Emblem book  

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Iconologia (1593) by Cesare Ripa
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Iconologia (1593) by Cesare Ripa

But if someone asks me what Emblemata really are? I will reply to him, that they are mute images, and nevertheless speaking: insignificant matters, and none the less of importance: ridiculous things, and nonetheless not without wisdom [...]--Jacob Cats, Voor-reden over de Proteus, of Minne-beelden, verandert in sinne-beelden


"Among the scholarly works on the fantastique, Au cœur du fantastique is one of the few to give ample attention to emblem books."


"As a suitable Frontispiece the portraits are presented of five celebrated authors of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries : one a German — Sebastian Brandt ; three Italian — Andrew Alciat, Paolo Giovio, and Achilles Bocchius ; and one from Hungary — John Sambucus."--Shakespeare and the Emblem Writers (1869) by Henry Green

Adspectus Incauti Dispendium (1601), woodblock title page from the Veridicus Christianus
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Adspectus Incauti Dispendium (1601), woodblock title page from the Veridicus Christianus

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Emblem books are a category of mainly didactic illustrated books printed in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, typically containing a number of emblematic images with explanatory text. A well-known emblem is Nutrix ejus terra est (The Earth is his Nurse), the second emblem from the emblem book Atalanta Fugiens (1617).

Scholars differ on the key question of whether the actual emblems in question are the visual images, the accompanying texts, or the combination of the two. This is understandable, given that the first emblem book, the Emblemata of Andrea Alciato, was first issued in an unauthorized edition in which the woodcuts were chosen by the printer without any input from the author, who had circulated the texts in unillustrated manuscript form. Some early emblem books were unillustrated, particularly those issued by the French printer Denis de Harsy. With time, however, the reading public came to expect emblem books to contain picture-text combinations. Each combination consisted of a woodcut or engraving accompanied by one or more short texts, intended to inspire their readers to reflect on a general moral lesson derived from the reading of both picture and text together. The picture was subject to numerous interpretations: only by reading the text could a reader be certain which meaning was intended by the author. Thus the books are closely related to the personal symbolic picture-text combinations called personal devices, known in Italy as imprese and in France as devises.

Emblem books, both secular and religious, attained enormous popularity throughout continental Europe, though in Britain they did not capture the imagination of readers to quite the same extent. The books were especially numerous in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and France. Andrea Alciato wrote the epigrams contained in the first and most widely disseminated emblem book, the Emblemata, published by Heinrich Steyner in 1531 in Augsburg. Another influential illustrated book was Cesare Ripa Iconologia, first published in 1593, though it is not properly speaking an emblem book but a collection of erudite allegories. Two English emblem books were published in 1635, the famous Emblems of Francis Quarles, and George Wither's A collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne. Many emblematic works borrowed plates or texts (or both) from earlier exemplars, as was the case with Geoffrey Whitney's Choice of Emblemes, a compilation which chiefly used the resources of the Plantin Press in Leyden.

Early European studies of Egyptian hieroglyphs, like that of Athanasius Kircher, assumed that the hieroglyphs were emblems, and imaginatively interpreted them accordingly.

Contents

Origins

Emblem books are collections of sets of three elements: an icon or image, a motto, and text explaining the connection between the image and motto. The text ranged in length from a few lines of verse to pages of prose. Emblem books descended from medieval bestiaries that explained the importance of animals, proverbs, and fables. In fact, writers often drew inspiration from Greek and Roman sources such as Aesop's Fables and Plutarch's Lives.

Definition

Scholars differ on the key question of whether the actual emblems in question are the visual images, the accompanying texts, or the combination of the two. This is understandable, given that first emblem book, the Emblemata of Andrea Alciato, was first issued in an unauthorized edition in which the woodcuts were chosen by the printer without any input from the author, who had circulated the texts in unillustrated manuscript form. It contained around a hundred short verses in Latin. One image it depicted was the lute which symbolized the need for harmony instead of warfare in the city-states of Italy.

Some early emblem books were unillustrated, particularly those issued by the French printer Denis de Harsy. With time, however, the reading public came to expect emblem books to contain picture-text combinations. Each combination consisted of a woodcut or engraving accompanied by one or more short texts, intended to inspire their readers to reflect on a general moral lesson derived from the reading of both picture and text together. The picture was subject to numerous interpretations: only by reading the text could a reader be certain which meaning was intended by the author. Thus the books are closely related to the personal symbolic picture-text combinations called personal devices, known in Italy as imprese and in France as devises. Many of the symbolic images present in emblem books were used in other contexts, on clothes, furniture, street signs, and the facades of buildings. For instance, a sword and scales symbolized death.

Miscellany

Emblem books, both secular and religious, attained enormous popularity throughout continental Europe, though in Britain they did not capture the imagination of readers to quite the same extent. The books were especially numerous in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and France.

Many emblematic works borrowed plates or texts (or both) from earlier exemplars, as was the case with Geoffrey Whitney's Choice of Emblemes, a compilation which chiefly used the resources of the Plantin Press in Leyden.

Early European studies of Egyptian hieroglyphs, like that of Athanasius Kircher, assumed that the hieroglyphs were emblems, and imaginatively interpreted them accordingly.

A similar collection of emblems, but not in book form, is Lady Drury's Closet.

Timeline

Author or compilatorTitleEngraver, IllustratorPublisherLoc.Publ.Theme# of Embl.Lang. Notes
Andrea AlciatoEmblemataprobably Hans Schäufelin after Jörg Breu the ElderHeinrich SteynerAugsburg1531104 the first and most widely disseminated emblem book.
Guillaume de La PerrièreTheatre de bons engines    Paris1539
Achille BocchiSymbolicarum quaestionum de universo genere      1555
Gabriele FaernoCentum Fabulae       1563fables100la
János ZsámbokyEmblemata cum aliquot nummis antiqui operis    Vienna1564
Joris HoefnagelPatientia    London1569moral
Georgette de MonteneyEmblemes, ou Devises Chrestiennes  Jean de Tournes ?Lyon1571
Nicolaus ReusnerEmblemata    Frankfurt1581
Geoffrey WhitneyChoice of Emblemes(various)PlantinLeiden1586248
Cesare RipaIconologia    Rome1593not properly speaking an emblem book but a collection of erudite allegories.
Nicolaus TaurellusEmblemata Physico Ethica    Nuremberg1595
Daniel HeinsiusQuaeris quid sit amorJakob de Gheyn II  (Netherlands)1601lovefirst emblem book dedicated to love; later name "Emblemata amatoria"
Jacobus TypotiusSymbola Divina et HumanaAegidius Sadeler II  Prague1601
Otto van VeenAmorum Emblemata data-sort-value="van Veen"|Otto van VeenHenricus SwingeniusAntwerp1608love124laPublished in more than one multilingual edition, with variants including French, Dutch, English, Italian and Spanish
Pieter Corneliszoon HooftEmblemata Amatoria    (Netherlands)1611loveNot to be confused with Quaeris quid sit amor, which was republished under the same name.
Gabriel Rollenhagen Nucleus emblematum    Hildesheim1611
Otto van VeenAmoris divini emblemataOtto van Veen  (Netherlands)1615divine love
Daniel HeinsiusHet Ambacht van Cupido    Leiden1615
Michael MaierAtalanta FugiensMatthias MerianJohann Theodor de BryOppenheim1617alchemy50la,deAlso contains a fugue for each emblem
Template:Interlanguage link multiAula Magna Curiae Noribergensis Depicta    Nuremberg161732la,de
Daniel Cramer, Template:Interlanguage link multiEmblemata Sacra      161740
(various)Template:Interlanguage link multi    (Netherlands)1618
Jacob CatsSilenus Alcibiadis, sive Proteus    (Netherlands?)1618
Jacob CatsSinn’en Minne-beeldenAdriaen van de Venne  (Netherlands)1618Two alternative explanations for each emblem, one related to mind (Sinnn), the other to love (Minne).
Julius Wilhelm ZincgrefEmblemata    Frankfurt1619
Jacob CatsMonita Amoris Virginei    Amsterdam1620moral45for women
Raphael CustosEmblemata amoris      1622
Template:Interlanguage link multiEmblemata of Zinne-werckAdriaen van de Venne  Amsterdam162451
Herman HugoPia desideriaBoetius à Bolswert  Antwerp1624la42 Latin editions; widely translated
Daniel Stolz von StolzenbergViridarium Chymicum    Prague?1624alchemy
Zacharias HeynsEmblemata    (Netherlands?)1625
Lucas JennisMusaeum Hermeticum Frankfurt1625alchemyla
Jacob CatsProteus ofte Minne-beelden    Rotterdam1627
Benedictus van HaeftenSchola cordis      1629
Daniel CramerEmblemata moralia nova    Frankfurt1630
Antonius a BurgundiaLinguae vitia et remediaJacob Neefs, Andries PauwelsJoannes CnobbaertAntwerp163145
Jacob CatsSpiegel van den Ouden ende Nieuwen TijdtAdriaen van de Venne  (Netherlands?)1632
Henry HawkinsPartheneia Sacra      1633
Etienne LuzvicLe cœur dévot      1634translated into English as The Devout Heart
George Wither A collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne      1635
Francis QuarlesEmblemsWilliam Marshall & al.    1635
Jan Harmenszoon KrulMinne-spiegel ter Deughden    Amsterdam1639
Jean Bolland, Sidronius HosschiusImago primi saeculi Societatis Iesu a provincia Flandro-Belgica ejusdem Societatis repraesentataCornelis Galle the ElderPlantin PressAntwerp 1640A Jesuit emblem book illustrating the history of the Jesuit order in the Southern Netherlands
Diego de Saavedra FajardoEmpresas Políticas      1640
(anonymous)Devises et emblemes d'amour data-sort-value="Flamen"|Albert Flamen  Paris1648
Filippo PicinelliIl mondo simbolico    Milan1653encyclopedicit1000 pages
Adrien GambartLa Vie symbolique du bienheureux François de SalesAlbert Flamen  Paris1664
Jan LuykenJesus en de ziel    (Netherlands)1678
Josep RomagueraAtheneo de Grandesa(anonymous)  Barcelona168115ca
  Livre curieux et très utile pour les sçavans, et artistesNicolas VerrienDaniel de La FeuilleAmsterdam1691encyclopedic
Jan LuykenHet Menselyk Bedryf
("The Book of Trades")
    (Netherlands?)1694trades
Jacobus BoschiusSymbolographia sive De Arte Symbolica sermones septem  Caspar BeucardAugsburg1701encyclopedic3347
Romeyn de HoogheHieroglyphica of Merkbeelden der oude volkeren    (Netherlands?)1735

Template:Reflist

Authors and artists famous for emblem books

Selected list of illustrations

Pages linking in as of Dec 2021

Achille Bocchi, Adriaen van de Venne, Aesop's Fables, Albert Flamen, Andrea Alciato, Anna Visscher, Antoine de Bourgogne, Arnold Houbraken, Atalanta Fugiens, Atheneo de Grandesa, Barthélemy Aneau, Bernard Salomon, Between Scylla and Charybdis, Blason, Boetius à Bolswert, Cesare Ripa, Christophe Plantin, Cornelis de Bie, Daniel Cramer, Daniël Heinsius, Daniel Stolz von Stolzenberg, Denis Janot, Diego de Saavedra Fajardo, Dutch Golden Age painting, Emblem, Emblemata of Zinne-werck, Emblemata, English embroidery, European dragon, Feast of the Gods (art), Fight with Cudgels, Four continents, Francis Quarles, Gabriël Metsu, Gabriel Rollenhagen, Gabriele Faerno, Genre art, Genre painting, Geoffrey Whitney, George Richard Savage Nassau, George Wither, Georgette de Montenay, Gerrit Dou, Gilles Corrozet, Glossary of literary terms, Great Seal of the United States, Guillaume de La Perrière, Guillaume Rouillé, Hans van der Hellen, Henry Hawkins (Jesuit), Heraldic badge, Hercules and the Wagoner, Herman Hugo, Het Menselyk Bedryf ("The Book of Trades"), Historia animalium (Gessner book), Iconography, Invidia, Jacob Cats, Jacob de Bie, Jacob Jordaens, Jacob Neefs, Jacobus Typotius, Jan Harmenszoon Krul, Janus Cornarius, Jean Baudoin (translator), Johann Vogel (poet), Joris Hoefnagel, Josep Romaguera, Joseph Brooks Yates, La Decadència, Lady Drury's Closet, Lady Standing at a Virginal, Liberty (personification), Liberty pole, Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder, Marian art in the Catholic Church, Martin Droeshout, Michael Maier, Michel Le Nobletz, Miser, Muses, Northern Mannerism, Otto van Veen, Painted frieze of the Bodleian Library, Pandora, Pandora's box, Personification of the Americas, Personification, Philips van Mallery, Portraiture of Elizabeth I, Raphael Custos, Real tennis, Romeyn de Hooghe, Rosemary Freeman, Rossend Castle, Royal entry, Sadeler family, Samuel Daniel, Schouwen-Duiveland, Self-Portrait with a Sunflower, Silvester Petra Sancta, Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus, The Allegory of Faith, The Astrologer who Fell into a Well, The Bear and the Bees, The Beaver (fable), The Blind Man and the Lame, The Cock, the Dog and the Fox, The Crow and the Snake, The Dog and Its Reflection, The Dog in the Manger, The drowned woman and her husband, The Eagle and the Beetle, The Eagle Wounded by an Arrow, The Elm and the Vine, The Embarrassment of Riches, The Fox and the Grapes, The Fox and the Lion, The Fox and the Mask, The Fox and the Sick Lion, The Frog and the Mouse, The Frogs Who Desired a King, The Gourd and the Palm-tree, The Hare in flight, The Hedgehog and the Snake, The Man who Runs after Fortune, The Monkey and the Cat, The Mouse and the Oyster, The North Wind and the Sun, The Oak and the Reed, The Old Man and his Sons, The Old Woman and the Wine-jar, The Pilgrim's Progress, The Quack Doctor, The Satyr and the Traveller, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Walnut Tree, Thomas Jenner (publisher), Walther Damery, Washing the Ethiopian White, William Marshall (illustrator), Winged lion, Woodcut, Xanthippe, Yorick, Zacharias Heyns, Zeus and the Tortoise

See also




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