An extensive thematic spectrum of emblem books that marked the artistic field from the 16th to the 18th centuries consequently demanded an iconographically diverse selection of motifs collected in this sort of works. Emblematic images expressing the ideas of memento mori and vanitas often feature members of the animal world. Their symbolic meanings were shaped by texts of various types, which dealt with the natural behavior of animals and often attributed imaginary components to it. One of the animal groups that can embody the idea of mortality, decomposition and doom in emblems and in art in general are insects. The emblematic examples that share the criteria of selecting emblems from a specific time period, referring to the themes of memento mori and vanitas, and the presence of the caterpillar, butterfly, fly and beetle, will serve as a base for explanation of their symbolic meanings in emblematics. Within its scope, the symbolic role of the four selected insects is represented both on a collective level, where the insects in the emblematic image together convey a fundamental message about the inevitability of death and the transience of physical existence, as well as on the individual level. The latter reveals a narrower, more specific symbolic meaning of each individual insect relating to themes of this sort.
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