The Ringling Art Library
Mundi lapis lydius
Title: Mundi lapis lydius, siue, Vanitas per veritate[m] falsi accusata & conuicta opera D. Antonii a Burgundia, Archi-diaconi Brugensis.
Authors: Bourgogne, Antoine de 1593 or 4-1657; Cnobbarus vidua printer; Diepenbeeck, Abraham van 1596-1675 artist; Merlen, Theodor van 1600-1659 engraver; Pauli, Andries 1600-1639 engraver
Publisher: Antuerp. : Typis viduae Ioan. Cnobbari.
Publication Date: 1639
Physical Description: 51 illustrations (engravings); 20 cm. Dark brown calf cover with 4 raised bands and gold decorations on spine. Red speckled fore edges.
Call Number: N 7740 .B68 1639
About this book: According to AbeBooks.com, this book is the “first edition of one of the most expressive Flemish emblem books of the 17th century, particularly important for the engraved illustrations depicting scenes from contemporary life.” The artist, Van Diepenbeek, was a pupil of Rubens. The emblems tend to emphasize landscapes, gardens, town scenes and architecture, along with typical decorations of the period.
There are 50 chapters to this book. According to Sokol Books Ltd. in London on AbeBooks.com, “(these chapters) provide a dual commentary over subjects as diverse as memory, marriage, political power, fame, and eating habits. As de Bourgogne argues in the preface, the exercise proves that poor judgement sometimes allows vain conclusions to be drawn from truth. The work is critical of its own tradition, since other books of emblems encourage forming many different possible interpretations of word and image, both religious and profane….the volume is a fresh and innovative continuation of his earlier emblem work, Linguae vitia et remedia (1631) which focuses on remedies for the abuse of language through insults, lies, blasphemies, and calumnies.”
Abraham van Diepenbeeck was an accomplished Dutch painter of the Flemish School. He was a pupil and assistant of Peter Paul Rubens. He specialized in mythological and historical subjects in addition to portraits (Wikipedia).
This book illustrates the duality between the concepts of truth and vanity that occur in each of the 50 emblems. Each image, which is in an oval or octagon format, is accompanied by a few sentences of commentary. Without the commentary, these images would be difficult to interpret. This book has been inspired by a famous book of the Renaissance, the Ship of Fools (Basel, 1494), which was a compilation of 112 poems with similar themes (Deleitando ensena: Una leccion de emblematica).
Sources cited:
Mundi Lapis Lydius sive Vanitas per Vertatem falsi accusata & convicta (n.d.) Retrieved June 12, 2015 from AbeBooks.com: www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=37084565&se...
Mundi Lapis Lydius, sive VAnitas per Vertate falso accusata & convicta opera Antwerp (n.d.) Retrieved June 12, 2015 from AbeBooks.com: www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=6399963722&...
Abraham van Diepenbeeck. (n.d.) Retrieved June 12, 2015 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_van_Diepenbeeck
Deleitando ensena: Una leccion de emblematica. (n.d.). Retrieved on July 2, 2015 from the Universidad de Navarra Biblioteca: www.unav.es/biblioteca/fondoantiguo/hufaexp20/Deleitando_...
Mundi lapis lydius
Title: Mundi lapis lydius, siue, Vanitas per veritate[m] falsi accusata & conuicta opera D. Antonii a Burgundia, Archi-diaconi Brugensis.
Authors: Bourgogne, Antoine de 1593 or 4-1657; Cnobbarus vidua printer; Diepenbeeck, Abraham van 1596-1675 artist; Merlen, Theodor van 1600-1659 engraver; Pauli, Andries 1600-1639 engraver
Publisher: Antuerp. : Typis viduae Ioan. Cnobbari.
Publication Date: 1639
Physical Description: 51 illustrations (engravings); 20 cm. Dark brown calf cover with 4 raised bands and gold decorations on spine. Red speckled fore edges.
Call Number: N 7740 .B68 1639
About this book: According to AbeBooks.com, this book is the “first edition of one of the most expressive Flemish emblem books of the 17th century, particularly important for the engraved illustrations depicting scenes from contemporary life.” The artist, Van Diepenbeek, was a pupil of Rubens. The emblems tend to emphasize landscapes, gardens, town scenes and architecture, along with typical decorations of the period.
There are 50 chapters to this book. According to Sokol Books Ltd. in London on AbeBooks.com, “(these chapters) provide a dual commentary over subjects as diverse as memory, marriage, political power, fame, and eating habits. As de Bourgogne argues in the preface, the exercise proves that poor judgement sometimes allows vain conclusions to be drawn from truth. The work is critical of its own tradition, since other books of emblems encourage forming many different possible interpretations of word and image, both religious and profane….the volume is a fresh and innovative continuation of his earlier emblem work, Linguae vitia et remedia (1631) which focuses on remedies for the abuse of language through insults, lies, blasphemies, and calumnies.”
Abraham van Diepenbeeck was an accomplished Dutch painter of the Flemish School. He was a pupil and assistant of Peter Paul Rubens. He specialized in mythological and historical subjects in addition to portraits (Wikipedia).
This book illustrates the duality between the concepts of truth and vanity that occur in each of the 50 emblems. Each image, which is in an oval or octagon format, is accompanied by a few sentences of commentary. Without the commentary, these images would be difficult to interpret. This book has been inspired by a famous book of the Renaissance, the Ship of Fools (Basel, 1494), which was a compilation of 112 poems with similar themes (Deleitando ensena: Una leccion de emblematica).
Sources cited:
Mundi Lapis Lydius sive Vanitas per Vertatem falsi accusata & convicta (n.d.) Retrieved June 12, 2015 from AbeBooks.com: www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=37084565&se...
Mundi Lapis Lydius, sive VAnitas per Vertate falso accusata & convicta opera Antwerp (n.d.) Retrieved June 12, 2015 from AbeBooks.com: www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=6399963722&...
Abraham van Diepenbeeck. (n.d.) Retrieved June 12, 2015 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_van_Diepenbeeck
Deleitando ensena: Una leccion de emblematica. (n.d.). Retrieved on July 2, 2015 from the Universidad de Navarra Biblioteca: www.unav.es/biblioteca/fondoantiguo/hufaexp20/Deleitando_...