‘Col senno e con la mano’: Eyes, Reason and Hand in Symbolic Transmission

Some of the most famous ‘predicable concepts’ of the creators of emblems are linked to motifs of the ‘mind’ and ‘rationality’ of man, as well as to a certain number of Personified Virtues, such as Prudence, Wisdom, Discernment, Foresight and Providence, for which the eyes and the hand have become concrete elements of figurative representation. We are speaking about the Italian motto ‘Col senno e con la mano’, which appears in an emblem printed by Diego de Saavedra Fajardo in his Idea de un Principe politico christiano representada en cien empresas (princeps Munich: Nikolaus Heinrich, 1640).The image is of an animal with quills, a porcupine, hedgehog or hystrix, held in a gauntleted hand.