Sara F. Matthews Grieco

The Printed Picture and the Codification of Visual Language in Europe (1450-1650): Iconographic Literacy, Emblematics and Gender

Parallel to the development of the printed book as a market commodity, the printed picture also developed into a an effective means of communication, using a widely “read” and relatively accessible iconographic language that was accessible to a large proportion of the urban population, often independent of any formal instruction. The process by which iconographic culture developed into a veritable language that could be used and understood throughout Western Europe, regardless of linguistic borders, was not entirely smooth. In fact, a trial and error process characterized the early decades of the codification of this iconographic idiom. An examination of vernacular emblem books and “export” prints produced in the first half of the 16th century will demonstrate the extent to which the evolution of visual language on a European scale entailed a number of false starts and pictorial flops. The particular focus of this project is on the early process of “trying out” iconographic compositions and an attempt to account for the reasons behind their relative success or failure.