Alciati, A Book of Emblems
Andrea Alciati’s Emblematum Liber was an essential work for every writer, artist and scholar in post-medieval Europe. First published in 1531, this illustrated book was a collection of emblems, each consisting of a motto or proverb, a typically enigmatic illustration, and a short explanation. Most of the emblems had symbolic and moral applications. Scholars depended on Alciati’s book to interpret contemporary art and literature, while writers and artists turned to it to invest their work with an understood didactic sense.
This new edition of the Emblematum Liber includes the original Latin texts, highly readable English translations, and the illustrations belonging to each of the 212 emblems. The editor’s introduction explains both the importance and the cultural contexts of Alciati’s book, as well as its innumerable artistic applications. For instance, close study of the emblems reveals–to cite only two examples–why statues of lions are traditionally placed before government buildings, and what underlying political message was conveyed by innumerable equestrian portraits during the Baroque era.
The collection includes as an appendix the formerly suppressed emblem, “Adversus Naturam Peccantes,”
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Alciati_A Book of Emblems: with translation.pdf
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Alciati_A Book of Emblems: in Latin.pdf
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