Research on 16th and 17th century pattern books for embroiderers, lacemakers, and artisans of all kinds
Sat Aug 25, 2018 12:47 PM
Sat Aug 25, 2018 12:47 PM
Morning Modelbuch (8/25/2018)
This crab and butterfly caught my eye while I was flipping through emblem books. It is the representation of the motto, “Festina Lente.” Make haste slowly. I’m not always the best at taking all the time I should and learning wisdom, so perhaps the sentiment is apropos. This particular image is associated with Augustus Caesar, but the motto was very popular in the Renaissance and Cosimo Medici used it as well.
Emblem books were one of the most common sources for embroiderers. English publications lagged behind Italian and German ones, but one of the first emblem books published in England was Geffrey Whitney’s 1585 _Choice of emblemes, and other devises, for the moste parte gathered out of sundrie writers, Englished and moralized. And divers newly devised, by Geffrey Whitney_.
It was mostly taken directly from Alciato and Paradin’s work
https://archive.org/details/whitneyschoicee00paragoog
