I wonder if this plate is part of Cranach’s illustrated version of Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible? Anyone?
It’s funny on how returning to the blogosphere after saying goodbye to it for quite some years, I bump straight into an old virtual friend when searching for “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili + Bomarzo + elephant”. The friend in question runs the fascinating culture blog Journey to Perplexity [1].
The reason I googled the words above was that my Dutch edition (translated by Ike Cialona) of Hypnerotomachia Poliphili claims that Colonna’ work inspired these works of architecture:
- Grotta di Buontalenti by Bernardo Buontalenti and Giambologna‘s famous Bathing Venus in the Boboli Gardens
- Ercole Ferrata‘s Elephant and Obelisk
- Giovanni Battista Vaccarini‘s u Liotru
- Gigantomachia fresco by Giulo Romano
- Santa Maria della Salute by Baldassarre Longhena
- Park of the Monsters at Bomarzo
One thing leading to another, as they usually do, I found this [2] fascinating woodcut (depicted above), of which the colour palette reminds me of Japanese woodcuts.
I wonder if the plate is part of Cranach’s illustrated version of Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible? Anyone?
![[2]](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apokalypse_lutherbibel.jpg){kind=link}
Georg Lemberger, 1490 – after 1537.
I found it in…
‘The Apocalypse and the Shape of Things to Come’
Frances Carey, British Museum Press.
Thanks Paul. I love the style of his woodcuts. He belongs to the Danube School, I just read. Are you familiar with his Saint George Freeing the Princess? I’ll post it in a minute.