Moral Emblems: The World is a Garden

Engraving, part of a set of 20 moral emblems, each designated by a letter of the alphabet. The set was designed by Jean Delaune and engraved by his father, Étienne Delaune, in 1580. It explores the theme of vanity in mundane things, denouncing the artifices of the world (beauty, pleasure, luxury...), and praising virtue. This print represents the male philosopher laying on the ground in the first plane, reclining on a tree and holding a book in his right hand, while pointing with his arm to the garden of a palace behind him, above which flies death, represented by a skeleton inside a ring of clouds, in the top right corner of the print. The subject of the print proposes a reflection on the brevity of life and the life of the mundane goods, represented by the flowers in the garden. It is likely that the garden in the print is meant to represent the kingdom of France, which is destined to disappear, like all other empires.