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Signature a8v
Folio 8v, Quire a
Vision Reading (Phase 3 deep analysis)
Primary hand: Multiple (at least 3) · Hands: 3 · Type: full_page_woodcut · Sig: b3v
Woodcut: The Great Pyramid with obelisk atop, colonnaded base
Full-page woodcut of Poliphilo's pyramid — a massive stepped pyramid structure topped with a tall obelisk surmounted by a small figure (or finial). The base has a classical colonnade/portico with arched openings. The word 'KITOMARNO' is visible in the lower right of the woodcut frame. This is the HP's most architecturally ambitious composition and the subject of extensive metrological commentary on page 14.
Condition: Good. Clean impression
Transcription Attempts
top_left · Latin · LOW
lex Olifacij [...] imago et forma [...] emphasis [...] et Rethma [...]
'imago et forma' (image and form), 'emphasis' — the reader is commenting on the woodcut as a representational/rhetorical device
left_margin_upper · Latin · LOW
[...] loci [...] de [...] excelsa [...] dominus [...] excelsior [...] reiteratio [...] et [...] minacendo [...]
'excelsior' (higher), 'reiteratio' (repetition), 'minacendo' (threatening). Commentary on the pyramid's height and overwhelming effect
left_margin_lower · Latin · LOW
entusiaste [...] Palladius [...] effectiones [...] explicente [...] descriptore [...]
'entusiaste' = enthusiast. 'Palladius' could reference the 4th-century agricultural writer or the Palladian tradition. 'descriptore' = describer/author
bottom · Latin · LOW
[...] ben [...] fundatione [...] sine [...] barbationi [...] a [...] structura [...] corruptionis [...] Basilica [...] consumptione [...] potentia [...]
'fundatione' (foundation), 'structura' (structure), 'Basilica' (basilica), 'consumptione' (consumption), 'potentia' (power). Extensive architectural vocabulary
Scholarly Significance
The pyramid woodcut attracted extensive architectural commentary. The readers are treating it as a serious architectural proposal, using technical vocabulary ('fundatione', 'structura', 'Basilica') to analyze the building. The reference to 'Palladius' suggests humanist readers connecting Colonna's fantasy architecture to real architectural traditions. This page should be read together with photo 27 (page 14) where the same mathematical analysis occurs in prose.
Cross-references: Photo 27 (p.14, Descriptio Pyramidis — mathematical analysis), Photo 30 (p.17, continuation)
Vision reading (Claude Code, Phase 3)