Note 478 — Chapter II · The Lutheran Hymn-Book—The Book of Arithmetic—The Geometrical Instruments—The Mosaic Pavement—The Lute—The Seven Liberal Arts—The Silver Crucifix—Occult Science—Conclusion

Mr. W. Fred. Dickes was the first to point out the probable connection between the lute in Holbein’s picture and this emblem (“Magazine of Art,” November, 1891). The plausibility of the suggestion is happily not invalidated by the fact that Mr. Dickes unfortunately failed to notice the broken string—a circumstance which, on Alciati’s own showing (see the poem cited in the text), exactly reverses the significance of the symbol. This oversight naturally led Mr. Dickes to a wholly fallacious interpretation of the emblem. Had that gentleman read Alciati’s explanation of the device in question, he could not have been so misled.