Andreae Alciati emblematvm libellvs
Andrea Alciati's Latin emblem book, printed by Christian Wechel in Paris in 1534 for humanist readers who paired each motto and epigram with a picture. The 116 small square woodcuts set single mythological or allegorical figures—winged-helmed Mercury, satyrs, Cupid, sleeping giants—against hatched hills, spindly trees and distant walled towns, giving designers compact self-contained scenes, open-line landscape backgrounds and clear silhouetted figures.
