Andy Murray Hall of the Months
7 June – 28 June 2025
A long time ago (2018) I read How to be Both by Ali Smith. The key protagonist is historical painter Francesco Del Cossa, portrayed in the book as a woman in disguise to enable her to paint freely. The 15th century fresco on the eastern wall of the Salone Dei Mesi (Hall of the Months) in Ferrara, Italy is attributed to Del Cossa.
This book directed me to other books, as is their want. I was catapulted into the work of Aby Warburg and his Atlas Mnemosyne (located on table.) Atlas Mnemosyne presents Del Cossa’s Hall of the Months as a room divided into sections representing each month and split vertically into three levels: at eye level, a chronicle of earthly courtly activity, in the middle band; the signs of the zodiac floating in a deep blue, and in the upper register; the Olympian Gods drawn by mythical beasts in chariots.
Warburg was obsessed with the historical origins of this fresco and their mythic potential. He believed secret divinities had disguised themselves through Egyptian decans and the Arab astrological tradition, transported through time and space as icons displayed on a wall in a palace for guests to escape boredom. I was intrigued. And so in 2023 I visited the fresco in Ferrara.
This is my attempt to make a fresco. It seemed only fitting that I use books to guide me: my own cosmic library of precursors, secret companions and guides from the living and the dead. The books are on loan from friends, over-due from GSA library and from my own collection. As for the Fresco, does it exist? It’s in disguise. May the reading become writing
Andy Murray
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