Regem lupus voravit & vitæ crematus reddidit

The King and the Queen as the central motif, with Death and the Skull in a secondary part. From Atalanta Fugiens.

Matthaus Merian, attributed, for Michael Maier, 1618. Engraving.

Public domain, 1618 printing · Web copy 1400 by 1185 px · Internet Archive, Getty Research Institute copy, leaf 112

What is happening

Michael Maier, 1618 “Regem lupus voravit & vitæ crematus reddidit.” Atalanta Fugiens, Emblema XXIV, page 105, the motto printed over the engraving.

Symbolica, 2026 Maier’s Latin, put into English here: The wolf devoured the king and, burned, gave him back to life.

Key · 2 motifs

The motifs the picture carries, filed by role. The marks on the picture itself come with the entry.

1The King and the Queencentral motif as it reads here: Emblema XXIV
2Death and the Skullsecondary motif

The picture

The wolf over the body of the king, and the burning at the right where he is given back. By eye

Not yet decoded: the motifs are tagged by eye and the readings above are quoted from their sources. The marks on the picture and the sourced notes come with the entry.

Also carrying the King and the Queen

14 works carry it. The 6 where it is the central motif are here. The symbol.

Where the detail is the subject

Death and the Skull

This is in the picture without being what it is about. 6 works in the archive are about it; the 4 closest are below.

In the same series

Atalanta Fugiens, 1618

Record

Source

Internet Archive, Getty Research Institute copy, leaf 112

Rights

Public domain. The book was printed at Oppenheim in 1618 and its author, engraver, printer and publisher have been dead for more than three centuries; the Getty Research Institute's scan of it on the Internet Archive carries no further restriction.

Restoration

None. A 1400 by 1185 pixel web copy made from the source file; nothing retouched, nothing upscaled.

Series

Atalanta Fugiens, 1618

Artist

Matthaus Merian, engraver and publisher, 1593 to 1650, to whom the fifty plates of Atalanta Fugiens are attributed by tradition rather than by signature

Titled here

Regem lupus voravit & vitæ crematus reddidit. Internet Archive catalogues it as: Emblema XXIV, from Atalanta Fugiens, page 105

Checked

the Science History Institute's catalogue of the same 1618 Oppenheim printing, 4 September 2026: Maier as author, de Bry as publisher, Galler as printer, Merian as engraver, and Public Domain Mark. The engraving is attributed to Merian by tradition and is not signed. The image here is from the Getty Research Institute's scan of the same edition on the Internet Archive; the leaf is named in the source line. Not seen in the hand.

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One symbol a week, decoded.

This picture is free at full size from its source, linked above. What an address gets is the Sunday letter: one picture, one symbol marked on it, what it meant and who said so, and the master files of the decoded plates as they are verified. Leave any time.

Cite

Symbolica, “Regem lupus voravit & vitæ crematus reddidit”, Matthaus Merian, attributed, for Michael Maier, 1618. thesymbolica.com/work/regem-lupus-voravit-vit-crematus-reddidit/