author Colonna, Francesco Attributed 1433/34-1527 Italian
Creator
Materials:
paper
WorkMaterialDescript ion
paper
Materials
Techniques:
woodcut (process)
WorkTechniqueDescrip tion
woodcut (process)
Techniques
Measurements:
33.8 x 22.2 cm
WorkMeasurementValue Text
33.8 x 22.2 cm
Measurements
Repository:
New York, NY, USA, Private Collection, New York
WorkRepositoryName
New York, NY, USA, Private Collection, New York
Repository
Category:
Villas
WorkCategory
Villas
Category
Work Type:
Books
WorkTypeDescription
Books
Work Type
Subjects:
Romances; Pleasure gardens; Dreams; Kythera Island (Greece); Topiary; Giants; Green Man; Colossi; Garden sculpture
ReproSubjectDescript ion
Romances; Pleasure gardens; Dreams; Kythera Island (Greece); Topiary; Giants; Green Man; Colossi; Garden sculpture
Subjects
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 acrostic throughout, 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.
WorkNotes
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 acrostic throughout, 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.
Work Notes
Image Notes:
"...they spread out their silken garments neatly on the stone seats that served as dressing-room, tied up their blond hair beautifully in hairnets woven and knotted from gold thread, and unconcernedly let their shapely and delicate bodies be seen entirely naked in every particular, while keeping their virtue: flesh that was peerlessly delicate, mingling roses with seasonable snow. Alas, how my heart was agitated, opening itself up to be filled brimfull with voluptuous joy! I thought myself happy merely to behold such delights, for I certainly could not prevent the ardent fires from leaping up to assault me in my furnace of a heart..."
ReproNotes
"...they spread out their silken garments neatly on the stone seats that served as dressing-room, tied up their blond hair beautifully in hairnets woven and knotted from gold thread, and unconcernedly let their shapely and delicate bodies be seen entirely naked in every particular, while keeping their virtue: flesh that was peerlessly delicate, mingling roses with seasonable snow. Alas, how my heart was agitated, opening itself up to be filled brimfull with voluptuous joy! I thought myself happy merely to behold such delights, for I certainly could not prevent the ardent fires from leaping up to assault me in my furnace of a heart..."
Image Notes
Rights Type:
fair use
ReproRightsDetails
fair use
Rights Type
Hypnerotomachie, ou Discours du Songe de Poliphile
