Alchemical Hands in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Why It Matters for the Hypnerotomachia

The sea voyage to Cythera marks the transition from the HP's mainland landscapes to its island climax. The crossing represents the passage from earthly desire to divine love. Poliphilo and Polia travel by boat to Venus's island for their consecration.

Why It Matters in Scholarship

The navigation passage connects to a broader literary tradition of voyages to Venus's island. Praz (1947) notes that Watteau's L'Embarquement pour Cythere (1717) may owe something to this tradition, though direct influence from the HP is not established.

Key Passages / Evidence

• <!-- Page 3 --> Cythera, identified at times with the isle of Cerigo in the southern Peloponnese, or with the town of Cythera in Cyprus, probably resulted from overlapping traditions and added to... [Untangling_the_knot_Garden_design_in_Francesco_Colonna_s_Hypnerotomachia_Poliphi]
• ... plenitude is carried even to the varied registers of treatment - see the section on how to layout the geometric forms, added to the French edition (Songe, p. 277). 37 - Polizzi is then surely... [Word_Image_1998_jan_vol_14_iss_1_2_Hunt_John_Dixon_Experiencing_gardens_in_the_H]
• ... in Francesco Colonna's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili A. SEGRE Introduction Poliphilus begins his voyage walking through a wood, a lonely figure overwhelmed by the shadow of tall trees, as he... [Untangling_the_knot_Garden_design_in_Francesco_Colonna_s_Hypnerotomachia_Poliphi]

Source Documents

Blunt 1937 (HP in French art); Gollnick (Apuleius dreamworld); Lefaivre 1997 (Alberti attribution); O'Neill (Durham thesis); Russell 2014 (PhD thesis); Untangling_the_knot_Garden_design_in_Francesco_Colonna_s_Hypnerotomachia_Poliphi; Word_Image_1998_jan_vol_14_iss_1_2_Hunt_John_Dixon_Experiencing_gardens_in_the_H; Word_Image_2015_apr_03_vol_31_iss_2_Fabiani_Giannetto_Raffaella_Not_before_eithe