Guillaume de La Perrièrre, Le Theatre Des Bons Engins (Lyon, 1545)
Emblem 65
A cypress tree in a landscapeAI-generated
Vne beaulté ne vault rien sans bonté.
A beauty is worth nothing without goodness.AI-generated
Description of the woodcutAI-generated
A woodcut landscape in a rectangular frame. At the centre stands a single tall, narrow cypress tree rising from a grassy mound in the foreground. On the left are ruined stone buildings or walls on a rocky rise; in the middle distance are hills and mountain ranges, with a river or lake on the right. Birds fly in the sky at upper left, and streaks of cloud with a sunburst-like cloud mass appear at upper right.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
LE Cypres est, arbre fort delectable,Droict, bel, & hault, & plaisant en verdure:Mais quant au fruict, il est peu proffitable,Car rien ne vault pour donner nourriture.Beaucoup de gens, sont de telle nature:Qu'ilz portent tiltre, & nom de grand' sciéce:Mais s'il aduient d'en faire experience,Lon ne cognoist en eulx, que le seul bruict.C'est grand' folie en arbre auoir fiance,Dont lon ne peult cueillir quelque bon fruict.
TranslationAI-generated
The cypress is a most delightful tree, straight, handsome, and tall, and pleasing in its greenery: but as for its fruit, it is of little profit, for it is worth nothing for providing nourishment. Many people are of such a nature: that they bear the title and name of great learning, but if it happens that one puts them to the test, one finds in them nothing but their reputation. It is great folly to put trust in a tree from which one cannot gather any good fruit.
Iconclass
86(VNE BEAULTÉ NE VAULT RIEN SANS BONTÉ)proverbs, sayings, etc. (VNE BEAULTÉ NE VAULT RIEN SANS BONTÉ)25H13coast25I9landscape with ruins25G3(CYPRESS)trees: cypress51D4Beauty; 'Bellezza' (Ripa)54BB6Worthlessness
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
25I9landscape with ruinshighThe correlate 'landscape with ruins' exactly matches the woodcut's broad landscape view containing ruined stone buildings on a rocky rise.
48C149ruin of a building ~ architecturemediumThe correlate 'ruin of a building ~ architecture' corresponds to the ruined stone walls/buildings depicted at the left.
25H213rivermediumThe correlate 'river' matches the river or lake visible at the right of the middle distance.
58AA2Non-procreationlowThe correlate 'Non-procreation' could render the emblem's point about the cypress's fruitlessness/barrenness, though it is an abstract personification rather than a landscape motif.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- IV iii 10 Cyparissi fructus – thematic inventiohigh
The emblem's cypress — tall, straight, evergreen and delightful to the eye, yet bearing fruit 'de peu de proffit' and good for nothing — reproduces exactly Erasmus' adage (from Pliny) that the cypress 'has useless fruit' and only seems to promise some new fruit because of its height and perpetual greenness; the application to men who bear the title and reputation of great learning but prove empty when tested matches Erasmus' gloss 'applied to fine-sounding but useless words' (loci: Vanitas).
Sources
Record ID: embhab_162-3-eth-b_emblem065
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embhab_162-3-eth-b_emblem065
Page in the digital copy of the Herzog August Bibliothek: http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/162-3-eth-b/start.htm?image=00078