Emblem 18

Emblem 18

Venus seated, holding a key and raising a finger, her foot on a tortoiseAI-generated

Ce qu'est requis en la femme prudente.

Emblem 18. What is required in the prudent woman.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A woodcut in a rectangular frame. At the right, a heavy curtain is drawn back before an interior; a woman in flowing classical drapery with an elaborate headdress sits on a low stool or block, her body turned to the left. Her arms are extended toward the left, one hand holding a slender object (a key), the other hand raised with a finger lifted. Her bare left foot rests upon a tortoise on the ground at the lower left. Beyond her, on the left side of the scene, opens a landscape with rocky hills, a small tower or castle on a crag, clouds and open sky.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 18 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

EN tel estat que voyez, noz ancestres,Dame Venus iadis uoulurent paindre,Bien congnoist on, que les souuerains maistresEn la faisant, ne se voulurent faindre,Et pour l'effect du sens misticque attaindre,Par la tortue, entendre est de besoing,Que femme honneste ne doibt pas aller loing,Le doigt leué, qu'à parler ne s'aduance,La clef en main, denote qn'auoir soingDoibt sur les biens du mary, par prudence.

TranslationAI-generated

In such a state as you see, our ancestors once wished to paint Lady Venus. One well recognizes that the sovereign masters, in making her, did not wish to be slack; and, to attain the effect of the mystical sense, by the tortoise it is needful to understand that an honest woman ought not to go far abroad; the raised finger means that she should not put herself forward in speaking; the key in her hand denotes that she must take care, through prudence, over her husband's goods.

Iconclass

86(CE QU'EST REQUIS EN LA FEMME PRUDENTE) proverbs, sayings, etc. (CE QU'EST REQUIS EN LA FEMME PRUDENTE)

31D15 adult woman

31AA2352 sitting on an elevation - AA - female human figure

31B623591 putting a finger to the lips, 'Silentium'; 'Silentio' (Ripa)

41A3281 key

31AA2726 trampling, treading, stamping on someone or something - AA - female human figure

25F44 tortoises, turtles

92C4 (story of) Venus (Aphrodite)

57A6 Virtuousness; 'Amor di Virtù', 'Attione virtuosa', 'Guida sicura de' veri honori', 'Virtù', 'Virtù insuperabile' (Ripa)

42D332 ideal wife

42F household management; housewife at work

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

25F44 tortoises, turtleshigh

The correlate 'tortoises, turtles' matches the tortoise on which the woman's bare foot rests in the lower left.

41A3281 keyhigh

The correlate 'key' matches the slender key held in the seated woman's extended hand.

41A421 curtainsmedium

The correlate 'curtains' matches the heavy curtain drawn back at the right to reveal the interior.

52DD3 Taciturnity; 'Secretezza', 'Secretezza overo Taciturnità' (Ripa)medium

The correlate 'Taciturnity; Secretezza overo Taciturnità (Ripa)' fits the personified woman whose raised finger signals the virtue of silence, combined with key and tortoise as emblems of the discreet, home-keeping wife.

31B62359 being silentmedium

The correlate 'being silent' corresponds to the woman's raised-finger gesture enjoining silence.

92C48(TURTLE) attributes of Venus: turtlelow

The correlate 'attributes of Venus: turtle' is relevant since the motif of a woman with her foot on a tortoise derives from Phidias' Venus of Elis, though no Venus is explicitly identified here.

22D9 silencelow

The correlate 'silence' broadly matches the emblem's central theme signalled by the lifted finger.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

III iii 38 Domus amica, domus optima – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus' essay attaches this adage precisely to the tortoise (the beast that answered Jupiter 'home is best' and so must carry its house about), which is exactly the symbolic value the emblem gives to the tortoise under Venus' foot: 'que femme honneste ne doibt pas aller loing.'

III ix 39 Mulier pudica ne sola sit usquam – thematic inventiolow

The emblem's prescription for the 'femme prudente' — stay home, do not speak forward — shares Erasmus' moral about the modest woman's restraint in public and in conversation with men, though no phrase is quoted.

III i 13 Domi manere oportet belle fortunatum – thematic inventiolow

The tortoise's lesson in the subscriptio (not to go far from the house) echoes the commonplace of staying at home that Erasmus develops here, though Erasmus applies it to men of means rather than to wives.