Moral Emblems: The Pleasures of the World

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 a male philosopher, on the left, looking at a vision of hell, with long, undulating flames, and three demon heads, on the opposite side of the print. In the center, an aristocratic couple, dressed in fashionable clothes, walk towards hell, apparently without noticing it. They are preceded by a violinist wearing a jester hat, and followed by another jester and a dward, who carries the train of the woman's dress. In the background, a group of people walk on a frozen lake, one of them slipping and falling. The fragility of ice, which can easily melt into water, represents the ephemeral character of the pleasures of the world. The presence of ice also insists on the dangers of dedicating oneself exclusively to the mundane pleasures: a person slipping on the ice and breaking it, while the couple walks blindly towards hell, the smoke of its flames already surrounding them.