User:Marnaj1217/sandbox

In 1603, Cesare Ripa published a book of emblems for the use of artists and artisans who might be called upon to depict allegorical figures. He covered an astonishingly wide variety of fields, and his work was reprinted many times, though the text did not always correlate to the illustration. The book was still being brought up-to-date in the 18th century. The illustrations reveal fixed Eurocentric perceptions of the nature of the "four corners of the world."

Ripa's Europe (illustration, left) is depicted as a woman dressed in fine clothes. she wears a crown while the papal tiara and crowns of kings lie at her feet, indicating her position of power over all the continents. The plentiful cornucopia shows Europe to be a land of abundance and the small temple she holds signifies Christianity. As a continent of great military force, Europe is also accompanied by a horse and an array of weapons.

Africa, by contrast (illustration, below right) wears the elephant headdress (worn by rulers depicted on Hellenistic Bactrian coins) and is accompanied by animals common to Africa such as a lion, the scorpion of the desert sands, and Cleopatra's asps. The abundance and fertility of Africa is symbolized in the cornucopia that she holds. Other personifications of Africa at the time depict her nude, symbolizing the Eurocentric perceptions of Africa as an uncivilized land. While the illustration of Africa in Ripa’s Iconologia is light-skinned, it was also common to illustrate her with dark skin.

Asia (illustration, right), seen by Europe as a continent of exotic spices, silk, and the seat of Religion, wears rich clothing and carries a smoking censer. The continent’s warm climate is represented by the wreath of flowers in her hair. A camel takes its ease beside her.

The Renaissance associated one major river to each of the continents ; Europe is represented by the Danube, Africa and Asia by the Nile and the Ganges respectively, and America is represented by the Rio de la Planta. The Four Rivers theme appears for example in the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in the Piazza Navona in Rome and in the painting The Four Continents by Peter Paul Rubens.