Detail View: Catena-Historic Gardens and Landscapes Archive: Hypnerotomachie, ou Discours du Songe de Poliphile

Collection: 
Catena-Historic Gardens and Landscapes Archive
Image No.: 
200126
Title: 
Hypnerotomachie, ou Discours du Songe de Poliphile
View: 
[Polia asks forgiveness of the Temple Priestess, vowing that she now loves Poliphilo]
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; Love; Temples; Repentance; Women priests
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.
Image Notes: 
"Encouraged by the sight of me, he [Poliphilo] made this smoothly eloquent and joyful speech: 'Honourable and holy Lady, if your humble and devoted servants, being devout worshippers of the Paphian goddess, merit a hearing within your sacred audience-chamber and tribunal, may my heartfelt prayers and earnest supplications be heard by you today, O most pious Lady, as they are offered in confidence of your favour, O noble Priestess of the Temple. For I believe you to be the last refuge in this amorous enterprise, and the most effective charms, cure, and true remedy for my bitter afflictions."
Rights Type: 
fair use