Alchemical Hands in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Why It Matters for the Hypnerotomachia

Gold leaf and gilding appear throughout the HP as markers of luxury and divine association. Poliphilo specifies the quality of gilding and the visual effect of light on gold surfaces. The alchemical annotators took particular interest in gold references.

Why It Matters in Scholarship

The HP's gold references function at multiple levels: as architectural ornament, as markers of imperial and divine association, and as potential alchemical signifiers. The frequency of gold in the HP's material vocabulary underscores the book's investment in luxury as a mode of meaning.

Key Passages / Evidence

• <!-- Page 231 --> Saint-Denis. In Hugo’s palace, the columns are of “marble” and “fine gold,’ the staircase of “marble.” !¢ In Chanson de geste (early thirteenth century), Aymeri de Narbonne... [Lefaivre 1997 (Alberti attribution)]
• <!-- Page 234 --> Entering the temple in Boccaccio’s Amorosa visione (1375), one finds a great hall that was “bright and beautiful and resplendent with gold” (chiara era e bella e rispendente... [Lefaivre 1997 (Alberti attribution)]
• ... mention of architecture in a learned text since antiquity. It is presented in terms of garments that don the body of the structure. Indeed architecture is “all the things that are added to the... [Lefaivre 1997 (Alberti attribution)]

Source Documents

Gollnick (Apuleius dreamworld); HP (Da Capo edition); HP primary text; Lefaivre 1997 (Alberti attribution); Russell 2014 (PhD thesis); Word_Image_2015_apr_03_vol_31_iss_2_Farrington_Lynne_Though_I_could_lead_a_quiet