VEEN, Otto van
(b. 1556, Leiden, d. 1629, Brussel)

Emblem

1607
Engraving
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague

Diligent males studying at night or in early morning appear in seventeenth-century emblems, such as that shown here. It is from "Quinti Horatii Flacci emblemata," published in 1607 in Antwerp. The image contrasts a virtuous, attentive man with his sleepy counterpart, whose torpor has been induced by dissipation .