Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Emblems were part of virtually every literary form and aesthetic practice of the Renaissance. No domestic or public space was left unfilled by some appropriate emblematic decoration ( Manning 2002 ). The designs for such ornamentation in many cases can be traced to specific emblem books ( Bath 1994 ). To this end, books of emblems frequently were indexed topically by virtues, vices, and other commonplace themes. Strictly speaking, an emblem consisted of a picture, motto, and poem. The pictura , or image, was likened to the body of the device, and the inscriptio , or word, to the soul; the subscriptio , or verse commentary, brought out a connection between the two main components. Much of the popularity of emblems can be traced to their epigrammatic quality. The emblem calls on the reader to tease out and consider a series of concealed meanings. As such, emblem books express even as they are exemplary expressions of the easy commerce between verbal and visual registers of thought during the Renaissance. This same ingenious relation between word and image was a defining feature of imprese , those witty devices which were a standard feature of romance narratives and epic poetry such as Philip Sidney's Arcadia and Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene . An impresa (Italian for ‘device’) combined an image and motto to signal a person's resolve, aspiration, or intention. Originally ... log in or subscribe to read full text