Woodcut Research

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WOODCUTRESEARCHREPORT: What We Know About the HP's Woodcuts

Research compiled from corpus search (Russell, Priki, Huelsen, Trippe,

Curran, Farrington, O'Neill), web search (Wikipedia, Melbourne Archives,

Public Domain Review, MIT Electronic HP, Internet Archive), and direct

reading of 69 BL manuscript photographs.

1. The Basic Facts

The 1499 Hypnerotomachia Poliphili contains approximately 172 woodcut

illustrations. The exact count varies by source:

**172** — Pozzi & Ciapponi critical edition, MIT electronic edition
**168** — Appell 1889 facsimile (*The Dream of Poliphilus: Facsimiles of

One Hundred and Sixty-Eight Woodcuts*)

The difference comes from whether historiated chapter initials (38)

are counted as woodcuts

The woodcuts include:

**11 full-page illustrations**
**~120 in-text illustrations** (placed within the text flow)
**38 historiated initials** (the acrostic letters: POLIAM FRATER FRANCISCVS COLVMNA PERAMAVIT)
**~3 decorative friezes/borders**

This count makes the HP the most extensively illustrated incunabulum

ever produced.

2. Artist Attribution

The designer of the woodcuts remains unknown. This is one of the

oldest unresolved questions in HP scholarship. Candidates:

Candidate	Evidence	Status
Benedetto Bordon	Paduan miniaturist. Two woodcuts signed "b" (leaves 10b and 21a). Stylistic consistency with Bordon's known work.	Most widely accepted
Andrea Mantegna	Classical style, Paduan connection	Rejected by most modern scholars
Gentile Bellini	Venetian school	Weak evidence
Giovanni Bellini	Venetian school	Weak evidence
Jacopo de' Barbari	Perspectival sophistication	Occasionally proposed
Francesco Colonna (author)	Lefaivre's argument that author designed images	Contested
"Master of the Poliphilo"	Convention for the anonymous artist	Neutral designation

The signed woodcuts (the letter "b" on leaves 10b and 21a in the 1499

edition) are the only direct evidence. Whether "b" stands for Bordon or

another artist is debated.

Source: [University of Melbourne Archives](https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/librarycollections/2014/01/20/hypnerotomachia-poliphili-woodcuts-in-the-italian-and-french-editions/)

3. Subject Categories

From scholarly literature and direct image observation, the woodcuts

can be classified into these categories:

Architectural (largest group)

Ruins, temples, pyramids, arches, columns, portals, baths, amphitheatres.

The HP's architectural woodcuts are "virtually an encyclopedia of classical

design" (per multiple sources). Huelsen (1910) provided the first systematic

analysis of their classical sources. Stewering (2000) demonstrated they

reflect genuine knowledge of Vitruvian building practice.

Narrative Scenes

Poliphilo in the dark forest, sleeping, bathing with nymphs, fleeing

dragons, meeting queens, encountering monuments. These are the HP's most

cinematic images — Priki describes several as using "filmic sequences"

across page spreads.

Hieroglyphic/Inscription Monuments

The elephant-obelisk, the GONOS KAI ETOUSIA monument, various tomb

inscriptions, pseudo-Egyptian hieroglyphic sequences. Curran (1998)

connects these to Renaissance Egyptology and the Horapollo tradition.

Processions and Triumphs

At least six triumphal procession woodcuts depicting chariots, musicians,

dancers, and allegorical figures. The Melbourne Archives source identifies:

Triumph of Poliphilo, Fourth Triumph, Triumph of Danae, Third Triumph,

Triumph of Europe, Triumph of Leda.

Gardens and Landscapes

The dark forest (selva oscura), Cythera's circular garden (shown as a

schematic diagram), pergola scenes, topiary. Hunt (1998) reads the garden

woodcuts as staging the experience of designed landscape.

Decorative

Grotesque friezes, ornamental borders, figurative bands. These demonstrate

the HP's relationship to the grotesque ornamental style rediscovered in

the Domus Aurea around 1480.

Diagrams

Schematic plans (Cythera garden layout), proportional drawings, geometric

constructions. These are the most "treatise-like" woodcuts, functioning

as architectural or garden design illustrations.

4. Woodcuts in the 1545 Edition

Farrington (2015) documents the relationship between the 1499 and 1545

woodcuts: Paolo Manuzio "could simply set the new edition from the old one"

but some woodcut blocks needed replacement "because of loss or damage."

The 1545 edition recuts the woodcuts from new blocks, generally following

the 1499 designs but with some variations.

The 1546 French edition (Jacques Kerver, Paris) adopted a Mannerist style

and added 14 additional illustrations. Jean Cousin (painter) and Jean Goujon

(architect/sculptor) are considered likely candidates for the French cuts.

Source: [University of Melbourne Archives](https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/librarycollections/2014/01/20/hypnerotomachia-poliphili-woodcuts-in-the-italian-and-french-editions/)

5. What We Found in the BL Photographs

From reading 69 BL photographs (pages 1-176, approximately 38% of the book),

18 woodcuts were detected and described:

#	Page	Signature	Subject	Category	Annotated
1	4	a2v	Dark forest (selva oscura)	LANDSCAPE	Yes
2	8	a4v	Landscape with reclining figure	NARRATIVE	Moderate
3	10	a5v	Poliphilo sleeping (dream-within-dream)	NARRATIVE	Moderate
4	11	a6r	Poliphilo in garden with palms	LANDSCAPE	Heavy
5	22	b3v	Horse and rider on sarcophagus	ARCHITECTURAL	Moderate
6	23	b4r	Twin inscribed monuments (D.AMBIG.D.D.)	HIEROGLYPHIC	Heavy
7	27	b6r	GONOS KAI ETOUSIA inscription monument	HIEROGLYPHIC	Heavy
8	28	b6v	Elephant and Obelisk	HIEROGLYPHIC	Heavy + Alchemical
9	29	b7r	Figure on monument with Greek inscription	HIEROGLYPHIC	Heavy
10	52	d2v	Poliphilo at portal with dragon	NARRATIVE	Moderate
11	87	f4r	Grotesque frieze with hybrid figures	DECORATIVE	Moderate
12	92	f6v	Circular medallion/deity figure	PORTRAIT	Heavy + Alchemical?
13	102	g3v	Candelabrum/fountain structure	ARCHITECTURAL	Moderate
14	122	h5v	Circular medallion/cameo	PORTRAIT	Heavy
15	127	h8r	Figures at portal/doorway	NARRATIVE	Heavy + Alchemical
16	132	i2v	Garden with pergola and nymph	LANDSCAPE	Moderate
17	157	k5r	Triumphal procession	PROCESSION	Moderate
18	162	k7v	Triumph scene (PARS ANTIQVA ET POSTERIOR)	PROCESSION	Moderate

Distribution by Category

HIEROGLYPHIC: 4 (22%) — the inscription/monument woodcuts dominate the early sections
NARRATIVE: 4 (22%) — scenes of Poliphilo's journey
LANDSCAPE: 3 (17%) — gardens and natural settings
PROCESSION: 2 (11%) — triumphal scenes
ARCHITECTURAL: 2 (11%) — built structures
PORTRAIT: 2 (11%) — medallion/cameo figures
DECORATIVE: 1 (6%) — ornamental frieze

Annotation Patterns on Woodcuts

Of the 18 detected woodcuts, all have marginal annotations nearby

(at least MODERATE density). The most heavily annotated woodcut pages are:

1. b6v (Elephant and Obelisk) — Dense alchemical ideograms by Hand B

2. b6r-b7r (GONOS KAI ETOUSIA and figure monument) — Heavy scholarly annotations

3. b4r (D.AMBIG.D.D. inscription) — Heavy annotations, connected to alchemical hermaphrodite reading

4. h8r (Portal/doorway) — "Synostra Gloria mundi" alchemical annotation

This confirms Russell's observation that woodcuts attracted more reader

engagement than text-only pages.

6. Woodcuts Beyond Our Photo Range

The BL photographs cover pages 1-176 (quires a through k). The remaining

~60% of the book's woodcuts are not photographed. Notable woodcuts we

know about from scholarship but cannot verify:

**Sleeping nymph fountain** (the PANTA TOKADI inscription is at page 62,

but the full sleeping nymph woodcut may be on a different folio)

**Sacrifice to Priapus** — described by scholarship as "perhaps the most

censored woodcut of the Renaissance"

**Bath of Venus** — nymph bathing scenes from the later narrative
**Cythera circular garden diagram** — the schematic plan of Venus's island
**Chess match** (g8r-h1r) — the passage Hand E reads as alchemical distillation
**Multiple triumph woodcuts** — at least 4 more beyond the 2 we detected
**Book II woodcuts** — Polia's narration contains its own illustration set

7. Scholarly Resources

Foundational

**Huelsen 1910** — *Le illustrazioni della Hypnerotomachia Poliphili*:

first systematic study of the woodcuts' classical architectural sources

**Painter 1963** — *Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of 1499*: bibliographic

description including woodcut inventory

Text-Image Analysis

**Priki** — *Crossing the Text/Image Boundary*: analyzes how woodcuts

function across editions, including the "cinematic" page-spread technique

**Trippe 2002** — demonstrates how woodcuts adapt Petrarchan conventions

into visual form

Architectural Analysis

**Stewering 2000** — analyzes architectural accuracy of the woodcuts
**Jarzombek 1990** — argues woodcuts are structurally constitutive

of narrative meaning

Reception

**Farrington 2015** — documents 1499 vs 1545 block differences
**Blunt 1937** — traces French garden/festival adaptation of woodcuts

Digital Resources

[MIT Electronic HP](https://mitp-content-server.mit.edu/books/content/sectbyfn/books_pres_0/4196/HP.zip/index.htm) — complete facsimile with all woodcuts
[Internet Archive Appell 1889](https://archive.org/details/b21781059) — 168 woodcut facsimiles
[Carnegie Mellon Posner Center](https://digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu/node/68265) — digitized 1499 edition
[Metropolitan Museum](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/365313) — individual leaves

8. What We Do Not Know

1. Complete folio-by-folio woodcut inventory. No single source provides

a numbered list mapping every woodcut to its exact signature position.

Godwin 1999 reproduces all woodcuts but uses narrative chapter divisions,

not bibliographic folio references.

2. Attribution confidence. The "b" signature on two woodcuts is the

only direct evidence. All other attributions are stylistic inference.

3. Production sequence. Whether the woodcuts were designed before or

after the text, and whether the text was written to accommodate the

illustrations or vice versa, remains debated.

4. Which woodcuts in our BL copy are 1499 blocks vs 1545 recuts.

The BL copy is a 1545 edition, so its woodcuts are recuts, but

whether all 172 were recut or only damaged blocks replaced is unclear.

5. Complete annotation map on woodcut pages. We've read 18 woodcut

pages but ~45 are estimated to exist in the first 176 pages alone.

The remaining ~27 unread woodcut pages may contain additional

alchemical annotations.

9. Recommended Next Steps

Immediate (can do now)

1. Seed the woodcuts table with the 18 detected woodcuts from BL photos

2. Read more BL photos targeting pages likely to contain woodcuts

(the density is higher in quires a-c and in the triumph sections)

3. Cross-reference MIT electronic edition chapter index against our

folio/signature mapping to identify which woodcuts are on which pages

Medium-term

4. Read the remaining BL photos (~120 unread) to find all woodcuts

in the photographed section

5. Build the woodcuts index page on the site

6. Link woodcuts to dictionary terms (elephant-obelisk, sleeping-nymph-

fountain, triumphal-procession, etc.)

Long-term

7. Acquire or reference higher-resolution woodcut images from the

1499 edition (Carnegie Mellon, Internet Archive)

8. Build a comparative viewer showing 1499 vs 1545 woodcut versions

9. Extend the woodcut inventory to cover all 172 woodcuts using

digitized 1499 facsimiles available online

Sources:

[University of Melbourne Archives: HP Woodcuts](https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/librarycollections/2014/01/20/hypnerotomachia-poliphili-woodcuts-in-the-italian-and-french-editions/)
[MIT Electronic Hypnerotomachia](https://mitp-content-server.mit.edu/books/content/sectbyfn/books_pres_0/4196/HP.zip/index.htm)
[Internet Archive: Dream of Poliphilus](https://archive.org/details/b21781059)
[Metropolitan Museum: HP Leaves](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/365313)
[Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: HP](https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/collection/17673)