Poliphili: A Renaissance dream banquet

Abstract

Francesco Colonna's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (The Strife of Love in a Dream) of 1499 is a bizarre architectural-erotic fantasy whose imagery has often perplexed commentators. One particular banquet scene has defied scrutiny. This paper decodes the meal as a typical Renaissance banquet, as harmonious and balanced as any painting or edifice, yet offering an image of divine feeding. The flavors, ingredients and meal structure all reflect current culinary aesthetics as well as Neo-Platonic love theory, occult symbolism and humoral medicine. The banquet scene features foods and cooking methods which were popular in late 15th century Italy and yet includes exotic ingredients such as precious jewels and perfumes which were meant to denote divine feeding. For example, a confection served as a starter can be found in contemporary cookbooks such as the Banchetti of Christoforo di Messisbugo. There it is called Manus Christi (hand of Christ), made with powdered sugar, rosewater and ground pearls. Colonna's version also includes unicorn's horn, musk, powdered gold and other rare ingredients. Serving golden foods was also meant to harness the energy of the sun, following a form of sympathetic magic drawn from works such as Marsilio Ficino's De Vita (1489). The structure of the meal as well, with three courses each consisting of the same tripartite combination of fowl, delicate white bread and a spiced sauce, was not redundant but an elegant balance similar to that found in paintings of the High Renaissance, as well as according to the tenets of humoral physiology: balancing sweet, savory and sour flavors was meant to be highly nutritious, easily digested and moderate. In total, the meal reflects the same Renaissance preoccupation with harmony, balance and order evident in the other arts, and was intended to lead the spectator upward toward an appreciation of the pure Platonic form of Love.