Hypnerotomachia Poliphili  

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"There is, perhaps, no volume where the exuberant vigour of that age is more clearly shown, or where the objects for which that age was impassioned are more glowingly described."--quoted in Cundall


"The finest example of Italian wood-engraving before it reached its highest perfection in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, or Dream of Poliphilo, is a volume which contains the epistles of St. Jerome, and a description of cloistral life. This is adorned with a large number of small woodcuts of simple beauty, marked by grace and feeling, and full of reminiscences of moods and sentiments which have long ceased to hold a place in human hearts."--A History of Wood-engraving (1883) by George Edward Woodberry

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Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (in English Poliphilo's Strife of Love in a Dream, from Greek hypnos, ‘sleep’, eros, ‘love’, and mache, ‘fight’) is a romance by Francesco Colonna and a famous example of early printing. First published in Venice, 1499, in an elegant page layout, with refined woodcut illustrations in an Early Renaissance style, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili presents a mysterious arcane allegory in which Poliphilo pursues his love Polia through a dreamlike landscape, and is at last reconciled with her by the Fountain of Venus. One of the hundreds of illustrations to the book shows Leda and the Swan having intercourse on top of a triumphal car watched by a crowd[1].

The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili is also tangentially considered to be a work of architecture theory, because of its many rhapsodic comments about architecture.

Contents

History

The book was printed by Aldus Manutius in Venice in December 1499. The book is anonymous, but an acrostic formed by the first, elaborately decorated letter in each chapter in the original Italian reads POLIAM FRATER FRANCISCVS COLVMNA PERAMAVIT, "Brother Francesco Colonna dearly loved Polia." However, the book has also been attributed to Leon Battista Alberti by several scholars, and earlier, to Lorenzo de Medici. The latest contribution in this respect was the attribution to Aldus Manutius, and arguably, a Francesco Colonna, a wealthy Roman Governor. The author of the illustrations is even less certain, but contemporary opinion gives the work to Benedetto Bordon.

The subject matter lies within the tradition of the genre of Romance within the conventions of courtly love, which still provided engaging thematic matter for Quattrocento aristocrats.

The text of the book is written in a bizarre Latinate Italian, full of words coined based on Latin and Greek roots without explanation. The book, however, also includes words from the Italian language, as well as illustrations including Arabic and Hebrew words; Colonna also invented new languages when the ones available to him were inaccurate. (It also contains some uses of Egyptian hieroglyphs, but they are not authentic.) Its story, which is set in 1467, consists of precious and elaborate descriptions of scenes involving the title character, Poliphilo ("Lover of Many Things", from Greek Polú "Many" + Philos "Beloved"), as he wanders a sort of bucolic-classical dreamland in search of his love Polia ("Many Things"). The author's style is elaborately descriptive and unsparing in its use of superlatives.

The book has long been sought after as one of the most beautiful incunabula ever printed. The typography is famous for its quality and clarity, in a roman typeface cut by Francesco Griffo, which Aldus had first used in February 1495 for De Aetna of Pietro Bembo, for which reason the typeface was named Bembo when it was revived in 1929 by Stanley Morison.

The book is illustrated with 168 exquisite woodcuts showing the scenery, architectural settings, and some of the characters Poliphilo encounters in his dreams. The illustrations are perhaps the best part of the book; delicate and evocative, they depict scenes from Poliphilo's adventures, or the architectural features over which the text rhapsodizes, in a simultaneously stark and ornate line art style which perfectly integrates with the type. These images are also interesting because they shed light on what people in the Renaissance fancied about the alleged æsthetic qualities of Greek and Roman antiquities.

The psychologist Carl Jung admired the book, believing the dream images presaged his theory of archetypes. The style of the woodcut illustrations had a great influence on late-19th century English illustrators, such as Aubrey Beardsley, Walter Crane and Robert Anning Bell.

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili was partially translated into English in a London edition of 1592 by "R. D.", believed to be Robert Dallington, who gave it the title by which it is best known in English, The Strife of Love in a Dream. A facsimile of this edition can be seen online at the Internet Archive.

The first complete English version was published by Thames & Hudson in 1999, five hundred years after the original. Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, the Strife of Love in a Dream was translated by musicologist Joscelyn Godwin and typeset in Monotype Corporation's typeface "Poliphilus", a re-creation of Griffo's original. A smaller format paperback edition was published in February 2005. However, probably due to the difficulty of the original, the translation is recreated in standard, modern language, rather than following the original's pattern of coining and borrowing words.

Eight of the monuments described in the Hypnerotomachia were reconstructed by computer graphics and published by Esteban A. Cruz in 2006.

Plot summary

The book begins with Poliphilo, who has spent a restless night because his beloved, Polia (literally "Many Things"), shunned him. Poliphilo is transported into a wild forest, where he gets lost, encounters dragons, wolves and maidens and a large variety of architecture, escapes, and falls asleep once more.

He then awakens in a second dream, dreamed within the first. In the dream, he is taken by some nymphs to meet their queen, and there he is asked to declare his love for Polia, which he does. He is then directed by two nymphs to three gates. He chooses the third, and there he discovers his beloved. They are taken by some more nymphs to a temple to be engaged. Along the way they come across five triumphal processions celebrating the union of the lovers. Then they are taken to the island of Cythera by barge, with Cupid as the boatswain; there they see another triumphal procession celebrating their union. The narrative is uninterrupted, and a second voice takes over, as Polia describes his erotomachia from her own point of view.

Poliphilo resumes his narrative after one-fifth of the book. Polia rejects Poliphilo, but Cupid appears to her in a vision and compels her to return and kiss Poliphilo, who has fallen into a deathlike swoon at her feet, back to life. Venus blesses their love, and the lovers are united at last. As Poliphilo is about to take Polia into his arms, Polia vanishes into thin air and Poliphilo wakes up.

Characters in Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Allusions/references from other works

  • The book is briefly mentioned in The Histories of Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532-34) by François Rabelais:  :"Far otherwise did heretofore the sages of Egypt, when they wrote by letters, which they called hieroglyphics, which none understood who were not skilled in the virtue, property, and nature of the things represented by them. Of which Orus Apollon hath in Greek composed two books, and Polyphilus, in his Dream of Love, set down more.." (Book. 1, Ch. 9.)
  • The title and many themes of John Crowley's 1994 novel Love & Sleep (part of his Ægypt series) were derived from the Hypnerotomachia.

See also

love magic, illustrated fiction, unreadability, cult fiction

Linking in as of 2022

15th century in literature, Acrostic, Ægypt, Alberto Pérez-Gómez, Aldus Manutius, Alexander Moosbrugger, Allegory of Prudence, Allegory, Baroque garden, Bembo, Bernard de la Monnoye, Château de Chamarande, Colonna family, Decipherment of ancient Egyptian scripts, Dominican Order, Dumbarton Oaks, Egyptian influence in popular culture, Elephant and Obelisk, Esoteric Nazism, Eustache Le Sueur, Francesco Colonna (writer), François Béroalde de Verville, Gardens of Bomarzo, Giovanni Battista Vaccarini, Giovanni Manardo, Hercynian Forest, Hiberno-Latin, History of engraving, History of erotic depictions, Ian Caldwell, Incunable, Italian Renaissance garden, Kythira, Leda and the Swan, Leon Battista Alberti, Lionel March, List of anonymously published works, List of people from Italy, List of typefaces designed by Frederic Goudy, Love Among the Ruins (Burne-Jones), Macaronic language, Martinengo Altarpiece, Nicola da Urbino, Nile mosaic of Palestrina, Phallic architecture, Pilar Pedraza, Puer mingens, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Ricardo J. Vicent Museros, Robert Dallington, Royal entry, Sacred and Profane Love, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Sleeping Venus (Giorgione), The Club Dumas, The Library (book), The Rule of Four, Thelema, Trionfo, Urination, Venice, Villa Salviatino, Maiano, Woodcut, Young Couple


Full text

Translation by Johann Wilhelm Appell (1829-1896).

Full text of "The dream of Poliphilus. Facsimiles of one hundred and sixty eight woodcuts in the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili," Venice, 1499"

CORNELL

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THE DREAM OF POLIPHILUS.


FACSIMILES OF ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHT WOODCUTS


IN THE


"HYPNEROTOMACHIA POLIPHILI," o^ W - - c

VENICE, 1499.

WITH AN INTRODUCTORY NOTICE, AND DESCRIPTIONS

BY

J W. A P P E L L, PH.D.,

An Assistant Keeper in the South Kensington Museum.


=. > ■ r =>0- i:- i i


RBPBODUCBI) FOR THE DEPARTMENT Of SCIENCE AND ART IN PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY

BY W. GRIGGS.— 1889.


I 9^55




THE BREAM OE POLIPHILUS.


I. The name of Poliphilus sounds agreeable to lovers of old Italian books, and to true connoisseurs of the decorative art of the Renaissance. That extraordinary allegorical and architectural romance* by the art-loving Dominican Fra Francesco Colonna, " Poliphili Hypnerotomachia," is by no means among the rarest of fifteenth century books ; but it has always been highly prized by collectors on account of the numerous spirited woodcuts which adorn it, and of its fine execution in other respects. The enthusiastic Doctor Dibdin, in his Bibliographical Decameron (vol. i. p. 194), calls the Dream of Poliphilus an "enchanting book"; and in the Bibliotheca Spenceriana (vol. iv. p. 163) he says : "Every thing in it conspires to charm the taste- ful collector. . . Ornamental capital initials, arabesque ornaments, classical compositions of figures, designed, and cut in wood, with equal elegance and felicity, a fine round Roman letter, worked in the best manner of the Aldine press — all these embellishments, executed upon paper of a beautiful tint, and fine substance, delight the eye and gratify the judgment of the virtuoso."

The precious first edition of the Hypnerotomachia (The Combat of Love in a Dream)t was printed at Venice by Aldus Manutius in 1499 (in folio), and bears the title — Poliphili Hypnero- tomachia, vbi .hvmana omnia non nisi som.nivm esse ostendit, atque obiter plvrima scitv sane qvam digna commemorat. At the end, Venetiis Mense decembri. M. ID. in aedibus Aldi Manutii. There are 234 leaves, without pagination. The text is divided into two books (signatures a — z, and A — F), the first comprising four-and-twenty, the second only fourteen chapters. Notwithstanding the Latin title, the book is written in Italian, but in a curious and obscure Italian, difficult to be understood, we are told, even by Italians. The foundation of the language is said to be Lombardic Italian, but it is mixed with Latin and Greek words, and has been compared with the " learned phrase " of the Limosin student whom the noble Pantagruel encounters without the gate of Orleans, a comparison, however, which is somewhat exaggerated.]: Presumably the romance was first written in Latin. Leonardo Crasso, of Verona, "artium et juris Pontificis consultus," had it printed at his expense, and dedicated it in a Latin address to Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino.

The book contains 172 woodcuts, some of them occupying the whole page. But it is not known by whom these excellent cuts, which form the most attractive and most valuable feature of the Hypnerotomachia, were designed or engraved ; and we can only say that they belong to the Venetian school. In days less critical than our own, it was even maintained by some that these woodcuts were executed after designs by Raphael, who was not more than sixteen years old when the book was printed, not to speak of other reasons against such an assertion ; by others they were ascribed to Giovanni or Gentile Bellini ; and Andrea Mantegna, Bartolommeo and Benedetto Montagna, father and son, Carpaccio,§ and Giovanni Buonconsiglio, of Vicenza, have all been successively mentioned as the designers. It has also been said that Francesco Colonna himself illustrated his architectural and amorous dreams, although in some instances the illustrations do not altogether agree with his text. More recently, we have heard of a so-called Master of the Dolphins — an unknown artist living at Venice about the end of the fifteenth century, who designed the printer's mark of Aldus the elder, the anchor and dolphin, and who is supposed to have not only illustrated Poliphilus, but a pretty large number of other Venetian books besides. II To M. Eugene Plot is due the discovery of this Master of the Dolphins. Another French art-critic, the late Benjamin Fillon, thinks it possible that some pupil of the Mantuan sculptor and medallist Sperandio, if not Sperandio himself, may have been the illustrator.^ And according to the latest conjecture, as far as we know, '■ the much-admired and much-written-about illustrations to the Hypnerotomachia " are by the Bolognese goldsmith and eno-raver (worker in niello) Peregrini (da Cesena?),** "who must in later life have taken up his abode

  • The art-liistoriau Fiorillo, in his essay on the Hypnerotomachia, calls it "deu architectouisohen Eonian. (Kleine

Schriften, Gottingen, 1803, vol. i. p. 153.) "C'est k bien parler le roman de Tarchitecture," says Eugene Plot, (Le Cabinet de 1' Amateur, 1861-63, p. 362).

t In accordance with the French translators, we call it here— The Dream of Poliphilus.

t " Le fond du laugage est un Italien Lombard. Mais I'auteur y m^le tant de mots eoorchez, les uus du Grec, les autres du Latin, qu'il semble proprement, oomme dit Antoine Augustiu dans son Dialogue XI. des medailles et inscriptions, ne parler auoune langue connue. C'est sans exageration (?) un Italien plus etrange que n'est le Pran9ois de I'ecolier Limosin dans Babelais." La Monnoye, in the Menagiana, Paris, 1715, vol. iv. p. 69.

§ At a London sale in March 1889 an unmutilated copy of the first edition, bought by Mr. Quaritch at the rather high price of eighty pounds, was still described as being illustrated " with the woodcuts after designs by Carpaccio."

II "Le Maitre aux Dauphins." Le Cabinet de 1' Amateur, par Eugene Plot, 1861-63, pp. 352-365.

^ " Le Songe de Poliphile," by Benjamin raion, in the " Gazette des Beaux-Arts," 2nd series, vol. xix. (1879), p. 539, et seq. This article has been re-issued, under the title—" Quelqiies mots sur le Songe de Poliphile," Paris, 1879. 34 pp. in 4to.

    • Passavant, Le Peintre-Graveur, vol. v. p. 205.


in Venice and become associated with Aldus Manutius, Gregorius, and other printers in that active age of typography."* There is no actual proof for any of these assertions, some of which are rather unfortunate ; it has, moreover, been observed that in these woodcuts the hands of two different artists can be traced, the more skilful one showing itself in the larger cuts, especially those of the Second Book.t

A second edition of Poliphilus was issued in 1545 — La Hypnerotomachia di Poliphilo, cio^ pvgna d'amore in sogno. Dov' egli mostra, che tvtte le cose hvmane non sono altro che sogno : &■ done narra molt' altre cose degne di cognitione. Ristampato di novo, et ricorretto con somma diligentia, a maggior commode de i lettori. In Veneha, M.D. xxxxv. At the end, In Vinegia, neW anno M.D. XLV. In casa de' figlivoli di Aldo. (Folio, 234 leaves, without pagination.) The woodcuts are the same as in the first edition, with the exception of a few that have been re-engraved, and are of an inferior execution (Nos. 6, 20, and 21 of our

fac-similes.)

II.

Poliphilus has met with considerable favour among a certain class of readers in France. There are sundry French versions, the first of which was printed in 1 546 — Hypnerotomachie, ov Discours du songe de Poliphile, deduisant comme Amour le combat a I'occasion de Polia. Soubz la fiction de quoy I'aucteur monstrant que toutes choses terrestres ne sent que uanite, traicte de plusieurs matieres profitables, & dignes de memoire. Nouuellement traduict de langage Italien en Francois. A Paris, Pour Jaques Keruer aux deux Cochetz, Rue S. Jaques. M.D.XLVI. At the end of the book, Imprivie povr Jaqves Kerver, marchant libraire iure en Vvniuersite de Paris, par Loys Cyaneus. (Folio. 157 numbered leaves, and 7 leaves without number, including the title-page.) The dedication to the " Conte de Nantheuil le Haudouyn, Messire Henry de Lenoncourt," &c., is subscribed by Jean Martin, the translator of Serlio's first two books on architecture, and other Italian works, who also appears as the author of the interesting address to the reader. But Jean Martin was only the editor of this rather free version, and had at the request of the well-known bookseller Jacques Kerver revised the manuscript. The translator's name is unknown. He is said to have been a French Knight of the Order of Malta — "un gentilhomme vertueux, et de bon savoir."

The French illustrator of this impression is as little known as the Italian artist to whom the woodcuts in the Aldine editions are due. These French cuts have, however, been attributed to Jean Goujon, or Jean Cousin, and also to Etienne Delaulne. Copies in reality of the original illustrations, they differ from them in spirit and character, as well as in some of the details : they are clever and not wanting in vivacity, but cannot be compared with the originals for grace, simplicity, and purity of outline. It has been remarked that the figures are "almost uniformly too tall — a fault, the reverse of that which has been said to attach to those in the Aldine impression ;"§ and the nymphs of the French artist are certainly very unlike the stout and somewhat short Venetian damsels in several woodcuts of the editions of 1499 and 1545.

A second edition of the French Poliphilus, containing the same number of leaves and the same woodcuts, followed in 1554. It was printed for Jacques Kerver by Marin Massellin, with an address to the reader, in Latin, by Jacques Gohory, on the verso of the title-page. A third edition, printed for the same bookseller by Jehan le Blanc, was issued in 1561 ; and a fourth, published by Matthieu Guillemot, and edited by the hermetic philosopher and author of " Le Moyen de parvenir," Francois Beroalde de Verville, made its appearance in 1600, under the title — Le tableau des Riches Inventions couvertes du voile des feintes Amoureuses, qui sent representees dans le Songe de Poliphile, desvoilies des ombres du Songe, et subtilement exposees par Beroalde. A Paris. Chez Matthieu Guillemot, au Palais, en la gallerie des prisonniers. . . . 1600. (In 4to.) This is in effect only a re-print, with slight alterations and some additional matter, of the translation edited by the worthy Jean Martin. The illustrations are likewise the same as in the former impressions, but there is a cabalistic frontispiece, engraved on copper.

Poliphilus was re-introduced to the French reader in a modern translation, or rather paraphrase, by Jacques Guillaume Le Grand, a Parisian architect of some repute, which appeared under the title— Z^ Songe de Poliphile, traduction libre de I'ltalien, par J. G. Le Grand, architecte. Paris (Leblanc), de I'imprimerie de Didot I'aine, 1804. (2 vols. Large i8moj Of this version, the famous Bodoni, of Parma, issued a fine re-print in 181 1 (2 vols, in 4to, without plates), dedicated to Murat's wife, the sister of Napoleon— "S. M. Marie -Annunciade- Caroline, Reine des Deux-Siciles."

A "poor abridgment" of Poliphilus, which preceded Le Grand's version, is mentioned by

Cicognara (Catalogo ragionato dei libri d'arte, vol. i. p. 1 12) and Ebert (Bibliographical Dictionary

English translation, vol. iii. p. 1452)— /,« Amours de Polia ou le songe de Poliphile, traduit

  • " The Artist of the Hypnerotoniaohia Poliphili, 1499," by Mr. William B. Scott, in the "Athenaeum" of March 27th

1880. See also an article, signed P," in the " Athenaeum" of April 10th, same year.

t Il,sr, Ueber den kuusthistorischen Werth der Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Wien, 1872 p. 94,

§ Dibdin, Bibliotheca Speuoeriana, vol. iv. p. 164. '


de I'ltalien. Paris, 1772 (30 pp. in i2.mo) ; but we are not able to state whether this is the extract made by Mirabeau.*

Lately, M. Claudius Popelin, of Paris, has acconjplished the difficult and laborious task of a literal rendering of the entire work. His translation, with an introduction occupying 237 pages, and numerous annotations, was published during the years 1880-83, under the title — Le Songe de Poliphile, ou Hypnirotomachie de Frire Francesco Colonna, litteralement traduit pour la premiere fois, avec une Introduction et des Notes, par Claudius Popelin. Figures sur bois gravies a nouveau par A. Prunaire. Paris, Isidore Liseux. (2 vols, in 8vo.) The woodcuts are skilfully copied from the French edition, in reduced size.

An old English version, neither faithful nor complete, appeared in the Elizabethan days, under the following title — Hypnerotomachia. The Strife of Loue in a Dreame. At London, Printed for Simon Waterson, and are to be sold at his shop, in S. Paules Church-yard, at Cheape-gate. 1592. (104 leaves, in 4to, with woodcuts.) The initials " P.D." are subscribed to the dedication, but there is no notice whatever that the work had before appeared in another language. The concluding chapter contains the Triumph of Vertumnus and Pomona. The woodcuts, copied from the original, are not numerous, and of coarse execution. This English Poliphilus has become extremely scarce, and is not in the British Museum nor in the great libraries on the Continent. A notice of it by E. Hood, with brief extracts, is given in Sir Egerton Brydges and Joseph Haslewood's "British Bibliographer" (vol. iv. pp. 285-289). M. Claudius Popelin, who was so fortunate as to obtain a copy from a London sale, also describes the book in the introduction to his translation of Poliphilus (pp. ccxxxii-ccxxxv.)

III.

The author of the Hypnerotomachia, Era Francesco Colonna, who concealed his name, seems to have been little known to his contemporaries. He was undoubtedly a man of an indefatigable mind, who possessed a considerable store of learning, and made a special study of the books of Vitruvius. Born at Venice about 1433, he became at an early age a friar of the order of St. ] Dominic. F'rom 1455 to 1472 we find him in the convent of the Dominicans at Treviso, teaching rhetoric and languages, and afterwards at the University of Padua. During his last years he lived in the convent of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in his native city, where he died in 1527, being then over ninety years old. It has been suggested that in his younger days he travelled in Greece and in the East. The scenes and buildings which he describes at such great length ' are, however, quite imaginary ; and it assuredly cannot be maintained that he had anywhere seen similar edifices and localities in the course of his travels.

IV. At Treviso, on the first of May in the year 1467, Poliphilus (or rather Polifiio, that is, the lover of Folia) having fallen asleep under the shade of some trees, is visited by his dream — this dream, " fantastic and bizarre beyond all other dreams, and surely much longer than any ordinary dream." He. wanders through wild solitudes, reaching at length a narrow and silent valley where his attention is rivetted by ancient edifices and monuments of amazing dimensions and marvellous construction, diffuse technical descriptions of which, occupying pages upon pages, are given. He beholds pyramids and obelisks, mysterious temples with beautiful gates and columns, altars and fountains, and architectural fragments in profusion. He rambles through crypts filled with sepulchral monuments bearing enigmatic devices (erroneously described as hieroglyphics), epitaphs (whicli read like parodies of ancient inscriptions), and other sculpture. He enters the wonderful palace of the gentle Queen Eleuterylida, who entertains him at a sumptuous feast — which royal feast affords our author an opportunity of describing to his heart's delight the-most magnificent vessels ' and ornaments, some of them resembling those which were actually displayed at the banquets of Italian princes of his day. Afterwards he meets the "high empress of his soul," his golden- haired Polia, but without recognising her for a time. They bomcome to a lovely verdant spot where four splendid triumphal processions, in honour of the great Jupiter and his loves, with centaurs, elephants, unicorns, and panthers, pass before their eyes. Later on, they are con- ducted into the Temple of Venus, and, under the protection of the high priestess, take part in some strange ceremonies ; and finally are carried in Cupid's gay bark, rowed by six fair nymphs, to the island of Cythera. The pleasure-grounds of this enchanted island, their bowers, and even the flower-beds and box-trees dipt into various shapes, as well as the buildings, are lovingly and minutely described. The lovers are now happily united, after having followed as captives the triumphal car of Cupid, and been admitted to the presence of the great goddess of Love (called the " Sancta Venere " and " Diuina Matre.") They also see the Tomb of Adonis at the sacred Fountain of Venus. Here the First Book ends.

  • " Je ne dois oependant pas laisser ignorer que Mirabeau, excellent juge en litterature,,en a fait un trfes court extrait dans

ses Contes et Nouvelles, sous le m^me titre de Songe de Poliphile." Le Grand, in the preface to his version, vol. i. p. 7. Mirabeau's " Eecueil de Contes (et de Nouvelles) " was first published in 1780, 2 parts, in 8vo.


In the Second Book, Polia and Poliphilus, in order to satisfy the curiosity of the nymphs " whose company they are reposing among the flowers at the fountain, relate the adventures o their love. At last, our hero is awakened by the song of the nightingale ; and with a sigh h' realises the truth that his Polia has vanished, and his dream is over.

V.

Polia appears in the visions of Poliphilus as his oracle, the sage interpreter of the mysterie and inscriptions in some of the temples and tombs, "but the mysteries are— as Dunlop remarks- not always the clearer for her interpretation."* Who was Polia ? Was there such a persoi living, or is she but a creature of Francesco Colonna's imagination? The latter seems not un likely ; and we believe that the supreme love of our author was in truth classical antiquity. I has been related that Colonna described under an allegorical disguise his passion for a nun wb died young. Some say her name was Ippolita, and thus derive the fictitious name Folia- Ippolita—Polita— Polia. According to others, her name was Lucretia. She was, we are told, daughter of Francesco Lelio, a patrician and jurisconsult of Treviso, and niece of the bisho] Teodoro Lelio, who took the veil in that city, after having been attacked ^by the plague which actually broke out at Treviso in 1464 and 1466. In the first chapter of the Secon( Book, Polia herself tells the nymphs that her name is Lucretia, giving at the same time a rathe wearisome account of the origin of her native city, and of her ancient and illustrious family. Sh also relates how Poliphilus first saw her in the flower of her age, and instantly fell in love wit, her : she stood on the terrace of her father's palace, whilst her companion combed her goldei hair.t We must, however, not forget to mention that the names of Columna (or Colonna) an( Polia are gathered from the initial letters to the thirty-eight chapters of the romance, which forr the following line,

POLIAM FRATER FRANCISCVS COLVMNA PERAMAVIT. The discovery of this acrostic appears to have been made as early as the year 1512.

VI. Fra Francesco Colonna's art-romance has excited more perplexity than admiration. There an some Italian, French and German writers who speak more or less in commendation of it — th( Venetian architect Tommaso Temanza (Vite dei piii celebri archiletti e scultori Veneziani, vol. i pp. 1-53) ; Domenico Maria Federici (Memorie Trevigiane sulle opere di disegno, vol. i pp. 98-108) ; Vincenzo Marchese (Memorie dei piii insigni pittori, scultori e architetti Domenicani vol. i. pp. 332-346) ;tt Seroux d'Agincourt (Histoire de I'art, vol. i. pt. iii. p. 8y) ; Quatremfen de Quincy (Encyclopedic methodique, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 718); Johann Dominicus Fiorillo, th( art-histonan of Goettingen, and lately, Albert Fig, of Vienna. On the other hand, we fine Francesco Milizia (Memorie degli architetti antichi e moderni, vol. i. p. 179) § anc Tiraboschi among those who take a decidedly unfavourable view of the book. The latter de scribes it as an obscure medley of fable, history, architecture, antiquities, mathematics, and manj other things. " Certain persons," says he, " who admire a work the more the less they understanc it, have fancied that they could perceive in it a full summary of human knowledge." || The well Jmown French writer Bernard de La Monnoye goes so far as to pronounce the Hypnerotomachi; to be the most tedious and the most extravagant species of romance than can be imagined.^ And in later times, probably very few have had courage enough to peruse the whole of thi; intricate work ; the descriptions of the author being incredibly lengthy and monotonous, and hi: allusions to particulars of Greek and Roman mythology and history endless, and mostly ver) forced and pedantic.

But if the Dream of Poliphilus displays little or no merit as a romance, it nevertheless is ; work full of curious details for the architect, and suggestions for the ornamentist ; and it is alsc of great interest as an evidence of the current of thought and feeling in Italy during the fifteentl century ; for it shows in a striking manner the ardent love of classical antiquity which animatec Italian scholars of that age.

  • History of Fiction, 3rd edition, p. 398.

t Charles Nodier has taken the supposed love story of Frauoesoo Colonna as the subject of the last novel which he wrote This novel appeared m the " Bulletin des Amis des Arts " of 1843, and was reprinted in the following year, under the title- " Franoiscus Columna, derni^re nouvelle de Charles Nodier, extraite du Bulletin des amis des arts, et prec^dee d'une notice par Jules Janin." Paris, 1844, in 12mo.

tt English translation, by C. P Meehan, Dublin, 1852, vol. i. pp. 282-294.

§ English translation, by Mrs. E. Cresy, London, 1826, vol. i. p. 201.

II Storia della Poesia Italiana, ripubblioata da T. J. Mathias, Londra, 1803, vol. ii. p. 277.

i "Le souge de Poliphile est une espfeoe de roman le plus ennuieu.x, et le plus extravagant, soit pour la conduite soit poui le style, que I'on puisse imaginer." La Monnoye, in the M^nagiana, vol. iv. p. 69.


A DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF WOODCUTS

IN THE

DREAM OF POLIPHILUS

(" Poliphili Hypnerotomaehia," Venice, 1499.)


The following pages contain brief descriptions of i68 woodcuts in the "Dream of Poliphilus," reproduced by the photo-lithographic process from the first Aldine edition. They have been prepared in order that the fac-similes may not to many appear as a collection of unintelligible and extravagant, though beautiful, designs ; and those readers who may wish to know something more about Colonna's singular romance, are referred to the annotated literal French translation by Claudius Popelin. We have found this translation helpful. We must, however, also acknowledge that we are much indebted to Albert Ilg for the valuable hints he gives in his ingenious treatise on the Hypnerotomaehia, although some of our explanations differ from his.

I.— Poliphilus entering, "with great feare, into a darke obscure and unfrequented wood" (as the old English version of 1592 hath it.) He wears a round skull-cap upon his richly curled head, and has the lower part of his long gown tucked under his right arm.

2. — Poliphilus, who has emerged from the dark wood, is kneeling by the side of a rivulet, and upon the point of refreshing himself from its waters, when his attention is suddenly arrested by a wondrously sweet song.

3. — Poliphilus sleeping under a tree ; in the background wooded hills. This woodcut is marked .b. in the right hand corner at the bottom.

4.- — Poliphilus surrounded by remains of classical antiquity — a richly ornamented fragment of an architrave, a corslet, a Corinthian capital, and the base of a column. Behind Poliphilus, near a group of palm-trees, we see a ferocious wolf which, however, is flying before him. In the foreground, a lizard and some plants.

5. — A huge pyramidic temple, of white Parian marble, with 14 10 steps, dedicated to the Sun ; it is surmounted by a marvellous obelisk of Syenite marble, with a winged female figure at the top, holding a cornucopia in her right hand, and with her robes floating in the air. This figure is made so as to turn with the slightest breeze.

6. — A colossal and large-winged bronze horse, upon a pedestal, with charming little genii climbing upon its back or tumbling down from it.

7 and 8. — The two ends of the pedestal of the bronze horse ; one decorated with a garland of marjoram and ferns, the other with a garland of orpine. The inscriptions are — Deis Ambiguis dedicatus, and Equus infalicitatis.

9. — One of thesides of the pedestal ofthe bronzehorse, with a relief of two-faced youths and nymphs dancing. The front-faces of these dancers are supposed to be laughing, the back ones weeping.

10. — The other side ofthe pedestal. A similar representation. A young man, in the costume of a Roman warrior, crowned with a wreath, distributes flowers among the young couples, which another youth is plucking for him.

II. — Saddle-cloth of the elephant (No. 12), with inscription in Greek and Arabic, meaning — Labour and Industry.

12. — A colossal elephant of black stone, with gold and silver dots. Upon the back of this prodigious animal is placed an obelisk of verde-antique.

13 and 14. — Two sarcophagi, the covers decorated with scales, surmounted by the nude figures of a King and Queen.

15. A cut representing so-called hieroglyphics ; among these devices is a decorated casket of

great elegance.

16. An ancient gate of wonderful construction, which is minutely described in the text. In the

right and left corners of this woodcut are the medallion busts of a man and woman in antique drapery.

17.— The terrified Poliphilus flying before the dragon.

18. — Emblematic devices.

ig. — Architectural frame, part of a marble fountain, with two Corinthian pilasters ; in the tym- pajium, a laurel-crown encircling a vase out of which two birds are drinking. (In the original this" frame encloses a relief representing a sleeping nymph and satyrs.)

20.— Poliphilus meeting five nymphs.

21. — A weather-cock, with a genius blowing a trumpet.

22. — Part ofthe second fountain.

23. The third fountain, with groups of harpies and griffins. The figures of the three Graces


crown the whole. They hold in their hands large cornucopias from which, as well as from their breasts, water is spouting.

24.— Ornament of a frieze, composed of two somewhat full-bodied but gracefully moving genu, dolphins terminating in foliage, vases with masks placed upon them, and two winged angels' heads in the corners ; in the centre, the skull of a sacrificed bull, its horns entwined with laurel-branches.

2 5. —View of a panelled wall in the Queen's palace, with a throne-chair and benches. The panels between the pilasters are tastefully decorated with foliage, encircling medallions withm which the names of the planets are inscribed.

26.— Poliphilus rendering homage to the gentle Queen Eleuterylida, who is seated on her high and magnificent throne ; the ladies of her court are ranged on both sides. Upon the back of the throne are the figures of two naked youths, with their arms resting on their hips, standing in a proud posture, just — remarks llg, in his treatise on the Hypnerotomachia, p. loi — as the artist may have seen courtiers in attendance on a prince.

27. — Medallion in the canopy above the Queen's throne. Within a closely twisted wreath the bust of a youth draped in a chlamys, with a nimbus round his head ; below, an eagle with laurel-branches.

28.— A richly ornamented tripod : it deserves particularly to be noticed for its exquisite beauty and purity of style.

29. — Basin of gold, upon wheels.

30. — Tripod, with three naked boys standing upon a pedestal, supported by lions' feet.

31. — Another splendid vessel, surmounted by a coral -tree. Coral was frequently used in- decorative works of this period.

32. — A large and magnificent vessel of the noblest shape and decoration, with a shrub of gold, and water spouts. It rests upon a single wheel, and is twice as high as the tall nymph who carries it into the festive hall. Albert llg considers this splendid piece to be the flower of all the ornamental designs in Poliphilus.

33. — The triangular obelisk of the mystic Trinity. At the base are three sphinxes, female figures, with horns of plenty, and so-called hieroglyphics.

34. — Cameo, set in an oval frame of pearls, representing Jupiter, with a cornucopia in his right hand, and the flame of lightning in his left. At his feet are the vanquished giants. The god occupies a throne, very much like those upon which the enthroned Virgin is pictured by old Italian masters.

35. — Architectural frame, surrounding an emblematical (so-called hieroglyphic) piece of sculpture. A woman seated upon a stool, stretching out her left leg, and holding in her left hand a tortoise, whilst her right foot is resting on the ground : she holds in her right hand a pair of wings (Velocitatem sedendo, tarditatem tempera surgendoj

36. — Another architectural frame, with an emblematic circular bas-relief, representing two half- length figures of winged genii holding an apple between them. (Medium tenuere beati.)

37. — Poliphilus in a rocky place conducted by two nymphs to the three gates, which are cut in the living rock, with the inscriptions — gloria dei ; mater amoris ; gloria mundi (the inscriptions are also in Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic.)

38. — Poliphilus meeting at the gate the venerable matron, followed by her six young female attendants.

39. — Poliphilus receives the crown and palm-branch, fixed upon a sword, from the hand of another matron, of large frame and severe mien.

40.— Poliphilus among the nymphs ; the flight of Logistica.

41. — Poliphilus embraced by the nymph.

42. — Poliphilus looking through the bower while his mistress Polia is approaching at a distance.

43. — Poliphilus and Polia retreating from the bower.

44. — Triumphal car, ornamented with reliefs. The relief on the right shows Europa and her maidens crowning the herd with flowers.

45. — Relief on the triumphal car. The Rape of Europa.

46. — Reliefs on the front and back of the triumphal car. On the front is represented Cupid shooting at the stars in heaven, to his right and left groups of astonished bystanders. The relief on the back shows a king, with sceptre and crown, upon his throne. This figure is intended for Jupiter. Mars stands before him, and accuses Cupid of having rent his impenetrable cuirass. Jupiter holds in his right hand a tablet, inscribed Nemo, above Cupid's head, thus intimating that there is nobody who can resist the god of love.

47 and 48.— The triumph of Europa— the first of those beautifully designed processions, in honour of the great Jupiter, which form one of the most interesting and splendid features of the Hypnerotomachia. The triumphal car is drawn by six centaurs, their heads crowned with oak- leaves. The first two pairs of these are blowing large bronze horns (cornua) and straight trumpets (tubae) ; the two nearest the car are bearing antique vases. Three nymphs are carried upon the backs of the centaurs, the first of them playing the Greek double flute (diaulos), the second the viola, and the third beating the tambourine. On the top of the car we see the figure of Europa seated upon her bull. There is a joyous crowd of maidens, walking by the side of the car, and carrying laurel-branches, standards, and trophies.


49- — Two reliefs on the car belonging to the Triumph of Leda. To the left, Leda lying-in, waited upon by four female servants. To the right, the two eggs presented to her husband, Tyndareus, King of Sparta, by the waiting-women.

50- — Relief on the same triumphal car. The King and three women offering upon their knees the two eggs in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. From one of the eggs are rising two stars ; from the other a flame — an unmistakeable allusion to the Dioscuri and their sister Helen. Two priests of Apollo are standing on the right. A tablet bears the inscription of the oracle — Uni gratum mare ; Alterum gratum mart.

51.— Reliefs on the front and back of the car belonging to the Triumph of Leda. One represents Cupid tracing with his golden arrow figures of animals upon the vault of heaven, whilst the wondering people are looking up ; the other, the Judgment of Paris.

52 and 53. — The Second Procession. The Triumph of Leda. Six elephants are drawing the triumphal car; and there are again nymphs playing upon musical instruments, and an accompanying crowd. Upon the car we see Leda and the swan.

54- — Reliefs on the car belonging to the Third Procession, the Triumph of Danae. In one compart- ment, Acrisius, the King of Argos and father of Danae, kneeling before the statue of the god of prophecy (Apollo). In the other, the tower in which Danae is to be shut up in course of erection.

55. — Scenes from the story of Perseus. He is seen receiving the mirror from Athena, and also sheathing his sword after having struck off the head of Medusa. In the background is Pegasus, the offspring of Poseidon and the monster.

56. — Three reliefs on the front and back of the triumphal car. The first relief represents Venus and Mars who have just extricated themselves from the net in which they were caugjht by Vulcan. The angry Venus has taken hold of Cupid, and plucked some feathers from his wings. Mercury appears to protect the crying little god against the violence of his mother. The second relief shows Jupiter on his golden throne, and Mercury before him with Cupid, whom the great father of thegodsis comforting. In the third relief we see Cupid darting an arrow at the starry sky, from which drops of gold are raining.

59 and 57. — Third Procession. The Triumph of Danae. The tri-umphal car is drawn by six unicorns.

58. — The first two reliefs on the fourth car (Festival of Bacchus) — Jupiter appearing before Semele as the god of thunder; her child, the new-born Bacchus, put into a bath.

60. — Jupiter commits the infant Bacchus to Mercury. In the same compartment, Mercury is carrying the child to the nymphs of Mount Nyssa in Thrace, who bring him up in a cave.

61. — Venus and Cupid before the tribunal of Jupiter. Psyche, with her lamp in the right hand, is present In another compartment appear Jupiter, as the lord of heaven, and Cupid.

b2. — Relief of a large and precious vase carried upon the fourth triumphal car (Festival of Bacchus.) Jupiter standing upon an altar; a chorus of seven nymphs — the Heliades, who are already changed, more or less, into trees — incline themselves before him.

63. — The second relief of the same triumphal car. A charming vintage scene. A group of little genii are joyously employed in gathering the grapes, around the stout young Bacchus whose head is entwined with two serpents ; others busy themselves about a large vessel.

64 and 65. — The Fourth Procession. (Festival of Bacchus.) The triumphal car is drawn by six panthers ; upon it stands a richly decorated and tall vase (see Nos. 62 and 63), out of which a vine is shooting. Old Silenus on his ass rides behind ; and nude Bacchantic women, their heads adorned with garlands of vine or ivy-leaves, and bearing in their hands thyrsus-staves and trophies, accompany the car.

66. — Triumph of Vertumnus and Pomona. The car is drawn by four satyrs ; Vertumnus, an elderly figure, with flowers in his lap, his left hand raised, as if in the act of blessing, and Pomona, holding a cornucopia in one hand, and a branch of fruit in the other, are seated upon it. A crowd of nymphs is walking alongside the car ; the foremost plays the lyre, the next one blows the tuba; their companions are bearing trophies of fruit and flowers and gardeners' implements ; and two half- nude female figures, girt round their hips with leaves, like savages of the New World, and carrying branches of fruit, bring up the rear.

67 — 70. — Reliefs, in architectural frames, with allegorical representations of the Four Seasons. 67. — Spring. Venus, a draped figure, attended by Cupid. 68. — Summer. Ceres, with a naked boy, holding ears of corn in his hands, at her feet. 69. — ^Autumn. The God of Wine, with a horn of plenty in his right hand, and bunches of grapes in his left, and a ram near him. 70. — Winter, figured as Jupiter Pluvius.

71. — The Worship of Priapus, with nineteen female and five male figures, surrounding the terminal figure of this divinity. In the middle of the foreground is an especially fine group of priestesses, sacrificing an ass. (In the original copies this woodcut, which occupies the entire page, is usually torn, or disfigured by ink.)

72. — Section and ground-plan of the temple, described by Poliphilus — a rotunda, with a cupola, in the style of the early Renaissance.

73. — An elegant piece of ornament. A nude female half-figure, with wings terminating in foliage.

74. — A lamp of globular shape, hung in chains.

75. — Crowning of the lantern in the cupola, with bells.


lO


76.— Scene in the Temple of Venus. A procession of seven virgins, with solemn and measured steps approaching the altar of Love. They carry a lighted taper, a ritual book, sacred vessels, and a mitre, after. the Christian manner. At the altar stand the high priestess, and Poliphilus and Polia, the latter with a lighted torch in her right hand.

77.— The torch of Polia extinguished in the altar, which resembles a fountain with its cover kept open.

78 and 79. — Continuation of the ceremony in the Temple of Venus. In No. 79 are seen two virgins, one of them offering two swans — birds sacred to Venus — the other carry- ing in a basket a pair of doves for sacrifice.

80. — The altar in the Temple of Venus.

81— 85.— Continuation of the ceremony in the Temple of Venus. No. 84 represents the miracle of the roses. The rose-tree, laden with flowers and fruit, is rising out of the altar, and from its branches doves are fluttering upwards. The virgins have prostrated themselves. In No. 85 Poliphilus and Polia are receiving the fruits of the miraculous tree from the hands of the high priestess.

86. — Poliphilus and Polia entering the ruins of the Temple Polyandrion, in which the unfortunate lovers are buried. This is an ideal view of antique ruins, with lofty arches and columns. On the right hand side an obelisk is rising among luxuriant trees and bushes. A low wall in the foreground seems to belong to some ancient baths.

87 — 92. — An obelisk, and five reliefs, with emblematical (so-called hieroglyphic) devices ; four of them are within medallion frames.

93. — Fragment of an architrave ; in the tympanum, the sculptured broken figure of a bird, and an ancient lamp. The frieze bears an' inscription.

94. — Cupola above the entrance to the crypt.

95. — Sarcophagus, with the mscn-ption, Interna Plotoni, &c., but without any decoration.

96. — A mosaic picture on the ceiling of the crypt, a description of which, filling some pages, is given by the author, showing that the Divina Commedia of Dante was familiar to him. This cut, however, only represents the gulf of Hell, surrounded by wild rocks, without the figures of the condemned and the hellish furies.

97 and 98. — Sepulchral monuments, one of them (No. 98) ornamented with masks, and sur- mounted by an urn in the Renaissance style.

99. — Relief representing a sacrifice. The altar is erected in the middle : an old man, clad in a toga, and a naked youth are offering the head of a wild goat ; the youth carries a vase (lecythus) upon his shoulder, and gracefully bends forward, in order to pour out the wine. A youthful faun-like figure is leaning against a tree, and playing the double flute. Near him we see a dancing naked boy. There are also a nude female figure holding a reversed torch, a boy satyr, with a snake writhing in his hand, and a matron carrying a basket of fruit.

100 and loi. — Two epitaphs. In the tympanum of No. 100, an eagle; and in the corners above it, two dolphins. No. loi is only a fragment, with simple ornament in the tympanum.

102. — Sepulchral urn, with Greek inscription.

103. — Tombstone, surmounted by an urn, without ornament.

104. — Fragment of an epitaph, decorated with two skulls of animals, and twisted laurel-branches.

105. — An epitaph. {D.M. Lyndia, &c.)

106. — A plain sarcophagus, with broken cover, and the inscription — P. Cornelia Annia, &c.

107. — Sarcophagus, with emblematic devices (so-called hieroglyphics.)

108. — Large epitaph. {O lector infoelix, &c.)

109. — Sepulchral monument. The tympanum is decorated with a vase from which issue laurel -branches ; and in the corners above it are two eagles. A thick laurel-wreath encircles the inscription [Quisquis lecturus, &c.)

no. — The sepulchral monument of Artemisia, Queen of Caria, renowned for her ex- cessive grief at the death of her husband Mausolus : one of the most remarkable designs of this book. In the central compartment the Queen, in her royal state, is seated upon a high throne, drinking from the cup in which she has mixed the ashes of Mausolus. Below her figure is the inscription, in Greek — Ashes of Queen Artemisia.

III.— An epitaph {Aspice viator, &c.), surmounted by the busts of a young man and woman within an architectural frame. Two naked figures of youths, on the right and left are drawing back the curtains. ' °

112.— Sepulchral monument. Within a high architectural frame, formed, like a portal of an arch, two pilasters and a tympanum, an inscription is traced {Trebiae Q., &c ) In the tympanum are two doves drinking out of a vase. Beneath the epitaph stands a shrine, or sarcophagus decorated with reliefs. They represent some nude figures, entering through one narrow gate, and emerging from another— an allegory— as is stated in the text— of our earthlv existence, which has two gates : by the one we are entering, in order to die and bv the other we are going out again into life, not without weeping in either case '

113.— The square standard of Cupid's bark. It is of blue silk, and richly embroidered with a so-called hieroglyph, or rather a rebus— a flaming fire in a brazier which is joined by branches to the globe, signifying — Amor vincit omnia. '


II

1 14- — The bark of the god of love.

115. — Water-work in the garden of the island of Venus.

1 16. — A tree, dipt in ring-shape.

\^7- Box-tree, dipt in shape of the figure of a man, with his feet resting upon two vases, ana supporting an ornament, composed of two towers, which are surmounted by an arch

118.— Box-tree.

1 19. — Box-tree, dipt in shape of a centre piece.

120. — Box-tree, dipt in shape of a mushroom.

121. — Peristyle in the pleasure-ground of the island of Venus.

122.^ — Plan of the island of Venus.

123. — Ornament of a flower-bed.

124. — Square ornament of a flower-bed.

125- — A dipt tree, upon an altar, ornamented with a bull's skull, and festoons.

126. — Pattern of a flower-bed.

127. — Box-tree, dipt in shape of three peacocks, &c, growing out of a vase, which is placed upon an altar.

128. — A flower-bed, laid out in shape of an eagle.

129. — A flower-bed, laid out in shape of two birds perched upon a vase.

130. — Trophy of Roman arms, with a winged genius' head.

131- — Trophy consisting of a tunic, with a winged genius' head and laurel-wreath at the top.

132. — Trophy of arms, with a tiger-skin, and bull's head.

133- — Trophy. It is composed of a disk, with wings, surmounted by a tablet on which is inscribed — Quis evadet ? and another disk at the top.

134 and 135. — Two trophies, with wings made of thin plates of gold, and with floating ribbons. No. 134 has a tablet bearing the word — Nemo.

136.— Trophy. A laurel-wreath, with strings of precious beads dangling from it, and tied with floating red ribbons, encircles a tablet, bearing a Greek inscription, which means — Gained by the spear. At the top, a charming figure of Cupid.

137— A superb figure of a nymph, not in antique costume, with a javelin in her right hand. A. Ilg, in his treatise on the Hypnerotomachia, p. 121, points out how tastefully and correctly the ornaments of the dress are fitted to the shape of her body.

138- — A vase, the neck and rim decorated with foliage, the lower part fluted ; the handles are in shape of dragon-like monsters.

139- — A small vase, made of precious stone, decorated with foliage and flutings ; the handles descend from the rim of the mouth in shape of indented leaves. Fiery sparks, dancing and crackling, were flying out of this vase, with a very agreeable effect, as our author relates.

140. — An earthenware vessel, in shape of an amphora, with perforated neck from which issued odoriferous fumes.

141. — A terminal figure, with three male heads.

142. — Trophy, with the three heads of Cerberus, encircled by a serpent.

143 and 144. ^The Triumph of Cupid. The procession is headed by two nymphs playing the flute ; a nymph with a censer, and other nymphs carrying aloft banners and trophies follow ; and then come two satyrs bearing three-headed terminal figures. Two dragons, richly caparisoned — monsters apparently full of life and mirth — are drawing the triumphal car, on which the blindfolded god of love, with mighty wings, and his bow and arrow in his hands, is enthroned. Behind his chariot, amid a group of nymphs, Poliphilus and Polia are seen as captives, enchained with festoons of roses. The female figure, holding an arrow in her right hand, and a lamp in her left, is meant for Psyche. Among the trophies we recognise one with the three heads of Cerberus (No. 142.)'

145. — -Base of a column, ornamented at the two upper corners with rams' heads, from the horns of which a festoon of flowers is suspended by tastefully twisted strings. In the centre, a medallion, with a relief representing a sacrifice in a sacred grove. Around the flaming altar stand two nude nymphs, and two satyrs, with writhing snakes and amphorae in their hands, and also two nude infants, each of them holding a vase (lecythus.)

146. — Ornament of a frieze. A bull, terminating in arabesques, with a nude female figure on its back, and two satyrs.

147. — The Amphitheatre, in the island of Venus. 148. — Ground-plan of the fountain of Venus.

149. — The Fountain of Venus. The water streams into the hexagonal basin from a large trough, which stands within a buwer grown over with rose-trees. This trough is in fact a sarco- phagus — the Tomb of Adonis ; and its sides are ornamented with reliefs. On the right hand side is represented the jealous Mar.? striking Adonis ; on the left, the nude Venus hastening forth from her bath to protect her favourite, the skin of her "divine " leg being torn by the rose-tree.

150. — The Statue of Venus, of precious sardonyx, placed upon the Tomb of Adonis. The Divine mother (" la Diuina matre") is seated on an antique chair of state, with Cupid as a babe at her breast. A nymph, with long fluwing hair, devoutly kisses the foot of the statue ; and five


12


Other nymphs, their arms crossed upon their breasts, are kneeling before it. The sarcophagus of Adonis serves as the pedestal of this figure. It is here adorned with two other rehets—one representing the dead Adonis, lamented by three nymphs, and the other, Venus, in her bitter grief, with three nymphs attending her. ,,, _, , , j „<■

i5i.-Poliphilus and Polia among the nymphs at the Fountain of Venus. The background of this romantic scene is formed by trellis work, with a gabled gate, and some high trees over- looking it. In the middle is seen the fountain, and within the bower the Tomb of Adonis, surmounted by the seated figure of the goddess, her back turned towards the spectator Wymphs in various attitudes, with harps and other musical instruments, are reposing on both sides among the flowers. The two figures in the foreground are Poliphilus and his niistress ; and a tall handsome nymph— the only one who is standing— offers a laurel-wreath to the united lovers.

iS2—This woodcut is the first of the Second Book of the Hypnerotomachia in which i-oha and Poliphilus relate the story of their love.— Folia had been attacked by the plague raging at Treviso, and taken the vow to Diana. We behold her in the temple of the maiden-divinity-- which is like a Christian chapel dedicated to the "Holy Virgin— kneeling before the altar, with the prayer-book in her hands, while the woe-begone Poliphilus has lost his consciousness, and lies on the floor by her side.

153. — Polia drags her prostrate lover by his feet out of the sanctuary.

154.— The Dream of Polia.— Cupid punishes two women that resisted his power. Standing on his chariot, he drives befoi;e him through the rough thicket these hapless nude females, who are chained to the car, and unmercifully flogs them with his rod. Polia, hidden behind the trees, watches this terrific scene.

i55._Continuation of the Dream of Polia. — The irritated Cupid has on the verge of the forest descended from his chariot, and brandishes a sword above the head of one of his victims who kneels before him, with her hands tied. The mangled limbs of the other woman, whom he has already hewn to pieces, are lying in the grass. - Polia is again an unseen witness of this act of revenge.

1 56.— Continuation of the Dream of Polia. — Polia sees with terror and fright three ferocious beasts of the forest, a Hon, a mighty dog, and a dragon, devouring the limbs of the two slaughtered women ; a large eagle is also hovering about. Above, the god of love appears with his naked sword, taking his triumphant flight in the air. " O spectaculo di incredibile acerbitate," — says the author — " & di crudelitate insigne, O inaudita & insolente calamitate, scena daspectare horrenda," &c.

157. — Poliphilus lying as if dead, on the floor. Polia's heart is moved towards him. She kneels by his side, stretching out her arms in her compassion and grief

158. — Poliphilus has been brought to life again in the lap of his mistress; and they are fervently embracing each other.

159. — Two priestesses drive our lovers away from the Temple of Diana; they are beating Polia with thick sticks. The high priestess, ordering Polia's ignominious expulsion from the chaste sisterhood, is standing on the left.

160. — Polia in her bed-chamber. The floor is strewn with roses. She is sitting on a cushion ; and beholds in the sky, through the open window, the vision of the fierce triumph of Love. Diana is put to flight by Venus, accompanied by Cupid, with his large flaming torch. The chariot of Diana is drawn by two white stags, and that of Venus by two swans.

161. — Polia in the Temple of Venus. She kneels before the priestess, accusing herself of her former impiety, and avowing that her heart is now filled with burning love for our hero. Poli- philus stands beside her. Four nymphs are in attendance behind the chair of the priestess. In the background is the flaming altar.

162. — The enamoured couple kneeling before the priestess of Venus.

163. — The priestess enthroned, with five nymphs surrounding her. Poliphilus and Polia are kissing each other in her presence.

164. — Poliphilus writing to his mistress. In his pleasant room he is sitting at a finely carved writing table, and with a thoughtful mien looks at the nib of his pen.

165. — Polia reading her lover's letter ; she is in her bed-chamber which is only furnished with a four-post bed. A little dog is sitting to the left of her. Through the two windows we get glimpses, of the landscape.

166. — Poliphilus before the great goddess of love. The scene is now laid in the upper regions. The soul of our hero has during his fit been taken up to the presence of Venus who appears, with crown and sceptre, half in the clouds. He complains to her of the cruelty of his mistress.' On the left stands the listening Cupid.

167.— Here we meet again Poliphilus and Venus and Cupid above the clouds. Cupid carries the portrait bust of Polia which he, at the command of the goddess, is going to'^pierce with his arrow — an incident that is in accordance with the superstitions of the age.

168. — Cupid has shot his arrow at the bust of Polia, and" hit her right in the heart.

On the last plate fifteen initial letters of the first edition of the Hypnerotomachia are reproduced.



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ERRATA

Page 14, line 3 from the bottom, insert W. W. Greg. 'The Library. London, Odober 1909.

Page 21, line 15, for earliest translation read earliest Protestant translation.

Page 29, line 15, for 200-201 read 199-200.

Page 45, line 1 5, after alone insert quotation marks.

Page 5 1 , line 1 7, for went read went to.

Page 58, line 25, for tentebam read tentabam.

Page 63, line 1 5, for beheaded with him read hanged at Tyburn.






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