Interpreting the Present Time

Interpreting the Present Time Commentary by David B. Gowler Cite Share Show Bible Passage Read by Ben Quash Emblemata Evangelica ad XII signa codestica (Evangelical Emblems Adapted to the Twelve Celestial Signs) was designed by Hans Bol, engraved by Adriaen Collaert, and published by Aegidius Sadeler. The twelve seasonal landscapes in the series correspond to the signs of the Zodiac. The Emblemata Evangelica seeks to combat idolatry by opening viewers’ ‘spiritual eyes’ to the mysteries of God’s kingdom, with the title plate noting that God created the stars (of the Zodiac), and that Jesus’s teachings call human beings to reject such ‘idolatrous worship’ and to worship ‘the sole Creator of all things’ (Melion & Clifton 2019: 151). This landscape is depicted under the sign of Cancer (22 June–22 July). On the right, with three listeners beside him, Jesus points to the rich man who sits under a tree surveying his vast property—the early harvest being collected in the field; a nearby dovecote and beehives; cattle, chickens, and pigs grazing for food; and a barn being constructed. Below the landscape a (Latin) quatrain—a stanza of four lines—summarizes the message: The immense power of riches leads mortal men to vice, and they build new granaries for the produce of their fields, heedlessly placing all their safety in earthly might. But the man of low condition obtains the harvest and lays up the [heavenly] storehouse. (Trans. Melion & Clifton 2019: 151) The print illustrates Jesus’s admonitions in Luke 12. Warnings against greed and the abundance of possessions (v.15), and about the fate of ‘those who store up treasures for themselves’ (v.21). Exhortations not to worry about what one will eat or wear but to strive for God’s kingdom instead (vv.22–23, 29–31), and to ‘sell your possessions and give alms’ (vv.33–34). And, in the context of the Zodiac, condemnations of those who ‘know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky’ but do not know ‘how to interpret the present time’ (v.56). References Melion, Walter S. and James Clifton. 2019. Through a Glass Darkly: Allegory & Faith in Netherlandish Prints from Lucas van Leyden to Rembrandt (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University)