Elephant and Obelisk Draft
Architecture & Gardens
A monumental image in the HP showing an elephant bearing an obelisk, later realized by Bernini in Rome.
The woodcut of the elephant bearing an obelisk (b6v-b7r) is one of the HP's most influential images. Heckscher (1947) documented how Bernini drew upon it for his 1667 sculpture in the Piazza della Minerva, commissioned by Alexander VII (who annotated his own copy of the HP). The BL alchemist (Hand B) covered this image with alchemical ideograms, reading it as encoding alchemical processes. The Buffalo annotator (Hand E) identified the surrounding statues with Geberian Sol/Luna symbolism.
Why It Matters for the Hypnerotomachia
The woodcut of the elephant bearing an obelisk (b6v-b7r) is one of the HP's most influential images. The BL alchemist covered this image with alchemical ideograms. The Buffalo annotator identified the surrounding statues with Geberian Sol/Luna symbolism.
Why It Matters in Scholarship
Heckscher (1947) documented how Bernini drew upon the HP's elephant-obelisk for his 1667 sculpture in Piazza della Minerva, commissioned by Alexander VII — who himself annotated his own HP copy. This is the clearest case of the HP's direct influence on major public art.
Key Passages / Evidence
- <!-- Page 88 --> and turning downc againc their toppcs, laden vrith the aboun- dance ohhcir floureand fruitcs, breathing forth a mod fwect and dcleftablc odoriferous fmcll. Whcrwithall my appaled... [HP (Da Capo edition)]
- <!-- Page 69 --> hir side vpon his fleshie young legges one streight foorth, and the other retract and bowed vnder him. With his little armes houlding himselfe by the hearie and rough locks, his... [HP primary text]
- <!-- Page 215 --> he Archer Cupid, in my wounding heart hauing his residence, like a Lord and king, holding me tyed in the bands of Loue, I found my selfe pricked and grieuously tormented, in... [HP primary text]
Source Documents
HP (Da Capo edition); HP primary text
Page references: p. 88, p. 89, p. 90, p. 91, p. 69, p. 70, p. 71, p. 72, p. 73, p. 74, p. 75, p. 215, p. 216, p. 217, p. 218
Sources: Heckscher 1947; Russell 2014, pp. 157, 187
Review Status / Provenance
Draft
- Source method: CORPUS_EXTRACTION
- Confidence: MEDIUM
- Notes: Enriched from corpus reading packets on 2026-03-19. 20 passages retrieved from 2 documents.