Icones, id est, Verae imagines virorum doctrina simul et pietate illustrium, : quorum praecipuè ministerio partim bonarum literarum studia sunt restituta, partim vera religio in variis orbis Christiani regionibus, nostra patrúmque memoria fuit instaurata : additis eorundem vitae & operae descriptionibus, quibus adiectae sunt nonnullae picturae quas emblemata vocant.
Theodore de Bèze's Icones, printed by Jean de Laon at Geneva in 1580, gathers woodcut portraits, biographies and emblems of Reformation theologians and humanist scholars for Protestant readers across Europe. The plates pair oval cartouches framed by laurel swags, strapwork, lion masks and putto heads with line-cut half-length portraits of named men in gowns and caps, giving designers ready-made name plaques, borders and emblem devices.
