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Original fileEx fumo in lucem
About This Work
The image features an interior scene of a printing office centered on a wooden press and two ink dabbers sitting on a table before a leaded-glass window. An ornate Baroque frame surrounds the scene, topped with a ribbon bearing the Latin motto 'Ex fumo in lucem.' Below the illustration is a dense block of Latin text addressed to the reader concerning the author's diplomatic travels and the composition of political symbols.
This print is an introductory emblem from Diego de Saavedra Fajardo's influential work, 'Idea de un príncipe político cristiano' (1640), which used 100 emblems to instruct rulers in Christian statecraft. The motto 'Ex fumo in lucem' (Out of smoke, into light), taken from Horace, symbolizes the transition from the obscurity of ignorance or private thought into the clarity of public wisdom and published knowledge.
Inscriptions(Latin)
AD BENEVOLVM LECTOREM. EX FVMO IN LVCEM. IN difficili & laborioso otio tot susceptarum à me per Germaniam, aliásque complures Pro- vincias peregrinationum, nec non & Regiæ legationis per triennium in Germaniâ, cen- tum isthæc concinnavi Symbola, quibus IDEAM PRIN- CIPIS POLITICO-CHRISTIANI exhibeo, scri- bendo per intervalla quietis tempore, quæ per viam in itine- ribus cum animo fueram meditatus, quoties assidua illa cum Rege nostro Catholico, ejúsque Ministris per literas com- muni-
Translation
TO THE KIND READER. OUT OF SMOKE INTO LIGHT. During the difficult and laborious leisure of so many journeys undertaken by me through Germany and many other provinces, as well as a royal embassy of three years in Germany, I have composed these one hundred Emblems, in which I present the IDEA OF A POLITICO-CHRISTIAN PRINCE, writing during intervals of quiet time that which I had meditated upon in my mind while on the road, as often as that assiduous correspondence with our Catholic King and his Ministers allowed.
Connected Texts
Diego de Saavedra Fajardo
Author of the text 'Idea de un príncipe político cristiano' for which this engraving serves as a preface.
Horace
Source of the motto 'Ex fumo in lucem' from his 'Ars Poetica'.
Provenance & Source
Object
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
paper
height 147 mm x width 115 mm
emblem
Linked Data
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