|
Collection:
|
Catena-Historic Gardens and Landscapes Archive
|
|
Image No.:
|
200093
|
|
Title:
|
Hypnerotomachie, ou Discours du Songe de Poliphile
|
|
View:
|
[The first triumph]
|
|
Dates:
|
1561
|
|
Location:
|
Europe--France--Ile-de-France--Paris
|
|
Location Type:
|
Creation
|
|
Culture:
|
French
|
|
Period:
|
Renaissance
|
|
Creator:
|
author
Colonna, Francesco
Attributed
1433/34-1527
Italian
|
|
Materials:
|
paper
|
|
Techniques:
|
woodcut (process)
|
|
Measurements:
|
33.8 x 22.2 cm
|
|
Repository:
|
New York, NY, USA, Private Collection, New York
|
|
Category:
|
Villas
|
|
Work Type:
|
Books
|
|
Subjects:
|
Romances; Pleasure gardens; Dreams; Triumphs; Europa (Greek mythology); Processions; Centaurs; Nymphs; Bulls; Virgins; Vulcan (Roman deity)
|
|
Work Notes:
|
Collation: a6 A-Bb6 Cc8 = 164 ff., complete. With engraved woodcut title-page and 181 woodcuts illustrating the text, of which 13 are full-page, several crible initials in preliminary text, large 9-line floriated arabesque initials forming an acrosticthroughout, Kerver's unicorn device (Renouard 515) on verso of final leaf. Folio, 338 x 222 mm, bound in nineteenth-century calf, marbled endpapers.
A superb French Edition of the most famous illustrated book of the Renaissance. A large number of these magnificent illustrations are dedicated to gardens. The designer of the original 1499 Aldus woodcuts remains unidentified although speculation has included artists such as Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini. Nor has the author of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili been identified with certainty. It was probably written by Francesco Colonna, a Dominican from Treviso, in Latin about 1445. Its two main themes are the allegorical dream-journey of Poliphilus in search of his love Polia, and the praise of Antique art and culture.
|
|
Image Notes:
|
"Beneath the triumphal six-yoked chariot was the axle, fixed to the centres of the turning wheels which had baluster-shaped spokes that tapered from the axle and finished with a pommel at the circumference. The pole was of fine,heavy gold, resistant to corrosive rust and to fiery Vulcan, but a deadly venom to virtue and peace. The revellers celebrated by leaping up and making a rapid, controlled spin, and with solemn acclamations. Their garments were secured by flying ribbons. And the nymphs sitting on the centaurs sang with high exaltation in amorous praise of the sacred event and the divine mystery, with harmonious voices and prophetic songs."
|
|
Rights Type:
|
fair use
|