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

Collection: 
Catena-Historic Gardens and Landscapes Archive
Image No.: 
200117
Title: 
Hypnerotomachie, ou Discours du Songe de Poliphile
View: 
[The grand portal at the end of the procession of Cupid and the nymphs]
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; Cupid (Roman deity); Topiary; Colonnades
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: 
"The porticos or vaults were artfully roofed and wonderfully arranged with their straight lines converging, while the circular lines crossed them. Their height was moderate, and all the accessories harmonious. The paved floor was inlaid with marvellous inventiveness and conspicuous skill, both the upper and lower galleries being paved with beautiful stones of various colours, so smoothly fitted as to resemble a single piece, admirable in its mirror-like sheen and its perfect finish. The expert and tasteful architect had decorated the elegantly-worked ceilings with beautiful mosaic scenes in exquisite hues, all having as their subjects as the deeds of Cupid."
Rights Type: 
fair use