A Face Before Him, and a Face Behind: Part 1 - Janus

     If you recall, the last emblem depicting the sphinx was from a book known to be the first emblem book, created by an Italian jurist named Andrea Alciato originally published in 1531. The book was a great success in its time and became massively influential to writers and artists for the next 300 years. Much of the imagery, crude as it was, served as inspiration for greater artists to come—almost like a rough template which to build off and expand from.  Not only did subsequent artists take the imagery or text into their particular specializations, but the emblem book became a distinct art form of its own. Alciato’s Emblemata would continue to be in print and expanded with additional emblems for the next 100 years and other famous emblem books would be created by George Wither, Michael Maier, Otto van Veen, and many others.

“He, that Concealed Things Will Find,
Must Look Before Him and Behind.”

Title and image from Emblem IV, Book 3 of George Wither’s, A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne (1635)

     Original as the format may have been, the ideas which came together to form the Emblemata of Alciato reached far back in time. As a product of the Renaissance, it drew upon ancient Greek and Roman learning, philosophy, and Christianity. The advent of the emblem book was very much akin to the image and idea we see in the emblem featured before us—the Roman God Janus with two faces, one looking in front and the other behind.   

    This image is from George Wither’s 1635 book, “A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne”. Like the last analysis, I will begin by only presenting the image and title to allow an opportunity for pondering and to come to your own conclusions about what the picture is trying to say. For now, I’ll leave you with this little anecdote since we already know the subject featured here is the Roman god, Janus. The month of January is named after this deity and from its two faces looking in opposite directions one might surmise how fitting an image it is for this first month of the year.