ARTIST (Artista), in an academical sense, denotes a philosopher or proficient in the faculty of arts.
In the early ages of universities, the seven liberal arts completed the whole course of study, or philosophy, as it is called: whence the masters of this faculty were denominated artists. What they understood by the liberal arts used to be summed up in the following Latin verse.
Lingua, Tropus, Ratio, Numerus, Tonus, Angulus, Astra.
ARTIST is more peculiarly used, by Paracelsus and other adepts, for a chemist or alchemist. We find frequent mention, in authors of this class, of Elias Artista, or Elias the artist, who is to come some time before the dissolution of the world, and restore and make perfect all arts and sciences, but especially the gold-making art; and usher in a truly golden age, or millennium. The lower and meaner things in this sublime art, Paracelsus observes, God has permitted to be already discovered: but for the greater and more important
Artois
Aruba.
Artois, a town of Vindelicia (Ptolemy): Now Altsburg, in Bavaria, on the Danube, below Ingolstadt (Aventinus): but Cluverius supposes it to be Lebanus, on the Salzach, below Laufen, in the archbishopric of Salzburg.