Cramer’s Emblemata Sacra in Ørum, Denkmark Daniel Cramer’s Emblemata Sacra is the frequently most used emblem book in Protestant churches. His emblems are found in Brandenburg and North German churches. Emblemata Sacra was particularly extensively used in Denmark, as Carsten Bach Nielsen showed.[1] In the area around the town of Skive are, for example, 13 village…

Benedictine stabilitas in the design of the Abbey of Benedictine Nuns in Staniątki There are places on the map of Benedictine abbeys where, due to rich emblematic design, the choice of a single element of this design can cause a considerable headache to researchers and enthusiasts of the topic. The emblem I chose can be…

Memorialising Mary: The Monument to Mary Queen of Scots   Many of us who saw Josie Rourke’s recent (2018) film about Mary Queen of Scots, starring Saoise Ronan and Margot Roberts, will remember that scene, quite late in the film, where the two Queens meet at some undisclosed location in the north of England. At…

Haunting emblems: Tomasz Treter in Aleksandra Waliszewska’s interpretation Can the modern reader, leafing through engravings in old prints, find something for herself? Surely, the popularity of increasingly numerous Facebook fan pages dedicated to sharing historical engravings of animals or drawings sketched by bored monks on the margins of manuscripts centuries ago, demonstrates that old pictures…

Alciato’s emblem “In eum qui truculentia suorum perierit”.  Delphinem invitum me in littora compulit aestus   Exemplum infido quanta pericla mari.Nam si nec propriis Neptunus parcit alumnis,   Quis tutos homines navibus esse putet?  [I am a dolphin whom the tide drove ashore against my will, an example showing what great dangers there are in the treacherous sea. For if…

  Andrea Alciato, ‘Paupertatem summis ingeniis obesse ne provehantur’ (1531) / Richard Shirley Smith, ‘Classical Profile’ (2011)   Financial support for humanities scholarship has never been bountiful in any era, but the situation since the global recession hit in the last decade has been drastic indeed. The unfortunate lot of impoverished scholars was a theme understood…

  Elogia Mariana by A. C. Redelius: What is the story behind this book?[1]   I became interested in A. C. Redelius’ Elogia Mariana (1732) seven years ago, when a professor on my faculty suggested the iconographic analysis of its engravings as a possible topic for a project.[2] At that time, I had no idea…

  Oliver Cromwell Between Two Pillars   The exhibition held now at the British Library « Magna Carta : Law, Liberty, Legacy » offers an understanding of both the significant legacy of Magna Carta and how it influences later developments in British history and beyond. During the 17th century, Magna Carta was not only used as a legal…

Lodovico Castelvetro’s device: KEKPIKA, “I Have Judged” The snap election scheduled to be held in Greece this month after the resignation of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras offers an appropriate occasion for the presentation of an emblem related to the democratic vote. The chosen image is the device of Lodovico Castelvetro (Modena, c. 1505-Chiavenna, Switzerland, 1571),…

    VIA NVLLA EST INVIA AMORI. Quæ non tentet Amor perrumpere opaca viarum,  Qui infidi spernit cæca pericla maris?  Pro rate cui pharetra est, pro remo cui leuis arcus;  Vt portum obtineat, quidlibet audet Amor.  Love fyndeth meanes. Behold how Cupid heer to crosse the sea doth prooue,  His quiver is his bote, his…