Emblem 80

Emblem 80

A tree half barren and half in leaf and fruitAI-generated

Le fruict d'Amour Amours grandement se varie.

The fruit of Love varies greatly.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A woodcut landscape panel showing a single tree growing from a grassy hummock. The tree's trunk forks: the branches on the left are bare, leafless and gnarled, bearing a few pendant pear-shaped fruits, while the branches on the right are thick with foliage and clusters of leaves and fruit. Low grasses and small plants grow at the base; the ground is lightly hatched.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 80 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

LE fruict d'Amours est dur, mol, sec & verd,Leger, pesât, doulx, amer, froid & chauld,Secret, commun, affable, descouuert,Triste, ioyeux, cler, obscur, bas & hault,L'vn iour present, lendemain en deffault,Plein de rigueur, abbreué de mercy,Rude, amyable, en esbat, & soucy:Source d'aduerse, & de bonne fortune,Maigre & reffait, gresle, gros, gay, transi,Droict & tortu, constant comme la Lune.

TranslationAI-generated

The fruit of Love is hard, soft, dry and green, / Light, heavy, sweet, bitter, cold and hot, / Secret, common, affable, uncovered, / Sad, joyful, bright, dark, low and high, / One day present, the next day wanting, / Full of harshness, cut short of mercy, / Rough, lovable, in sport, and in care: / Source of adversity and of good fortune, / Thin and restored, slender, fat, gay, numb with cold, / Straight and crooked, constant as the Moon.

Iconclass

86(LE FRUICT D'AMOUR AMOURS GRANDEMENT SE VARIE) proverbs, sayings, etc. (LE FRUICT D'AMOUR AMOURS GRANDEMENT SE VARIE)

47I41 fruit-tree culture; fruit harvest

25G(+351) plants; vegetation (+ bare plant)

25G(+34) plants; vegetation (+ bearing fruit)

25G21 fruits

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

51BB4 Multiformity, Variety

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

25G21 fruitsmedium

The correlate 'fruits' matches the pendant pear-shaped fruits and clusters of fruit hanging from the tree's branches.

25HH landscapes - HH - ideal landscapeslow

The scene is a generic landscape panel with a tree and ground vegetation, though 'ideal landscapes' is a stretch for this plain emblematic setting.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

III i 87 Nihil est ab omni parte beatum – thematic inventiomedium

The emblem's tree, half barren and half laden with fruit, and the subscriptio's catalogue of love's mixed qualities ('Source d'aduerse, & de bonne fortune') embody the adage's point that nothing in human life is blessed in every respect; both are classed under the 'Mixta' commonplace.

I ix 62 Euripus homo – thematic inventiolow

The subscriptio's closing 'constant comme la Lune' and its endless alternation of opposites express the same proverbial topos of restless ebb and flow in human affairs and affections that Erasmus illustrates with the tidal Euripus.

II ii 74 Proteo mutabilior – thematic inventiolow

Love's fruit taking every contrary shape in turn (sweet/bitter, cold/hot, straight/crooked) echoes the proverbial Protean figure who 'takes all sorts of shapes, twisting back and forth'.

I viii 30 Ex eodem ore calidum et frigidum efflare – thematic inventiolow

The emblem's single tree producing contrary effects, and the line 'froid & chauld' among love's paired opposites, recall the proverbial image of one source emitting both hot and cold.