Two illustrations by Maria Clara Eimmart in albums of friends

The article is devoted to the analysis of drawings by the artist and scientist from Nuremberg Maria Clara Eimmart. The drawings were made in 1693 and 1695 in gouache and pastel techniques, were dedicated to the Swiss scientist Johann Jacob Scheuchzer and diplomat Hans Wilpert Zoller in their personal socalled “albums of friends” (Album amicorum). The article examines the context and circumstances of the appearance of the drawings, their connection with the scientific activity of Maria Clara, carried out at the Nuremberg observatory. Also, the connection of Eimmart’s drawings with the genre of emblem and such a phenomenon as “emblematic thinking” is considered. In this regard, the motto of the drawing, written in Latin in Scheuchzer’s album, is interesting and important. According to the author, the motto was made by Maria Clara herself. It is executed in the size (in violation of the laws of Latin versification) of an elegiac distich, and was not commissioned from a professional poet. The article also suggests that the drawing of Saint Margaret in Zoller’s album is a self-portrait of Maria Clara Eimmart herself.