What is the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili about?
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili tells the story of a man, Poliphilo, who falls asleep and has a dream in which he searches for, catches and finally loses his love, Polia. The dream takes Poliphili on a fabulous journey through history. Through his telling of the story, Colonna reveals a great knowledge of architecture, landscape design, engineering, painting and sculpture.
Illustrations and typeface
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili is illustrated with 174 woodcuts, showing images of ancient architecture, gardens, inscriptions and triumphal processions observed by the dreamer and described in the text. The original woodcut designs have been associated with Andrea Mantegna although they also have been associated with the work of Fra Giocondo, Vittore Carpaccio, Gentile Bellini and Benedetto Bordon. The identity of the cutter remains unknown.
This book uses a Roman typeface produced by Francesco Griffo, who also designed the italic type used later in editions of the Latin classics printed at the Aldine Press. Griffo's lower-case font is considered to be the most modern of 15th-century type. Each chapter of the book has decorated initials, often of flowers or foliage. On some pages, the text is laid out in the form of a goblet or other abstract shape. |
