One of the great strengths of Jeanneret's work is the fusion of pictorial and verbal imagery. The author has a gift for selecting artwork which reflects the verbal imagery of writers of the same period. Hence, Leonardo's sketch of a horse, a lion, and a human head conveying a similar look of aggression corresponds to Montaigne's recording of related inclinations in animals and humans. Leonardo's sketch of a hurricane descending on horsemen and trees or Rabelais's storm in the Quart Livre are just two examples. Chaos plays a colorful role in humanist literature, and is depicted as the whore who seeks to produce offspring in the work of Leone Ebreo.
Chaos represents matter's desire for form.
The protestant Du Bartas is more explicit in in defining God's unique, original role in shaping matter. The context of the religious wars in France gave rise to the negative image of chaos, where order gives way to unruliness. The humanists latch on to Ficino's concept, expressed in his commentary on Plato's Symposium, that love impresses on the elements a desire for form. Montaigne turns inward to find chaos not in decaying architectural forms but in the unformed thoughts springing from his leisure time during his retirement from public life. He clearly saw the role of writing in helping to explore the unconscious.