Book Title: Andreae Alciati emblematvm libellvs.

Author: Alciati, Andrea, 1492-1550

Image Title: Better That a Woman’s Reputation Be Known to the World Than Her Beauty

Description: The pictura of this emblem by the Italian jurist and writer Andrea Alciati (1492 – 1550 CE) features the statue of the goddess Venus by the ancient Greek sculptor Phidias. Her right foot rests on a tortoise, symbol of female domesticity. The subscriptio, set in dialogical form with Venus as an interlocutor, takes Phidias’ intention to be the inculcation of the lesson that it is befitting for girls to stay at home and be silent.

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