PHILOSOPHIA PRACTICA
Philosophia Practica is a 1624 emblem book printed in Frankfurt, made by Jakob von Zetter and offered as a moral guide for a general readership. Its small engravings each pair a biblical or classical scene with Latin captions, and they show crowded outdoor and courtly scenes with horses, chariots, and figures in period dress, with labelled characters. A designer could draw on their dense, finely hatched linework and their habit of setting a narrative tableau under a short motto.
