Emblem 77

Emblem 77

Blindfolded Cupid holding a sieve into which a man pours liquidAI-generated

Qui suyt Amour en fin aura disette.

He who follows Love will in the end have want.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A square woodcut framed by a border. At left a winged, blindfolded Cupid stands on rocky ground holding up a large round sieve with both hands; drops fall through the mesh to the ground. At right a bearded man in a feathered cap and a cloak that billows behind him, dressed in a short doublet and hose, leans forward and pours liquid from a jug or ewer held high in his hand into the sieve. Rocks and small plants appear at either side of the foreground.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 77 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

QVi plus mettra dans le crible d'Amours,Plus y perdra, car chose n'y profite:Le Temps s'y perd, biens, bagues, & atours,Sa douleur est, en tout amer conficte.Folle Ieunesse, & franc Vouloir incite,A tel desduict, despendre grosses sommes.Sur ce penser doibuent bien ieunes Hommes,Que de ce faict, meilleurs n'en peuuent estre,Et quand n'auront le vaillant de deux pômes,Ne sera temps, leur erreur recognoistre.

TranslationAI-generated

Whoever puts more into the sieve of Love will lose the more there, for nothing profits in it: Time is lost there, goods, rings, and finery; his sorrow is steeped entirely in bitterness. Foolish Youth and unchecked Will urge the spending of great sums on such a pastime. Young men ought well to consider that they can be none the better for this deed, and when they no longer have so much as two apples' worth, it will not then be the time to recognize their error.

Iconclass

86(QUI SUYT AMOUR EN FIN AURA DISETTE) proverbs, sayings, etc. (QUI SUYT AMOUR EN FIN AURA DISETTE)

92D156 other non-aggressive activities of Cupid

41C27(SIEVE) kitchen-utensils: sieve

31D14 adult man

41C326 jar, jug (used as drinking-vessel)

41C122 pouring

55C11 Squandering, Extravagance, Prodigality, Waste; 'Prodigalità' (Ripa)

56F2 (personifications and symbolic representations of) Love; 'Amore (secondo Seneca)' (Ripa)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

92D18(BLINDFOLD) attributes of Cupid: blindfoldhigh

The correlate 'attributes of Cupid: blindfold' exactly matches the winged, blindfolded Cupid at left.

41C27(SIEVE) kitchen-utensils: sievemedium

The correlate names a sieve as an object, matching the large round sieve held up by Cupid into which liquid is poured, though here it is used emblematically rather than as a kitchen utensil.

47C141 sorting, selecting of material by sieving, sifting, screeninglow

The correlate 'sorting, selecting of material by sieving, sifting' describes the depicted action of liquid running through a sieve's mesh, though no actual sorting of material is intended in the emblem.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

I iv 60 Cribro aquam haurire – thematic inventiohigh

The picture literally enacts the adage: a man pours liquid from a ewer into a sieve held by Cupid, and the subscriptio speaks of 'le crible d'Amours' into which all one puts is lost — Erasmus's proverb of drawing/pouring water in a sieve as the type of wholly fruitless, bottomless expenditure (with its Danaid parallel).

I ii 92 Cupidinum crumena porri folio vincta est – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus explains (via Suidas) that the adage is used of those who incur enormous expense because they are in love — exactly the emblem's point that following Love means spending 'grosses sommes' until nothing remains, the purse of the Loves being untied in an instant.

I x 32 Largitio non habet fundum – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus derives the image from the bottomless, pierced jar of the Danaids: lavish outlay drains away rather than accumulates, which is the mechanism visualised by the leaking sieve of Love into which goods, rings and finery are poured.

I ii 69 Festo die si quid prodegeris – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus applies this to 'those who waste their substance in youth and will go hungry in old age,' which matches the emblem's warning that foolish Youth squanders all on love and recognises its error only when penniless.