6 Things You Didn’t Know About Emblemata

During the Renaissance, German publishers inspired by the rediscovery of ancient poetry decided to print ancient texts with a combination of printed images with matching mottoes. This is how the genre of emblemata was born. Extremely popular with readers, emblems weren’t restrained to the emblemata genre but infiltrated and charmed other types of publications, such as musical, religious, and moralistic books. Read on to learn about the origins of emblem books as well as six lesser-known facts on the various functions and influences of emblems.

An emblemata, or an emblem book, refers to a publication of pictures accompanied by witty text. The images are cleverly constructed, oftentimes having an allegorical element to them, while the text is simple yet catchy, in either prose or verse. These types of publications take their inspiration from popular ancient and medieval allegories and proverbs.

However, not all books illustrated during the Renaissance and early modern period should be considered emblem books. The emblemata genre appeared during the 16th century and became increasingly popular in the 17th century. Andrea Alciato (1492-1550), an Italian humanist, is considered the father of this genre, as his publications inspired book printers to add images to his translated poems.

Printed and illustrated books may belong to a variety of genres, and the images they feature can fulfill a variety of functions. Vernacular novels, historical books, biographies, classical epic and lyric poems, plays, and so on cannot be described as emblemata, despite most of them being illustrated. To quote researcher Karl A.E. Enenkel, “It is important to understand that Steiner’s edition of the illustrated Alciato is not a totally isolated, single case, but intertwined with various developments of literary and book culture” (Enenkel, 2019, p. 130).

1. A Predecessor of Alciato’s Book? 

Some authors believe there have been other publications before those of Alciato that fit the emblem genre. For example, such a publication is that of Johann von Schwarzenberg (1463-1528), titled Mirror of Religious Virtue. It is argued that this book is a true predecessor of emblemata. The book was rather short and fit the criteria of the specific combination of text and image to create the emblem style. The primacy of the publication is given by the fact that Schwarzenberg first completed a manuscript version of the book, which had colored illustrations. German publishers later published this manuscript that illustrated the images or even changed them in print. However, the idea of the witty text combined with the allegorical image to communicate a lesson was already present in the manuscript version, ticking all the boxes for what an emblem stands for.

Interestingly enough, this publication of Schwarzenberg was copied in both manuscript and print. Surprisingly, the manuscript copies follow the original more carefully, while the printed copies sometimes make quite drastic changes, especially in the drawings. Backgrounds are added to the images, the characters depicted have their postures and costumes changed, and even the images are rotated, at times, by ninety degrees. Thus, the author’s intentions are harder to see and understand in the printed versions compared to the manuscript copies.

The genre of the emblem has some medieval roots as well. For example, the need to remember is expressed in the emblem books through catchy rhymes and interesting images that are simple yet make a good enough impression to be easily remembered. This emphasis on remembrance has its roots in medieval culture, where information and the events of life were not as easy to record as they had become after the invention of the print.

Remembering was very crucial to medieval society, and it was transformed into an art. For example, students in university were expected to memorize most of the content without many notes taken because memory was treasured and, additionally, paper was expensive. The art of memorizing, ars memorativa, can be spotted in the many techniques to remember Aristotelian logic notions. For example, the square of opposition relied on catchy and funny verses to help the students remember the operations indicated within the square. The same goes for the fundamental syllogisms that were also remembered through names of persons associated with funny stories.

From this, it can be seen that the medieval influence, reflected through the ars memorativa elements of the emblem books, plays a fundamental role in how emblemata is constructed. The emphasis on remembering and combining humor with verse to transform the content into something memorable is fairly identical to their medieval precursors. In short, the strategy is the same.

3. Theory on Emblemata in Italy 

As mentioned, Alciato is generally seen as the father of the emblem genre. After his popularity in Italy, a number of Renaissance theorists began discussing the idea of combining images with words to have an emblem under the Italian term “impresa.” The impresa was the Italian equivalent term some Renaissance writers used to describe the emblem. After all, the emblemata genre was not known under the same name by everyone (yet) because it had just appeared.

Jeronimo Ruscelli (1518-1566) was the first author to write down the most important rule of the emblem. Namely, the image and the text (either in prose or verse) had to be complementary to the image. This is a very important aspect because it states clearly that the image and text shouldn’t just repeat the message of the other. Instead, they should contribute to creating a bigger meaning by completing each other.

Through Ruscelli’s writings, authors who wished to create emblems had a way to ensure their creations would indeed be part of the genre. After all, the simple combination of image and text doesn’t guarantee the creation of an emblem. Another interesting note that Ruscelli makes is about the length of the text. He says that when the emblems are part of printed books, then the text can be slightly longer. Otherwise, the text should be kept as short as possible.

Emblems incited so much the enthusiasm and imagination of their creators and readers that they quickly spread to other genres as well. Although the presence of an emblem in a publication didn’t transform the publication into an emblem book, the featured emblem functioned independently. This was the case in early modern Dutch literature, which was quick to adapt the emblemata to further enrich the publication.

This process was referred to as “embellishment” by the authors and publishers alike. The term used indicates quite clearly how emblems were seen to function in this context. They decorated in an enriching way, in that they weren’t just nice things to look at but brought their own content to the table. This embellishment consisted of oftentimes adding cautionary tales or moral episodes to instruct the literature reader to behave a certain way or adhere to certain social values.

To cite Karel Porteman, “At first sight, one could describe the use of this use of emblems by means of the functions that the antique rhetoric attributed to the comparison (similitude). As the Rethorica ad Herenium says, it decorates, offers arguments, clarifies, and vivifies.” (Porteman, 1992, p. 70) The Netherlands has a rich history of emblem culture in both Renaissance and early modern times. Due to this, emblems quickly gained a permanent place in Dutch literature, where most printed books used emblemata one way or another.

5. Emblemata Invading Song Books

As previously mentioned, emblems were featured in other genres of Dutch literature, where they appeared as embellishments. The genre in which emblems became very common was that of songbooks. This type of literature in the Netherlands was popular, digestible, and very beautiful, but also costly. This incentive of profitability encouraged publishers to print regular editions of such books and make them as sought after as possible. Publishers sought artists to make the images as glamorous and eye-catching as possible. To realize this, artists oftentimes relied on etching to achieve the desired results. However, etching was a rather difficult and time-consuming artistic technique that required great precision and mastery.

The emblems used in these Dutch songbooks expressed the familiar register of the repertory and could also be combined with the verses of the song. When this is not the case, the emblems can act as guiding organization elements as their images and verses correspond to a group of songs or a certain repertory, acting as a sort of table of contents. Another more general function of emblemata in this context of songs is that the emblems can serve as ways to give another layer of meaning and depth to a specific song, providing some extra information or context.

At times, emblems can act as a moral compass to the reader. The very structure and format of emblemata make it so that they can become a good outlet for moral instruction: the image can illustrate good or bad behavior, and the text can become a warning or advice. Because of this, it is no surprise that emblem books became very popular for Calvinists. The Dutch Calvinists, in particular, found that emblem books could act as a wonderful religious tool for the instruction of the masses. After all, they were easy to understand and remember, very popular, and expressive enough to carry most messages.

In this context, many moral books addressed to girls and young women were published, instructing them in moral duties and behaviors and warning them through cautionary tales. Such a publication is that of Jacob Cats (1577-1660), The Maidens’ Duties, published in 1618. This volume contains a series of dialogues between Anna, a serious maiden, and a naïve girl called Phyllis. The text follows the structure of the ancient disputatio, where each of the two makes a series of points and objections. The emblems illustrate the pros and cons of a specific type of behavior, inviting the reader to ponder on the two models of maidens presented.

In conclusion, the emblem or emblemata represents an interesting genre that appeared during the Renaissance and became very popular in the early modern period in Northern Europe. As shown, the emblem is a clever visual and textual device that can function in many surprising ways, always adding something new to an existing literary entity.

References: 

Adams, A., & Harper, A. J. (1992). The emblem in Renaissance and Baroque Europe : tradition and variety : selected papers of the Glasgow International Emblem Conference 13-17 August 1990. Symbola et Emblemata.

Enenkel, K. A. E. (2018). The Invention of the Emblem Book and the Transmission of Knowledge, Ca. 1510-1610 (1st ed., Vol. 295). BRILL.

Porteman, K. (1992). Embellished with Emblems: about the Incorporation of Emblems in Other Genres in Dutch Literature in Adams, A., & Harper, A. J. (1992). The emblem in Renaissance and Baroque Europe : tradition and variety : selected papers of the Glasgow International Emblem Conference 13-17 August 1990. Symbola et Emblemata.