Alchemical Hands in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Marginalia, Scholarship & Reception

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Signature e1r

Folio 33r, Quire e

Folio e1r
British Library, London — C.60.o.12 HIGH
Folio e1r
Biblioteca degli Intronati, Siena — O.III.38 HIGH Unverified
Folio e1r
Biblioteca degli Intronati, Siena — O.III.38 HIGH Unverified

Alchemical Analysis

Panta Tokadi: Cinnabar, Digestion, and the World Spirit

The Panto Tokadi woodcut -- a satyr revealing a mother figure flanked by two fauns bearing vessels -- receives Hand B's most elaborate alchemical annotation. The mercury symbol appears on the top frieze and above the right faun's vessel. The left faun bears the cinnabar symbol (mercury sulphide). Below the caption, B writes: 'duae columbae in uno vase bibentes sunt minium & digestione' -- the two doves drinking in one vase represent cinnabar and digestion. The streams of milk from the mother's nipples signify the generation of all things through mercury's magnetick principle. This is the key annotation revealing Hand B's d'Espagnet-based schema at full power.

Element: Mercury, Cinnabar (mercury sulphide), Digestion
Process: Emanation of world spirit; generation through mercury
Framework: d'Espagnet: sun's outpouring of animating energy via mercury
Russell, pp. 163-165
LLM-assisted synthesis from Russell

Alchemical Symbols Present

Symbol Metal Planet Gender Hand Conf.
Mercury Quicksilver (Hydrargyrum) Mercury hermaphroditic Hand B MEDIUM
Sol Gold (Aurum) Sun masculine Hand B MEDIUM
Related: MercurySolAlchemical AllegoryAlchemical Hands Essay

Annotations

CROSS_REFERENCE (4)INDEX_ENTRY (2)MARGINAL_NOTE (1)SYMBOL (1)
Hand B: Anonymous (possibly Royal Society circle) (Jean d'Espagnet (Enchiridion Physicae Restitutae)) Alchemist
Symbol
g thin, and so swimming in the Air, or else bound up into a Cloud, do most eagerly suck in that spiritual Nectar [from the heavenly bodies], and attract it to them by a Magnetick virtue, and having received it, they grow big, and being impregnated and quickened with that ingendering seeds, as being delivered of their burden, do freely fall down back into the lap of the Earth in some Dew, hoar Frost, Rain or some other nature.52 A label added to the woodcut bearing the Panton Tokadi image ...
Russell, PhD Thesis, p. 163 (Ch. 6)
Hand Primary: Benedetto Giovio
Index Entry
“genetrice”
the “liberalità della natura’.61 Following Macrobius’ In Somnium Scipionis, they infer that this term refers to a stage in the journey of the soul. The annotator’s interests here, however, appear more typographical than spiritual. In transcribing ‘ΤΗΣ ΦΥΣΕΩΣ ΟΛΒΟΣ’ in exacting detail, and again transliterating the term in precise Latin letters, Benedetto again shows his interest in the letter-forms of massed capitals, as expressed in his Veterum monumentorum ... collectanea. 10. e...
Russell, PhD Thesis, p. 98 (Ch. 4)
Hand Primary: Benedetto Giovio
Index Entry
“genetrice”
the “liberalità della natura’.61 Following Macrobius’ In Somnium Scipionis, they infer that this term refers to a stage in the journey of the soul. The annotator’s interests here, however, appear more typographical than spiritual. In transcribing ‘ΤΗΣ ΦΥΣΕΩΣ ΟΛΒΟΣ’ in exacting detail, and again transliterating the term in precise Latin letters, Benedetto again shows his interest in the letter-forms of massed capitals, as expressed in his Veterum monumentorum ... collectanea. 10. e...
Russell, PhD Thesis, p. 98 (Ch. 4)
Hand Primary: Benedetto Giovio
Cross Reference
“Naturalis historia”
py at INCUN A.13 in the Biblioteca Pubblica di Como is a complete copy of the 1499 edition. The errata corrige is intact, and the Sacrifice to Priapus is uncensored. During this study some photographs were taken with my personal camera, but they did not resolve to sufficient detail to be of utility, and as a consequence I have only used one photograph of a large-scale illustration. Of the approximately 70 pieces of marginalia, the majority were concentrated in the cluster of focus (a1r-...
Russell, PhD Thesis, p. 119 (Ch. 5)
Hand Primary: Benedetto Giovio
Cross Reference
“Naturalis historia”
py at INCUN A.13 in the Biblioteca Pubblica di Como is a complete copy of the 1499 edition. The errata corrige is intact, and the Sacrifice to Priapus is uncensored. During this study some photographs were taken with my personal camera, but they did not resolve to sufficient detail to be of utility, and as a consequence I have only used one photograph of a large-scale illustration. Of the approximately 70 pieces of marginalia, the majority were concentrated in the cluster of focus (a1r-...
Russell, PhD Thesis, p. 119 (Ch. 5)
Hand Primary: Benedetto Giovio
Cross Reference
“Molÿ”
e Magar ne magalia se vide’, the annotator writes ‘Magar’. The word ‘syringe’ is extracted from the phrase ‘cum le sue bifore syringe rurale’. In a particularly idiosyncratic co-annotation with Modena, remarked on by Stichel, the annotator rewrites the phrase ‘subderi’ from the phrase ‘corticosi Subderi apto additamento muliebre’, a Plinian reference to women’s footwear. The botanical marginalia continue through the folios of which a complete transcription was made in each copy (a1r-...
Russell, PhD Thesis, p. 120 (Ch. 5)
Hand Primary: Benedetto Giovio
Cross Reference
“Molÿ”
e Magar ne magalia se vide’, the annotator writes ‘Magar’. The word ‘syringe’ is extracted from the phrase ‘cum le sue bifore syringe rurale’. In a particularly idiosyncratic co-annotation with Modena, remarked on by Stichel, the annotator rewrites the phrase ‘subderi’ from the phrase ‘corticosi Subderi apto additamento muliebre’, a Plinian reference to women’s footwear. The botanical marginalia continue through the folios of which a complete transcription was made in each copy (a1r-...
Russell, PhD Thesis, p. 120 (Ch. 5)
Hand B: Anonymous (possibly Royal Society circle) (Jean d'Espagnet (Enchiridion Physicae Restitutae)) Alchemist
Symbol
g thin, and so swimming in the Air, or else bound up into a Cloud, do most eagerly suck in that spiritual Nectar [from the heavenly bodies], and attract it to them by a Magnetick virtue, and having received it, they grow big, and being impregnated and quickened with that ingendering seeds, as being delivered of their burden, do freely fall down back into the lap of the Earth in some Dew, hoar Frost, Rain or some other nature.52 A label added to the woodcut bearing the Panton Tokadi image ...
Russell, PhD Thesis, p. 163 (Ch. 6)
Hand Primary: Benedetto Giovio
Index Entry
“genetrice”
the “liberalità della natura’.61 Following Macrobius’ In Somnium Scipionis, they infer that this term refers to a stage in the journey of the soul. The annotator’s interests here, however, appear more typographical than spiritual. In transcribing ‘ΤΗΣ ΦΥΣΕΩΣ ΟΛΒΟΣ’ in exacting detail, and again transliterating the term in precise Latin letters, Benedetto again shows his interest in the letter-forms of massed capitals, as expressed in his Veterum monumentorum ... collectanea. 10. e...
Russell, PhD Thesis, p. 98 (Ch. 4)
Hand Primary: Benedetto Giovio
Index Entry
“genetrice”
the “liberalità della natura’.61 Following Macrobius’ In Somnium Scipionis, they infer that this term refers to a stage in the journey of the soul. The annotator’s interests here, however, appear more typographical than spiritual. In transcribing ‘ΤΗΣ ΦΥΣΕΩΣ ΟΛΒΟΣ’ in exacting detail, and again transliterating the term in precise Latin letters, Benedetto again shows his interest in the letter-forms of massed capitals, as expressed in his Veterum monumentorum ... collectanea. 10. e...
Russell, PhD Thesis, p. 98 (Ch. 4)
Hand Primary: Benedetto Giovio
Cross Reference
“Naturalis historia”
py at INCUN A.13 in the Biblioteca Pubblica di Como is a complete copy of the 1499 edition. The errata corrige is intact, and the Sacrifice to Priapus is uncensored. During this study some photographs were taken with my personal camera, but they did not resolve to sufficient detail to be of utility, and as a consequence I have only used one photograph of a large-scale illustration. Of the approximately 70 pieces of marginalia, the majority were concentrated in the cluster of focus (a1r-...
Russell, PhD Thesis, p. 119 (Ch. 5)
Hand Primary: Benedetto Giovio
Cross Reference
“Naturalis historia”
py at INCUN A.13 in the Biblioteca Pubblica di Como is a complete copy of the 1499 edition. The errata corrige is intact, and the Sacrifice to Priapus is uncensored. During this study some photographs were taken with my personal camera, but they did not resolve to sufficient detail to be of utility, and as a consequence I have only used one photograph of a large-scale illustration. Of the approximately 70 pieces of marginalia, the majority were concentrated in the cluster of focus (a1r-...
Russell, PhD Thesis, p. 119 (Ch. 5)
Hand Primary: Benedetto Giovio
Cross Reference
“Molÿ”
e Magar ne magalia se vide’, the annotator writes ‘Magar’. The word ‘syringe’ is extracted from the phrase ‘cum le sue bifore syringe rurale’. In a particularly idiosyncratic co-annotation with Modena, remarked on by Stichel, the annotator rewrites the phrase ‘subderi’ from the phrase ‘corticosi Subderi apto additamento muliebre’, a Plinian reference to women’s footwear. The botanical marginalia continue through the folios of which a complete transcription was made in each copy (a1r-...
Russell, PhD Thesis, p. 120 (Ch. 5)
Hand Primary: Benedetto Giovio
Cross Reference
“Molÿ”
e Magar ne magalia se vide’, the annotator writes ‘Magar’. The word ‘syringe’ is extracted from the phrase ‘cum le sue bifore syringe rurale’. In a particularly idiosyncratic co-annotation with Modena, remarked on by Stichel, the annotator rewrites the phrase ‘subderi’ from the phrase ‘corticosi Subderi apto additamento muliebre’, a Plinian reference to women’s footwear. The botanical marginalia continue through the folios of which a complete transcription was made in each copy (a1r-...
Russell, PhD Thesis, p. 120 (Ch. 5)