Barthélemy Aneau's, Picta poesis

The Picta poesis or Imagination poetique (its French title) was an early French emblem book by the noted humanist of Lyons, Barthélemy Aneau. Before creating his own emblem book, Aneau had already issued an edition of Alciato's Liber Emblematum translated into French, rearranged in a different order, and with added commentaries. Much like previous emblem books which are more of a collaborative effort where the text and images were created by different individuals, Aneau wrote the text for the Picta poesis and used as his source for the images, woodcuts created by Macé Bonhomme's workshop, a printer who incidentally was the same man to later print the first edition of Nostradamus' famous book of prophecies.

Frontpiece to Barthélemy Aneau’s, Picta poesis, 1552

As stated by Aneau himself, in the preface to the Picta poesis, the woodcuts were actually the starting point for the book, when one day he found a bunch of unused woodblocks in the workshop of Bonhomme. The blocks were actually images to go along with a French edition of Ovid's Metamorphosis which Bonhomme previously published, but Aneau must have felt these pictures had more to say. I like this idea. In the past, maybe captivated by a similar wonder as Aneau, when a strange image caught my eye with little or no accompanying textual explanation, the mind wanders--you create your own explanations for the scenery, an odd figure, or the actions being performed. The crude simplicity of the woodcuts creates enough vaguery for the imagination to run wild filling in the blanks and fleshing out possibilities never quite intended by their creator, though no less valid.

Interpreting an image falls somewhere between the interpretation of text and music. The range of possible meanings for a text would be a little more narrow since that form of communication is more specific and words well defined, while music (without lyrics) further to the end of the spectrum, is much more abstract in the definition of its sounds and arrangements. Images lie in the middle in terms of their communicative precision. Especially for the fact, unlike language, the objects of imagery (the visible world) is not, for the most part, entirely a human construct and therefore has no initial authoritative definition unless we begin to contemplate the divine Creator's intentions, which is far beyond the scope of this particular blog post.

All imagery, to some degree, speaks to us as symbols pointing to another meaning or idea different from the actual thing you are seeing. Just as all words are symbols referring to thoughts, and not to the actual look and shapes of letters or the sounds of the spoken words, so too are images. The reference of a symbolic image can be a matter of dispute—for most Westerners and Christians who have the blissful idea of marriage at seeing a white gown, there are an equal number of Buddhists distressed with thoughts of mourning. Digging down further into this particular example however, shows maybe at a primary level the symbolic references are more archetypical and consistent. The white mourning cloths of the Buddhist represent rebirth and purity, very much in line with Christian/Western associations for that color; it’s only in the secondary reference the two cultures differ because of differing application of those ideas to another object.

The other factor when deciphering imagery or deriving symbolic meaning comes when the image or object very well can refer equally to different things based on its different qualities. A tree grows up and its branches reach out in bifurcating stems. Likewise a tree has roots and a sturdy trunk firmly planted to one spot steadfast and solid. One might focus on the former quality, equating the tree to man who is always reaching upward in his ambitions and progress for a more flourishing life, while the latter aspect could be the man who is steady, unmoved by change, firmly set in his ways. Both are equally valid interpretations of what a tree could symbolize and we begin to see how Barthélemy Aneau could take images from the Metamorphoses and derive a meaning from them completely apart from their original created purpose.

Portrait of Barthélemy Aneau, 1545

For the next emblem analysis, we won’t be looking at an example of a Metamorphoses image, but instead at one of Aneau’s emblems combining the classic images of a rose and snake. Aneau applies a purely symbolic interpretation of these objects to his own family, something not uncommon in the world of heraldry and family crests. So, keep an eye on the Emblemata blog for an investigation of Aneau’s third emblem from the Picta Poesis, “A Ring Eternal and Transient”.