Le imprese illustri del S.or Ieronimo Ruscelli.
Girolamo Ruscelli's compendium of personal devices and mottoes, published by Francesco de' Franceschi in Venice in 1584 for courtiers and heralds who read emblems as coded biography. The 181 copperplate engravings set small landscapes, trees, animals and crowns inside strapwork cartouches flanked by herms, caryatids, masks and clawed feet, giving designers ready-made frames, banderoles and grotesque ornament.
