RIPA, Cesare

The ancient Greek epigram, The Force of Love on Land and Sea (Forza d’amore) was diffused throughout Europe in the seventeenth century by Cesare Ripa in his Iconologia, in a representation of a naked winged boy standing in a landscape, holding a fish in one hand and a garland of flowers in the other. The Iconologia was published in 1603 in Rome and republished in Milan, 1992.

The picture shows a page of one of the French editions of the Iconologia (Edition Guillemet, 1644).

Cesare Ripa was a 16th-century Italian aesthetician and author of the Iconologia, an influential emblem book.

The Iconologia of Cesare Ripa was conceived as a guide to the symbolism in emblem books. It was very influential in the 17th century and went through a number of editions. Both the text and the emblems included in these editions varies greatly, and later editions use Ripa’s idea, rather than following his text.

The picture shows the title page, engraved by Isaac Fuller, of one of the English editions (London: Printed by Benj. Motte, 1709).

Cesare Ripa was a 16th-century Italian aesthetician and author of the Iconologia, an influential emblem book. The picture shows the title page of a Dutch translation which was published in 1644 in Amsterdam.

The notion that painting and literature are closely related - a concept already well established in the Renaissance - played an instrumental role in the arts. This idea is neatly demonstrated in the present title page, where Painting and Poetry in person flank a cartouche containing and extensive title, which is placed beneath the higher spheres where the art-loving gods Minerva, Apollo, and Mercury are seated.