Decorum Draft
Aesthetic Concepts
The classical principle of fitness or appropriateness — matching style to subject, ornament to function — applied throughout the HP.
The HP applies the classical principle of decorum to its architectural and garden descriptions: each structure is ornamented according to its purpose, and each garden element is placed according to its symbolic function. Poliphilo notes where decorum is observed and where it is violated. This attention to fitness connects the HP to the Vitruvian tradition and to Alberti's insistence that beauty arises from the rational correspondence between part and whole.
Why It Matters for the Hypnerotomachia
The HP applies the classical principle of decorum to its architectural descriptions: each structure is ornamented according to its purpose, and each garden element is placed according to its symbolic function. Poliphilo notes where decorum is observed and where violated.
Why It Matters in Scholarship
The HP's attention to architectural decorum connects it to the Vitruvian tradition and to Alberti's insistence that beauty arises from rational correspondence between part and whole. Stewering (2000) analyzes how the HP theorizes decorum through narrative demonstration.
Key Passages / Evidence
- ... described as being ‘non loquace, benigno, benivolo, mansueto, patiente, faceto, copioso, indagatore curioso’ [well-spoken, kindly, benevolent, mild-mannered patient, good humoured, hardworking,... [O'Neill (Durham thesis)]
- ... Photo: Gabriele Busch-Hauck. of the beloved; these pictures were not conceived as portraits of specific individuals. 98 Colonna's visual-literary practice as a whole, especially his allusive... [Trippe 2002 (text-image)]
- ... recognized in his minor works (Fiammetta, Ameto, Filocolo, Corbaccio), from the Decameron, only Nastagio degli Onesti's story (V, 8) has been considered a source for him. `3 "Onians,... [Trippe 2002 (text-image)]
Source Documents
O'Neill (Durham thesis); Semler 2006 (Dallington); Trippe 2002 (text-image)
Page references: p. 129, p. 130, p. 131, p. 132, p. 28, p. 29, p. 30, p. 31, p. 32, p. 33, p. 34, p. 7, p. 8
Sources: HP passim; Stewering 2000; Vitruvius, De architectura
Review Status / Provenance
Draft
- Source method: CORPUS_EXTRACTION
- Confidence: MEDIUM
- Notes: Enriched from corpus reading packets on 2026-03-19. 4 passages retrieved from 3 documents.