Emblem I — The Wind in the Belly

A great striding wind-god carries a small figure curled in his belly, clouds streaming behind — the first emblem of Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens, illustrating the old alchemical line, 'the wind carried him in its belly.' Published in 1617 and engraved with cool precision by Matthäus Merian, the book pairs each of its fifty emblems with an epigram and a three-voice fugue, alchemy set to be read, looked at, and sung at once. The image is deliberately strange: birth from air, the embryo of the work borne on the breath of the world. Maier meant it as a riddle, and left the reader to carry it.

Maker

Michael Maier; engraved by Matthäus Merian

Date

1617

Medium of the original

Engraving

Original held by

Published Oppenheim, 1617 · scan: Wikimedia Commons

Credit

Published Oppenheim, 1617 · scan: Wikimedia Commons

Rights

Public domain, verified

Catalogue number

PA-00455