Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0006115, Wed, 8 Aug 2001 07:08:22 -0700

Subject
Re: reference to a "van Veen" (fwd)
Date
Body
From: sam schuman <schumans@mrs.umn.edu>


>What this Renaissance engraver has to do with the fictional character, I
>don't know, but, obviously, it is worth noting that he was working on a
>treatise.

The most obvious connection is that van Veen's major work was "Amorum
Emblemata," emblems of love, published in Antwerp in 1608. These emblems
themselves are interesting: appearing in a gem-like oval frame, rather
than the more traditional square, blockish form. Also unusually, the
pictures and the verses are on facing pages rather than the same page.
Cupid appears in most of van Veen's pictures. The 1608 printing was
trilingual, and not without some influence on Jacobean English poetry and
drama.

Sam

Samuel Schuman
Chancellor
The University of Minnesota, Morris
Morris, MN 56267
schumans@mrs.umn.edu
320-589-6020