DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.56004#0010
6
In the Second Book, Polia and Poliphilus, in order to satisfy the curiosity of the nymphs in
whose company they are reposing among the flowers at the fountain, relate the adventures of
their love. At last, our hero is awakened by the song of the nightingale ; and with a sigh he
realises the truth that his Polia has vanished, and his dream is over.
V.
Polia appears in the visions of Poliphilus as his oracle, the sage interpreter of the mysteries
and inscriptions in some of the temples and tombs, “but the mysteries are—as Dunlop remarks-
not always the clearer for her interpretation.”* Who was Polia? Was there such a person
living, or is she but a creature of Francesco Colonna’s imagination ? The latter seems not un-
likely ; and we believe that the supreme love of our author was in truth classical antiquity. It
has been related that Colonna described under an allegorical disguise his passion for a nun who
died young. Some say her name was Ippolita, and thus derive the fictitious name Polia-
Ippolita—Polita—Polia. According to others, her name was Lucretia. She was, we are told, a
daughter of Francesco Lelio, a patrician and jurisconsult of Treviso, and niece of the bishop
Teodoro Lelio, who took the veil in that city, after having been attacked by the plague,
which actually broke out at Treviso in 1464 and 1466. In the first chapter of the Second
Book, Polia herself tells the nymphs that her name is Lucretia, giving at the same time a rather
wearisome account of the origin of her native city, and of her ancient and illustrious family. She
also relates how Poliphilus first saw her in the flower of her age, and instantly fell in love with
her: she stood on the terrace of her father’s palace, whilst her companion combed her golden
hair.f We must, however, not forget to mention that the names of Columna (or Colonna) and
Polia are gathered from the initial letters to the thirty-eight chapters of the romance, which form
the following line,
POLIAM FRATER FRANCISCVS COLVMNA PERAMAVIT.
The discovery of this acrostic appears to have been made as early as the year 1512.
VI.
Fra Francesco Colonna’s art-romance has excited more perplexity than admiration. There are
some Italian, French and German writers who speak more or less in commendation of it—the
Venetian architect Tommaso Temanza (Vite dei piu celebri architetti e scultori Veneziani, vol. i.
pp. 1-53) ; Domenico Maria Federici (Memorie Trevigiane sulle opere di disegno, vol. i.
pp. 98-108) ; Vincenzo Marchese (Memorie dei piu insigni pittori, scultori e architetti Domenicani,
vol. i. pp. 332-346) ;tt Seroux d'Agincourt (Histoire de I’art, vol. i. pt. iii. p. 87); Quatremcre
de Quincy (Encyclopedic methodique, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 718); Johann Dominicus Fiorillo, the
art-historian of Goettingen, and lately, Albert Ilg, of Vienna. On the other hand, we find
Francesco Milizia (Memorie degli architetti antichi e moderni, vol. i. p. 179) § and
Tiraboschi among those who take a decidedly unfavourable view of the book. The latter de-
scribes it as an obscure medley of fable, history, architecture, antiquities, mathematics, and many
other things. “ Certain persons,” says he, “ who admire a work the more the less they understand
it, have fancied that they could perceive in it a full summary of human knowledge.”|| The well-
known French writer Bernard de La Monnoye goes so far as to pronounce the Hypnerotomachia
to be the most tedious and the most extravagant species of romance than can be imagined.5)
And in later times, probably very few have had courage enough to peruse the whole of this
intricate work ; the descriptions of the author being incredibly lengthy and monotonous, and his
allusions to particulars of Greek and Roman mythology and history endless, and mostly very
forced and pedantic.
But if the Dream of Poliphilus displays little or no merit as a romance, it nevertheless is a
work full of curious details for the architect, and suggestions for the ornamentist ; and it is also
of great interest as an evidence of the current of thought and feeling in Italy during the fifteenth
century ; for it shows in a striking manner the ardent love of classical antiquity which animated
Italian scholars of that age.
* History of Fiction, 3rd edition, p. 398.
+ Charles Nodier has taken the supposed love story of Francesco Colonna as the subject of the last novel which he wrote.
This novel appeared in the “ Bulletin des Amis des Arts ” of 1843, and was reprinted in the following year, under the title —
“ Franciscus Columna, derniere nouvelle de Charles Nodier, extraite du Bulletin des amis des arts, et precedee d’une notice,
par Jules Janin.” Paris, 1844, in 12mo.
++ English translation, by C. P. Meehan, Dublin, 1852, vol. i. pp. 282-294.
§ English translation, by Mrs. E. Cresy, London, 1826, vol. i. p. 201.
|| Storia della Poesia Italiana, ripubblicata da T. J. Mathias, Londra, 1803, vol. ii. p. 277.
11 “ Le songe de Poliphile est une espece de roman le plus ennuieux, et le plus extravagant, soit pour la conduite, soit pour
le style, que 1’on puisse imaginer.” La. Monnoye, in the Menagiana, vol. iv. p. 69.
In the Second Book, Polia and Poliphilus, in order to satisfy the curiosity of the nymphs in
whose company they are reposing among the flowers at the fountain, relate the adventures of
their love. At last, our hero is awakened by the song of the nightingale ; and with a sigh he
realises the truth that his Polia has vanished, and his dream is over.
V.
Polia appears in the visions of Poliphilus as his oracle, the sage interpreter of the mysteries
and inscriptions in some of the temples and tombs, “but the mysteries are—as Dunlop remarks-
not always the clearer for her interpretation.”* Who was Polia? Was there such a person
living, or is she but a creature of Francesco Colonna’s imagination ? The latter seems not un-
likely ; and we believe that the supreme love of our author was in truth classical antiquity. It
has been related that Colonna described under an allegorical disguise his passion for a nun who
died young. Some say her name was Ippolita, and thus derive the fictitious name Polia-
Ippolita—Polita—Polia. According to others, her name was Lucretia. She was, we are told, a
daughter of Francesco Lelio, a patrician and jurisconsult of Treviso, and niece of the bishop
Teodoro Lelio, who took the veil in that city, after having been attacked by the plague,
which actually broke out at Treviso in 1464 and 1466. In the first chapter of the Second
Book, Polia herself tells the nymphs that her name is Lucretia, giving at the same time a rather
wearisome account of the origin of her native city, and of her ancient and illustrious family. She
also relates how Poliphilus first saw her in the flower of her age, and instantly fell in love with
her: she stood on the terrace of her father’s palace, whilst her companion combed her golden
hair.f We must, however, not forget to mention that the names of Columna (or Colonna) and
Polia are gathered from the initial letters to the thirty-eight chapters of the romance, which form
the following line,
POLIAM FRATER FRANCISCVS COLVMNA PERAMAVIT.
The discovery of this acrostic appears to have been made as early as the year 1512.
VI.
Fra Francesco Colonna’s art-romance has excited more perplexity than admiration. There are
some Italian, French and German writers who speak more or less in commendation of it—the
Venetian architect Tommaso Temanza (Vite dei piu celebri architetti e scultori Veneziani, vol. i.
pp. 1-53) ; Domenico Maria Federici (Memorie Trevigiane sulle opere di disegno, vol. i.
pp. 98-108) ; Vincenzo Marchese (Memorie dei piu insigni pittori, scultori e architetti Domenicani,
vol. i. pp. 332-346) ;tt Seroux d'Agincourt (Histoire de I’art, vol. i. pt. iii. p. 87); Quatremcre
de Quincy (Encyclopedic methodique, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 718); Johann Dominicus Fiorillo, the
art-historian of Goettingen, and lately, Albert Ilg, of Vienna. On the other hand, we find
Francesco Milizia (Memorie degli architetti antichi e moderni, vol. i. p. 179) § and
Tiraboschi among those who take a decidedly unfavourable view of the book. The latter de-
scribes it as an obscure medley of fable, history, architecture, antiquities, mathematics, and many
other things. “ Certain persons,” says he, “ who admire a work the more the less they understand
it, have fancied that they could perceive in it a full summary of human knowledge.”|| The well-
known French writer Bernard de La Monnoye goes so far as to pronounce the Hypnerotomachia
to be the most tedious and the most extravagant species of romance than can be imagined.5)
And in later times, probably very few have had courage enough to peruse the whole of this
intricate work ; the descriptions of the author being incredibly lengthy and monotonous, and his
allusions to particulars of Greek and Roman mythology and history endless, and mostly very
forced and pedantic.
But if the Dream of Poliphilus displays little or no merit as a romance, it nevertheless is a
work full of curious details for the architect, and suggestions for the ornamentist ; and it is also
of great interest as an evidence of the current of thought and feeling in Italy during the fifteenth
century ; for it shows in a striking manner the ardent love of classical antiquity which animated
Italian scholars of that age.
* History of Fiction, 3rd edition, p. 398.
+ Charles Nodier has taken the supposed love story of Francesco Colonna as the subject of the last novel which he wrote.
This novel appeared in the “ Bulletin des Amis des Arts ” of 1843, and was reprinted in the following year, under the title —
“ Franciscus Columna, derniere nouvelle de Charles Nodier, extraite du Bulletin des amis des arts, et precedee d’une notice,
par Jules Janin.” Paris, 1844, in 12mo.
++ English translation, by C. P. Meehan, Dublin, 1852, vol. i. pp. 282-294.
§ English translation, by Mrs. E. Cresy, London, 1826, vol. i. p. 201.
|| Storia della Poesia Italiana, ripubblicata da T. J. Mathias, Londra, 1803, vol. ii. p. 277.
11 “ Le songe de Poliphile est une espece de roman le plus ennuieux, et le plus extravagant, soit pour la conduite, soit pour
le style, que 1’on puisse imaginer.” La. Monnoye, in the Menagiana, vol. iv. p. 69.