It’s funny on how returning to the blogosphere after saying goodbye to it for quite some years, I bump straight into an old virtual friend when searching for “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili + Bomarzo + elephant”. The friend in question runs the fascinating culture blog Journey to Perplexity [1].
The reason I googled the words above was that my Dutch edition (translated by Ike Cialona) of Hypnerotomachia Poliphili claims that Colonna’ work inspired these works of architecture:
- Grotta di Buontalenti by Bernardo Buontalenti and Giambologna‘s famous Bathing Venus in the Boboli Gardens
- Ercole Ferrata‘s Elephant and Obelisk
- Giovanni Battista Vaccarini‘s u Liotru
- Gigantomachia fresco by Giulo Romano
- Santa Maria della Salute by Baldassarre Longhena
- Park of the Monsters at Bomarzo
One thing leading to another, as they usually do, I found this [2] fascinating woodcut, of which the colour palette reminds me of Japanese woodcuts.
![[2]](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apokalypse_lutherbibel.jpg){kind=link}
I wonder if the plate is part of Cranach’s illustrated version of Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible? Anyone?
Georg Lemberger, 1490 – after 1537.
I found it in…
‘The Apocalypse and the Shape of Things to Come’
Frances Carey, British Museum Press.
Thanks Paul. I love the style of his woodcuts. He belongs to the Danube School, I just read. Are you familiar with his Saint George Freeing the Princess? I’ll post it in a minute.