The late physicist David Ritz Finkelstein on the magic square
in Dürer's "Melencolia I" —
"As a child I wondered why such a square was called magic.
The Occult Philosophy [of Agrippa] answers this question
at least. They were used as magical talismans."
The correspondence in the previous post between
Figures A and B may serve as a devotional talisman
in memory of Finkelstein, a physicist who, in the sort of
magical thinking enjoyed by traditional Catholics, might
still be lingering in Purgatory.
See also this journal on the date of Finkelstein's death —
