An emblem from El Triunfo
The lower tier of El Triunfo was profusely decorated with emblems – like this one. The Latin inscription of this emblem is “HAC ITUR AD ASTRA” – “This leads to the stars”. The image shows a female personification of Seville wearing a model of the walled city and the Giralda tower on her head! She is about to ascend a ladder formed of Ferdinand’s sword and sceptre with crowns for rungs. Above is a closed door, which a hand emerging from the clouds is about to open with a key. The emblem represents the city’s conversion to Christianity following Ferdinand’s conquest. 6
Emblems such as this, consisting of an image (pictura) and an inscription (inscriptio), and sometimes also a short verse (subscriptio), were standard elements in the decoration of the ephemeral monuments erected for festivals and celebrations throughout Early Modern Europe. Though their symbolism is often difficult for us to decipher today, to viewers at the time their religious and/or political propagandist message would have been much more familiar, due to the emblem books that became widely available in cheap editions.
Many of the emblems included in the decoration of El Triunfo were etched as illustrations for Torre Farfán’s book by the children of the artists involved. This one is by the 11-year-old Lucas Valdés, son of Juan de Valdés Leal.