129 



Were we asked to select from the Poets of all Nations, two, 

 whose popularity has continued unabated, and whose writings 

 have furnished in every succeeding age an inexhaustible theme 

 for Artists, we should assuredly point to those great orna- 

 ments of Roman literature, Horace and Ovid. Without in- 

 stituting any comparison of their distinctive merits, or expa- 

 tiating upon the high order of beauties which characterize the 

 writings of both, wc may affirm that the Painter, who would 

 transfer to his Canvas the incidents which most affect us in 

 the daily intercourses of Society, or would ''catch the 

 manners living as they rise," may in almost every page of 

 these celebrated authors find ample choice. It will not there- 

 fore be deemed surprising that they should have been selected 

 for Emblematic illustration."'^ 



In the year 1612 a work entitled Quinti Tloi'atii Flacci 

 Emblemata made its appearance. It was edited by the cele- 

 brated painter Octavius or Otho Van Veen, who was the first 

 to explain to the Plemist artists the true doctrine of light and 

 shadow, and who was for some time the master of Rubens. 

 This book, which is of itself an excellent Manual of Morality, 

 consists of a selection of Maxims, taken verbatim from Horace 

 (supported by extracts from other Roman classics), with 

 poetical translations or imitations in four modern languages, 

 Spanish, Dutch, Italian, and French. For these translations 

 the author acknowledges himself to be indebted to certain 

 friends whom he names in his preface. The work is illus- 

 trated by one hundred beautiful copperplates, engraved by 

 Gilbert Van Veen, from the spirited designs of liis brother 

 Otho. These engravings are characterized by much grace and 

 dignity, although by some the figures have been found fault 

 with, for being too short. They were pirated by the French 

 writer Marin le Roi Gomberville, and served as the ground- 

 work of his publication "La doctrine des Moeurs." Paris, 



• In the estimate now drawn, the inspired writers are of course not taken into 

 account. 



