摘要：According to the ancient theory of the humors, artists and scholars alike are prone to melancholy. This psychological concept was still very much alive in the Dutch Republic, as evidenced by the caption to a print, designed by Jacob de Gheyn II (1565-1629), which was written around 1596/97 by the young Hugo Grotius (1583-1645): "Melancholy, that awful affliction of mind and soul / often suppresses the strength of talent and genius" ("Atra animaeque, animique lues aterrima, bilis / Saepe premit vires ingenij et genij") (fig. 1).1
