In the 1330s, the Italian architect and sculpturer Andrea Pisano created the southern bronze doors of the Baptistry of Florence in Italy. Beneath scenes out of the life of John the Baptist he created reliefs of the eight virtues. One of them is the Spes, symbolizing hope. Six hundred years later, the philosopher Ernst Bloch speaks in his book The Principle of Hope about the role of dreaming as something unfinished in its function for imagining the world a better place. Hope as something which can be disappointed is also the half-open door “in a world that has not become a prison, is not a prison.” The symbol for this half-open door might be the Spes of Pisano. Bloch writes about it: „The same effect is created by the unforgettable Spes which Andrea Pisano depicted on the door of the Baptistry in Florence; she sits waiting, although she is winged, and despite her wings, like Tantalus, she raises her arms towards an unattainable fruit.” She has wings, but she extends her hands to something near and unreachably far at the same time.

In the 1928 released book Einbahnstraße, written by Bloch’s friend Walter Benjamin, one can find a small aphorism entitled Florence, Baptistry. Just four sentences: “On the portal the »Spes« by Andrea Pisano. Sitting, she helplessly stretches her arms for a fruit that remains beyond her reach. And yet she is winged. Nothing is more true.”

For Bloch she waits. From the outside, maybe one can hope that someday she will recognize her wings. In Benjamin’s eyes she is helpless, tries but cannot reach. The first is giving a symbol for the possibility of hope. For the second, it’s an allegory for the hope of the hopeless. For both it is a symbol for the need for hope: a hope for a real change even if it seems so unreachable. There both would agree. For nothing is more true than that.

 

 

 

 

Image: Twentieth Century Heterotaxies: from Benjamin’s Apple to Celan’s Snow-meal - Scientific Figure on ResearchGate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Andrea-Pisano-Spes-bronzo-dorato-h-5... [accessed 15 Mar, 2023]