The Emblems of the Oso and Cántaro Bibles

In 1569, Casiodoro de Reina translated and published for the first time a complete Bible in the Spanish language, to this day it is called the Biblia del Oso. Shortly thereafter, in 1602, his pupil, Cipriano de Valera, revised Reina’s translation and published the Biblia del Cántaro. These Bibles draw their names, Oso (Bear) and Cántaro (Pitcher), from their cover images. To describe them simply, the first features a bear eating honey from a tree after a mallet had opened the tree’s side. The latter features two men tending to a planted tree, with one of them pouring water from a pitcher. The artistic detail of both covers are fascinating and are illustrative of the art of the 16^th century. However, like any form of art, these renditions have sparked debate as to what they actually mean – if they mean anything at all.

Could these cover images contain any theological symbolism? Are they merely a printer’s trademark or pictorial signature? Or could they tell us a story about some of the events of the protestant reformation in the 16^th century? After careful study and consideration of their shared iconic elements, compositional structure, and placement of biblical citations, it is difficult to not conclude that all of these may be true to a certain extent. Let us consider, firstly, the emblem of the Biblia del Oso.

The Biblia del Oso

To provide a more detailed description: the image is that of a leafy tree with a straight vertical orientation that has been torn up. The tree, stationed in the middle, divides the image from left and right. In the top right corner, there are three doves, in the middle right, some bees, and at the bottom right, a Bible and the Hebrew tetragrammaton (YHWH). At the bottom left, on the other side of the tree, a bear is standing on its hind legs eating honey from a hive, while at the top left, there is a mallet hanging with a rope from one of the tree’s branches, believed to have hit the tree and causing the honey to ooze out from the hive. On this side of the tree there are a few insects, such as flies and a spider hanging from its web. And at the bottom of the emblem there is the text of Isaiah 40:8 in both Hebrew and Spanish, “the word of our God will stand forever.”

While it is true that art can render diverse opinions from its observers, the true meaning behind the artistic rendition is never lost, that is, the intended meaning of the artist. It is simply a matter of discovering it. In regards to the Biblia del Oso, scholar Gordon A. Kinder, who specialized on Casiodoro de Reina and the Spanish protestant reformation, wrote in favour of a more modest interpretation of the emblem, relating in particular to the printer’s coat of arms, stating:

…the title-page of the finished Bible carries the device of Samuel Biener (Apiarius)… His device was a bear trying to get at a bees’ nest in a tree, with bees flying all round. The bear represents Berne, and the bees are a pun on his German name, Biener. So we can suppose that Reina’s Bible was set up by Apiarius for Guarin, either in Guarin’s workshop or in Apiarius’s own. This is to some extent conjecture, since neither the name of the printer, compositor, nor translator appears on the Bibles (no doubt this was to facilitate their entry into Spain). Apiarius’s device gives the Bible its distinguishing name “Biblia del Oso”.[1]

While Kinder’s interpretation is plausible, and I have yet to find a persuasive argument against it, it fails to explain all the iconic elements of the Bible’s emblem. What about the mallet? The hive? The honey? It could be said that Kinder provides an over-simplification of the Biblia del Oso’s imagery, an understanding that is far too narrow. However, another scholar, J.C. Nieto, suggests a far more comprehensive, more symbolic interpretation.[2] According to Nieto, the tree can be perceived as the Roman Catholic Church, while the hive as the word of God. This would then mean that the Catholic Church had held captive the word of God from the mass populace. As for the mallet, for Reina, it would have been both the power of the word of God and Martin Luther’s blow to the Church with the protestant reformation. As for the bees, as it relates to the hive and its honey, it can be said that just as the word of God is sweet for the soul, what accompanies all who taste it is also the sting of persecution that follows. As for the bear, Nieto reiterates Kinder’s interpretation.

There are, of course, other interpretations which are a bit more elaborate and speculative, such as that of Raymond S. Rosales, who states that the bees are protestant Christians who have tasted the honey, the saving word of God (Ps. 19:10). And that the mallet represents anything that obstructs diligent study and the propagation of the biblical text. As for the bear, Rosales claims that it is the tempter, the devil, which cannot eat the book of life as it attempts to eat the honey in an indifferent manner. While the insects and other flying bees are those not bound by the word of God, those who are swayed by every wind and doctrine, fallen to various forms of apostasy.[3] With all due respect for Rosales, his interpretation is nothing more than speculation and conjecture, in contrast to that of Nieto’s interpretation coupled with Kinder’s, which provides a much more grounded, historical interpretation. Of the two, Rosales and Nieto/Kinder, I would argue for the latter as the correct interpretation and understanding of the Biblia del Oso’s emblem. This is, perhaps, as close as we will get to the artist’s originally intended meaning.

The Biblia del Cántaro

Unlike the Biblia del Oso, the emblem of the Biblia del Cántaro is much easier to interpret. Similar to the first, a leafy tree lies at the center with a vertical orientation, dividing the image between left and right. Above the tree, the sun, with the Hebrew tetragrammaton inscribed, shines down, and to the left and the right of the tree there are two male gardeners at work. The man on the left is planting the tree, while the man on the right waters it with a cántaro. The imagery is clearly derived from the words of Paul, who wrote to the Corinthian church that:

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor (1 Cor. 3:6-8).

The interpretation put forward by scholar Maria Dolores Alonso Rey of the Université d’Angers is, to this date, the most definitive. To cite her:

The interpretation appears clear. The two gardeners in the image represents the one who translated the first Bible, Reina, and the one who revised it, Valera. The two are, with their work, humble servants, co-labourers of God, but only He matters and his word remains forever. They plant the Christian in the ground of sacred Scripture, but it is the grace of God which makes him grow in his faith.[4]

If this is true – after all, this is her hypothesis, and there does not appear to be a reason for it not to be true – this would then shine light on the relationship between Reina and Valera. They recognized who they were in the grand scheme of things, they didn’t see themselves as great giants of the reformation, nothing of theirs which has survived to this day would have given that impression. Instead, they saw themselves as humble servants, each doing their part to advance the truth of God’s word. It’s believed that Reina served as a mentor of sorts to Valera, given their correspondence and their time together in Seville, Spain, when they attended the same underground protestant cell. However, the teacher never seemed to have lorded himself over the student, and the student never believed himself to be greater than his teacher. They both recognized that their salvation, their growth and their contribution to the reformation was the result of the grace of God alone for the glory of God alone.

The Use of Garden Imagery

Perhaps what I find most fascinating about the two emblems of the Biblia del Oso and the Biblia del Cántaro is their use of garden imagery. In the Bible, some of the most significant events pertaining to the redemptive narrative occurred in gardens. In the Garden of Eden, our first parents were created in God’s image and given dominion over a good and perfect creation (Gen. 1:28-31). In that same garden, where man walked with God and enjoyed his fellowship, they also sinned against Him and brought the curse and effects of sin over all of creation. The portrait of goodness and paradisal perfection turns into a portrait of corruption and fallenness. Ever since then, creation has given the appearance as in need of redemption from its fallen state (Rom. 8:20-22). Later in the first century AD, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prays to the Father pleading for the protection and unity of his followers (John 17:15-23) while affirming his commitment to carry out the Father’s plan of redemption. Three days after his crucifixion, his resurrection takes place in a tomb situated in a garden (John 19:41-42), he is even mistaken for a gardener when he first appears (John 20:15). Thus far I have mentioned three gardens, but there is a fourth, one yet to be realized, paradise restored. In the first garden, paradise was lost as a result of man’s sin, in the second garden, God sent his Son to save and restore man from his sin and to redeem all of creation, in the third garden, the redemptive work of the Son bears first fruit, victory over death. But there is a fourth, through the redemptive work of the Son, all of creation will be renewed, paradise shall be wholly restored (Rev. 21). This is every Christian’s hope, the consummation and renewal of all things.

While the common link between these four gardens is certainly the redemptive narrative, from Creation, Fall, Redemption to Restoration, perhaps most notable and relevant to the two Spanish Bible’s emblems is the tree of life. The tree of life in the first garden permitted man to live forever (it was a literal tree), in the second and third gardens, the tree of life is the Lord Jesus Christ, the giver of life, and in the fourth garden the tree of life is again mentioned, by which its leaves will heal the nations. It goes without saying that the tree of life alludes to the Son, from the beginning in the first garden, to the end in the fourth. It should be of no wonder then that Reina and Valera both used a tree and garden imagery in their Bible’s emblems, they would have seen how prominent and theologically significant the usage of these images were, and they would have wanted to echo the good news of Jesus Christ as Lord, Saviour and life-giver.