Saturday, April 7, 2012

Hendrick Hondius... POST FUNERA VITA: AFTER BURIAL, LIFE..1690



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Monograms of deceased artists on pyramids: AD (Albrecht Dürer) L (Lucas van Leyden)  MVH (Maarten van Heemskerk) AG (Heinrich Aldegrever) HS (Hans Schäufelein)


POST FUNERA VITA
Pallida Mors omnes petit.  huic parere necesse est.
     Non Color hic ullus, non juvat ullus Honos.
Qui bene vixerunt, horum est POST FUNERA VITA :
     Qui bene pinxerunt vivere Morte puta.
Ad vivum pictis tabulas nova vita paratur.
     Post mortem ut possit vivere quisque parent.

Translation:

Pale death1 attacks all.  We have to obey it.  No colour or honour is of any help here.  For those who have lived well, there is life after burial. [As for] those who have painted well, consider that they live in death.  A new life is set out in lifelike paintings2: let each set out to be able to live after death.

1.     “pallida mors”: the phrase is from Horace, Odes 1.4.13.
2.    Reading "tabulis" for "tabula".
 
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