The title of this art project is a misspelling of Cesáre Ripa’s emblem book titled Iconologia which was first published in 1593 and which offers detailed textual descriptions, but no illustrations, of personifications such as Sloth, Folly and Confidence. Later, numerous illustrated editions were printed as the book’s popularity and influence grew. The central image on each page of the booklet represents a personification listed in an illustrated version of Ripa’s Iconologia from 1611. This image is flanked by two images from other emblem books and the remainder are AI images generated from the descriptors of the personifications in the 1709 illustrated English edition which were used as prompts. I used a variety of AI systems, including Midjourney, to see how different systems interpret the same prompt. This booklet forms part of an artists’ book which consists of seven self portraits created through “augmented painting” the combination of AI generated imagery with traditional oil painting techniques.
