A Narrative of the Life of the Mind: The Engravings of Bacon¿¿¿s Sylva Sylvarum

Undergraduate: William Yoder

Faculty Advisor: Tatiana String
Department: English & Comparative Literature

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This abstract is for a presentation intended for the "Arts in England" Panel:

Francis Bacon¿¿¿s Sylva Sylvarum consists of a collection of one thousand philosophical arguments and small scientific experimentations that cover, as the Latinate title so eloquently describes, "a miscellany of topics." The first edition of Sylva Sylvarum was published with two engravings after Bacon¿¿¿s death in 1627. The frontispiece of the book shows an engraved portrait of Francis Bacon, and the title page displays an inscribed globe that sits atop a cartouche and is framed by a pair of columns, the sun¿¿¿s rays, and the Tetragrammaton. The author portrait and title page of Francis Bacon¿¿¿s Sylva Sylvarum are reflective of both the author and the work to which they are attached. Furthermore, the engravings seek to establish Bacon, even after his death, as a giant of both the intellectual world and the Jacobean court. The pair of engravings ultimately work in congress to establish a visual image of the complexity of Francis Bacon¿¿¿s political and intellectual persona, as the frontispiece portrait wraps a cerebral portrait of the author in his political status and heraldry, and the title page encapsulates his ideas regarding knowledge and the life of the mind through its emblems and inscriptions.