Emblem 16

Emblem 16

A headless nude woman standing in a landscapeAI-generated

Difficile est de veoir femme sans teste.

It is difficult to see a woman without a head.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A woodcut in a rectangular frame showing a nude female figure standing in a landscape, her body shown frontally but with no head above the shoulders (the neck ends in a flat stump). Her arms hang down at her sides. At the left of the scene is a large leafy tree or bush; at the right a tall plant with a single broad feathery leaf rises beside her, with clumps of grass and boulders below. In the background on the right are water, a small building, and hills under a sky of horizontal hatching; the ground in the foreground is strewn with small stones.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 16 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

On ha iadis veu monstres bien horribles:Comme Chimere en forme espouentable,Le Sagittaire, & Centaures terribles:Et Geryon en trois corps admirable:Python serpent fut craint & redoubtable:Meduse fut en son poil trop hideuse:Hydra difforme en Lerne dangereuse,Et Cerberus (à veoir) horrible beste:Mais bien seroit chose plus merueilleuse,Qui pourroit veoir vne femme sans teste.

TranslationAI-generated

In former times men have seen very horrible monsters: such as the Chimaera in frightful form, the Sagittary (Archer) and terrible Centaurs; and Geryon, amazing in his three bodies; the serpent Python was feared and dreaded; Medusa was too hideous in her hair; the misshapen Hydra was dangerous in Lerna, and Cerberus a horrible beast to behold: but it would indeed be a more marvellous thing, if one could see a woman without a head.

Iconclass

86(DIFFICILE EST DE VEOIR FEMME SANS TESTE) proverbs, sayings, etc. (DIFFICILE EST DE VEOIR FEMME SANS TESTE)

31D15(+89) adult woman (+ nude human being)

31E236212 headless body of a beheaded person

25G3(PALM-TREE)(+221) trees: palm-tree (+ sprig, twig)

25G3 trees

25H2 landscapes with waters, waterscapes, seascapes (in the temperate zone)

51BB7 Abnormality

51HH2 Particularity, Individuality

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.

44B government, the State; 'Politica', 'Auttorità o Potestà' (Ripa)medium

The correlate 'government, the State' fits the commentary's repeated concern with government, for which the headless body is the classic image of a body politic lacking its head.

44B62 bad governmentlow

'Bad government' plausibly matches a headless (leaderless) figure as an image of defective rule, though the commentary text is not available to confirm.

52AA5 Ignorance; 'Ignoranza', 'Ignoranza di tutte le cose', 'Ignoranza in un ricco senza lettere' (Ripa)medium

The correlate 'Ignorance' (Ripa's 'Ignoranza') corresponds to the ignorance theme flagged in the commentary, aptly personified by a figure deprived of the head, seat of reason.

52AA51 Folly, Foolishness; 'Pazzia', 'Sciocchezza', 'Stoltitia' (Ripa)low

'Folly, Foolishness' (Ripa's 'Pazzia', 'Stoltitia') is suggested by the commentary's folly term and suits a brainless, headless personification.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.

III vi 77 Lusciniae deest cantio – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus glosses this adynaton by listing parallel impossibilities, the first of which is 'Mulieri desunt verba' (a woman without words) — exactly the joke of the emblem, where a headless (hence tongueless, silent) woman is presented as a prodigy more marvellous than Chimaera, Hydra or Cerberus.

I i 14 Sine capite fabula – thematic inventiolow

The emblem's central conceit and woodcut (a figure whose neck ends in a flat stump) echo Erasmus's 'headless' topos, including his anecdote of the Cretan festival in which a headless human effigy was displayed as something monstrous and absurd.

I x 7 Impossibilia captas – thematic inventiolow

The subscriptio is built as a classic adynaton — stranger than all the mythic monsters would be a woman without a head — and so belongs to the Erasmian 'Impossibilia' class that this adage heads.

II ii 48 Ignis mare mulier, tria mala – thematic inventiolow

The emblem's misogynist point — that woman belongs in a catalogue of dreadful things (Chimaera, Hydra, Medusa, Cerberus) — matches Erasmus's commonplace that woman ranks with fire and sea among the greatest terrors, quoting 'naught so frightful as a wicked woman.'