Note 479 — 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. Dickes says “a lute and two books” (“Magazine of Art,” November, 1891), which of course brings the emblem much closer to Holbein’s representation. Whether the manuscript collection of Alciati’s “Emblems” of 1522 (see above, note 1) contained “two books,” and whether that collection came under the notice of Holbein and his sitters, it is impossible to say; no copy of it being known to exist. But had Mr. Dickes carefully consulted the only version of Alciati’s “Emblems” which had been published up to 1533—namely, that issued by Steyner—he would have seen that the device there consists of a lute only. The two books first appear many years after the picture was painted.