“Quid sit emblema?”: “philosophy images” in 17th century (from theoretical reflection by E. Tesauro to Jesuit practice)

The article con siders theoretical reflexion upon an emblem in the 17 th century in terms of the “Italian” group of academicians, who were discussing compositional feature of “impresa”, also here is considered an emblematic conception of the most eminent thinker of this group - E. Tesauro. Then the article discusses the role of Jesuit Society in emblem books’ propaganda according to both their needs of popularizing their own religious doctrines and the pedagogical aims of teaching students in their schools. A lot of attention is given to the development of so called “philosophy of images” in the 17 th century, which was actively supported by the members of Jesuit Society, such as C.-F. Menestrier and J. Masen, whose treatise is discussed from emblematics’ point of view.