in ictu oculi
{{Short description|Latin phrase}}
{{italic title}}
File:Valdes Leal - In Ictu Oculi.jpg, a vanitas by Juan de Valdés Leal for the Hospital de la Caridad (Seville).]]
The phrase in ictu oculi is a Latin expression meaning "in the blink of an eye". One source is from the Bible, in 1 Corinthians 15:52: "In momento, in ictu oculi, in novissima tuba", translated in the KJV as "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:"[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20corinthians%2015:52&version=KJV 1 Cor. 15:52, King James Version]. Bible Gateway. where the Latin is itself a translation of the original Koine Greek phrase {{lang|grc|ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ}} (en rhipēi ophthalmou).[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20corinthians%2015:52&version=SBLGNT 1 Cor. 15:52, SBL Greek New Testament]. Bible Gateway. The phrase was used by Henry of Huntingdon on the rapid submission to the coronation of Stephen of England in 1135: Sine mora, sine labore, quasi in ictu oculi.{{cite book
|title=Chronica magistri Rogeri de Houedene Roger (of Hoveden)
|url=https://archive.org/details/chronicamagistri04roge
|author1=Roger, of Hoveden
|author2=Stubbs, William
|page=[https://archive.org/details/chronicamagistri04roge/page/256 256]
|year=1868
|publisher=Longman
|location=London
|oclc=1925703
|quote=Hoc vero signum malum fuit, quod tarn reponte omnis Anglia sine mora, sine labore, quasi in ictu oculi ei subjecta est.}}{{cite book
|title=L'Anjou de 1109 à 1151: Foulque de Jérusalem et Geoffroi Plantegenêt
|first=Josèphe
|last=Chartrou-Charbonnel
|year=1928
|publisher=Presses universitaires de France
|location=Paris
|oclc=489975802
|quote=Henri de Huntingdon ... indique que l'Angleterre se soumit très rapidement « sine mora, sine labore, quasi in ictu oculi ».}} It also appears as part of the text to a motet by Antoine Busnois entitled "Gaude celestis Domina".{{cite web
|url=http://pro.spidergraphics.com/ccs2/doc/OrlandoConsort_SongTexts.pdf
|title="The Ambassadors", Texts and English Translations
|publisher=The Orlando Consort
|page=1
|accessdate=2012-05-26
|archive-date=2016-03-04
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304125510/http://pro.spidergraphics.com/ccs2/doc/OrlandoConsort_SongTexts.pdf
|url-status=dead
}}
The most notable use of the phrase in an English text is that by John Donne: which shall be found alive upon the earth, we say there shall be a sudden death, and a sudden resurrection; In raptu, in transitu, in ictu oculi, where Donne gives an English-Latin paraphrase on the original context in 1 Corinthians 15.{{cite book
|title=The Sermons of John Donne
|first1=John
|last1=Donne
|first2=George R.
|last2=Potter
|first3=Evelyn M.
|last3=Simpson
|volume=2
|orig-year=1953
|year=1984
|publisher=University of California Press
|page=73}}{{cite book
|title=The Works of John Donne: With a Memoir of His Life
|url=https://archive.org/details/worksjohndonned00alfogoog
|first1=John
|last1=Donne
|first2=Henry
|last2=Alford
|year=1839
|publisher=Parker
|location=London
|page=[https://archive.org/details/worksjohndonned00alfogoog/page/n343 336]}}
Works of art
More than the original context of the phrase itself, the Latin may be better known as the title of a painting by Juan de Valdés Leal (4 May 1622 – 1690). This painting, an allegory of death (c.1671), is one of two large still life{{cite book
|first=Ann Sutherland
|last=Harris
|title=Seventeenth-Century Art & Architecture
|year=2005
|publisher=Pearson Prentice Hall
|location=Upper Saddle River, N.J.
|page=240
|isbn=978-0-131-45577-1
|quote=Valdes Leal's canvases are still-lives but on such a large scale – more than {{convert|7|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} high – that they transcend that genre to become religious paintings. The skeleton in one canvas – In Ictu Oculi – is the sole actor amid ...}} allegorical vanitas paintings, {{convert|2.2|m}} high, by Valdés Leal, painted for the Charity Hospital of Seville.{{cite book
|title=Encyclopedia of painting
|editor1-first=Shirley D.
|editor1-last=Myers
|editor2-first=Bernard Samuel
|editor2-last=Myers
|year=1979
|publisher=Crown Publishers
|location=New York
|isbn=978-0-517-53880-7
|quote=Contrary to this, of course, is the tighter technique of the allegories, Finis Gloriae Mundi and In Ictu Oculi, painted for the Charity Hospital of Seville, where Murillo (see) was also at work. These pictorial horrors exemplify the ...
|url-access=registration
|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpa00myer
}} The central character is a skeleton; on the floor lies an open coffin and symbols of wealth and power.{{cite book
|title=Schools and Masters of Painting
|first=Alida Graveraet
|last=Radcliffe
|year=1909
|publisher=D. Appleton and Company
|location=New York
|oclc=12879829
|quote=Round the flame of the taper are the words, 'in ictu oculi.' On the floor is an open coffin, ...}} The skeleton extinguishes a candle which represents life, and above the taper is written the Latin motto.{{cite book
|title=A Record of Spanish Painting
|first=Catherine Gasquoine
|last=Hartley
|year=1904
|publisher=Walter Scott Publishing Company
|location=London
|oclc=1114969
|quote=Circling the gleaming light of the taper are the words "In Ictu Oculi," while an open coffin rests upon the ground, ...}}{{cite book
|title=Gender and disorder in early modern Seville
|first=Mary Elizabeth
|last=Perry
|year=1990
|page=164
|publisher=Princeton University Press
|location=Princeton, N.J.
|isbn=978-0-691-00854-7
|quote=In Ictu Oculi (fig. 16), by the same artist, presents death as a skeleton standing over symbols of wealth and power and extinguishing a candle that symbolizes life.}} A volume of Rubens' designs for Antwerp's triumphal arches for the 1634 reception of the new Spanish governor, Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, stands as a symbol of political disillusionment.{{cite book
|title=The road to Rocroi: class, culture and command in the Spanish Army
|first=Fernando
|last=González de León
|year=2009
|publisher=Brill
|location=Leiden-Boston, The Netherlands
|page=[https://archive.org/details/roadtorocroiclas15671659lenf/page/n361 345]
|isbn=978-9-004-17082-7
|quote=... chilling canvas In Ictu Oculi (1671) in which a volume of Rubens' designs for the Cardinal-Infante's triumphal arches stands as a symbol of political disillusionment, ...}} The other painting of the pair is Finis Gloriae Mundi, "End of worldly glory," which depicts a dead bishop and a knight.{{cite book
|first=Andy
|last=Symington
|title=Andalucía
|year=2004
|page=79
|publisher=Footprint
|location=Bath
|isbn=978-1-906-09851-3
|quote=The inscription In Ictu Oculi translates as 'in the blink of an eye'. Opposite this is an even more challenging painting entitled Finis Gloriae Mundi ('the end of wordly glory'). It depicts a crypt in which a dead bishop and knight are ...}}
The painting is a reflection of the vanitas concept in Spanish music of the same period, as illustrated in in ictu oculi. Música española del siglo XVII, a recording by the Spanish early music ensemble Los Músicos de Su Alteza in 2002.{{cite web|url=http://www.losmusicosdesualteza.com |title=Website of group Los Mvsicos de Sv Alteza in Spanish |publisher=Losmusicosdesualteza.com |date= |accessdate=2013-12-19}} The name has also been used for a painting by Diango Hernandez (born 1970) in 2004.{{cite web
|url=http://www.diango.net/blog/
|title=Diango Hernandez CV, Biography
|accessdate=2012-05-06
}}{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}