Emblem

 

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An emblem consists of a pictorial image, abstract or representational, that epitomizes a concept — often a concept of a moral truth or an allegory.

Contents

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* 1 Distinction: emblem and symbol

* 2 Other terminology

* 3 Emblems in history

* 4 See also

Distinction: emblem and symbol

The words emblem and symbol often appear interchangeably in day-to-day conversation without causing undue confusion. A distinction between the two may seem unnecessarily fastidious. Nevertheless, an emblem is a pattern that is used to represent an idea. An emblem crystallizes in concrete, visual terms some abstraction: a deity, a tribe or nation, a virtue or a vice. An emblem is an object or a representation of an object. An emblem may be worn or otherwise used as identifying badge. A metal emblem of a cockle shell sewn onto the hat identied a medieval pilgrim to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela. In current American usage, police officers' badges refer specifically to their personal metal emblem — sometimes with a uniquely identifying number or name on it — while the woven emblems sewn on their uniforms identify all the members of a particular unit.

A symbol substitutes one thing for another, in a less concrete fashion: the Christian cross is a symbol of the Crucifixion; it is an emblem of sacrifice. A red cross on a white flag is the emblem of the humanitarian spirit. The Red Cross is a symbol of the International Red Cross.

The crescent shape is a symbol of the moon; it is an emblem of Islam. The skull and crossbones is an emblem identifying a poison. The skull is a symbol of the transitory human life.

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Other terminology

A totem is specifically an animal emblem that expresses the spirit of a clan. Heraldry knows its emblems as charges. The lion passant serves as the emblem of England, the lion rampant as the emblem of Scotland.

An icon consists of an image (originally a religious image), that has become standardized by convention. A logo is an impersonal, secular icon, usually of a corporate entity.

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Emblems in history

Since the 15th century the terms of emblem (emblema) and emblematura belong to the termini technici of architecture. They mean an iconic painted, drawn, or sculptural representation of a concept affixed to houses and belong — like the inscriptions — to the architectural ornaments (ornamenta). Since the publication of De architectura libri decem by Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) the emblems (emblema) are related to Egyptian hieroglyphics and are considered as being a secret iconic language. Therefore the emblems belong to the Renaissance knowledge of antiquity which comprises not only Greek and Roman antiquity but also Egyptian antiquity as proven by the numerous obelisks built in 16th and 17th century Rome.

The 1531 publication in Augsburg of the first emblem book, the Emblemata of the Italian jurist Andrea Alciato launched a fascination with emblems that lasted two centuries and touched most of the countries of western Europe. "Emblem" in this sense refers to a didactic or moralizing combination of picture and text intended to draw the reader into a self-reflective examination of his or her own life. Complicated associations of emblems could transmit information to the culturally-informed viewer, a characteristic of the 16th century artistic movement called Mannerism.

 

Andrea Alciato's Emblematum liber or Book of Emblems had enormous influence and popularity in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is a collection of 212 Latin emblem poems, each consisting of a motto (a proverb or other short enigmatic expression), a picture, and an epigrammatic text. Alciato's book was first published in 1531, and was expanded in various editions during the author's lifetime. It began a craze for emblem poetry that lasted for several centuries. We use the Latin text and images from an important edition of 1621 and we give a translation into English.

Notes on use

 

The emblems may be read in sequence, in Latin or in English, or in Latin-English parallel. If you know a title or a motif that you might be looking for, use our title and searching files. If you know an emblem number, go directly to it via the table of emblems. Though all the Alciato emblems have commentary files, only a few have proper explanatory commentaries. We also have a short note on Alciato, and bibliographies of early editions and secondary sources. Among other supporting documents, we have texts imitated by Alciato from the Greek Anthology.

We have complete texts of the emblems, in both Latin (93k) and English (99k). These texts are very handy if you wish to download for reference or search for words in context.

Finally, a few other sites of interest.

Additional materials

 

We have installed all the illustrations from the editions of 1531, 1534, and 1546, source material from the Greek Anthology, the whole of Whitney's Choice of Emblemes (1586), and direct links for particular emblems in the French edition of Lefevre now on line at the Glasgow University Emblem Website. All this material is linked through the commentaries for each emblem in Alciato, where appropriate. We also give a list of emblems in Thomas Palmer's Two Hundred Poosees (a manuscript emblem book of c1566) with the links to Alciato, but we do not reproduce the text.

We give the Alciato and Whitney emblems in two sizes. Click on the smaller to get the larger.

We have a working bibliography on the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, and will continue to add other ancillary material.

And, for your further entertainment, we have an edition of Gratiae Ludentes a 17th-century jest book prepared by William Barker, Yvonne Hann, and a group of undergraduate students in English.

What's to come

 

We will be adding the essay by Mignault De symbolis. We also have forthcoming some notes for a full checklist of Alciato editions, and, finished for now, a short essay on Alciato editions used as alba amicorum.

 

Site last modified 26 April 2005

William Barker, Mark Feltham, and Jean Guthrie, with the assistance of

Allan Farrell of Memorial University's Arts Computing Centre

Department of English

Memorial University of Newfoundland

 

We started this site on 26 October 1995. We are currently receiving around 15,000 visitors a month with over 1.5 million page hits a year.