Emblem 64

Emblem 64

A short man with a disproportionately large headAI-generated

Le corps bien faict ne rend pas l'homme Sage.

Emblem 64. A well-made body does not make a man wise.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A woodcut in a rectangular frame showing a short, squat man with disproportionately large head and a broad plumed hat, bearded, wearing a doublet with buttons, puffed breeches and hose. He stands with his left hand on his hip and his right arm extended outward. Behind him at the left is a classical arcade with a round arch and a columned entablature; at the right a flat wall or open door panel with vertical hatching, and a tiled or stepped floor beneath.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 64 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

SVr gresle corps, la teste de GeantNe conuient pas, & soubz grande stature,Vn petit Chef, y seroit mal seant.Proportion faict belle la nature.Tenir ne fault sotte la creature,Pourtant s'elle ha petite & ronde teste.Ne fault tenir l'homme pour grosse beste,Pourtant s'il ha le chef gros comme vn Veau:Mais qu'il y ayt proportion au reste,Le trop gros chef, ne faict pas le cerueau.

TranslationAI-generated

On a slender body, a giant's head does not suit, and with a great stature a small head would be unseemly. Proportion makes nature beautiful. One must not hold a creature to be foolish merely because she has a small, round head. Nor must one hold a man to be a great brute merely because he has a head as big as a calf's: provided there be proportion in the rest. Too big a head does not make the brain.

Iconclass

86(LE CORPS BIEN FAICT NE REND PAS L'HOMME SAGE) proverbs, sayings, etc. (LE CORPS BIEN FAICT NE REND PAS L'HOMME SAGE)

41A51 courtyard

41A542 gate, entrance

31D14 adult man

31A42(+11) human beings (legendary or not) of abnormal proportions, size, strength, etc. (+ head, face)

51D2 Harmony, Regularity

31A1 canon, proportions

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

31A422 dwarfshigh

The correlate 'dwarfs' matches the depicted short, squat man with a disproportionately large head, the emblem's central figure.

48C1621 arcade ~ architecturehigh

The correlate 'arcade ~ architecture' matches the classical arcade with round arch and columned entablature behind the figure.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

I vii 25 In eburnea vagina plumbeus gladius – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus' adage (Diogenes to the handsome youth who spoke obscenely) makes exactly the emblem's point that a fine exterior guarantees nothing of the mind within — 'le corps bien faict ne rend pas l'homme Sage'.

IV iii 80 Thersitae facies – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus' essay recommends applying the adage morally — 'to look at his body, he is Nireus; to look at his character, Thersites' — i.e. the dissociation of bodily form from inner worth which the emblem's dizain argues (a big head does not make the brain, a small one does not make a fool).

I viii 77 Aliter catuli longe olent, laiter sues – thematic inventiolow

The essay discusses physiognomic judgement (the face and eye as index of a man, and Quintilian's jibe about one who lacks 'the face of a free man'); the emblem's woodcut of a misshapen, large-headed man and its moral engage the same question of reading character from bodily form, though the emblem denies the inference.