Emblemata Politica

Understanding Rem's Book

The Rem manuscript at the Newberry Library offers a glimpse into the intellectual and social life of early modern Nürnberg. Like all emblems, the emblems in Rem’s book were designed to speak to his contemporaries, who approached them with a particular set of learned habits, religious beliefs, and shared experiences that they used to interpret them. Readers who encounter Rem’s book today no longer have access to the cultural foundations of Rem’s manuscript. This section is intended to supply that lost context by offering interpretations of the emblems at the heart of Rem’s project and explaining the social, intellectual, religious, and architectural meanings and stories that lay beneath the surface of this remarkable book.

Contents of this path: