A literary mode, highly popular throughout Europe from the 16th to the 18th c., characterized by its formal tripartite structure (motto, woodcut illustration, epigrammatic interpretation in prose or verse) and its moralistic intention. It may be distinguished from the devise, which is enigmatic and personal, whereas the emblem is symbolic and universal. Emblems usually appear in collections, one to a page. The first emblem-book, by the lawyer Alciati, was published in Latin in Augsburg in 1531 (also Paris, 1534, French translation 1536). The first French example was Guillaume de la Perrière's Théâtre des bons engins (1540). Others were composed by Gilles Corrozet, Guillaume Guéroult, and Pierre Cousteau; one of the most distinguished was Aneau's Picta poesis, which appeared in French as Imagination poétique (1552). See also Georgette de Montenay's Emblèmes, ou Devises chrétiennes (1571) and Bèze's Quarante-quatre emblèmes chrétiens (1581). The main source is to be found in medieval and Neoplatonic allegory and symbolism and in hieroglyphics. Their chief interest does not lie in their literary or artistic value, but in the way text and picture combine to convey a moral, and point to the intellectual and ethical concerns of a fascinated public.
[Peter Sharratt]
