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Francesco Colonna

Francesco Colonna (1433/1434 – 1527) was an Italian Dominican priest and monk who was credited with the authorship of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili by an acrostic formed by initial letters of the text. He lived in Venice, and preached at St. Besides Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, he definitely wrote a Latin epic poem, Delfili Somnium (the "Dream of Delfilo"), which went unpublished in his lifetime and was not published until 1959.

Francesco Colonna

Title page engraving from a 1600 edition of Le tableav des riches inventions couuertes by Francesco Colonna (d. 1527). *IC.C7192.Eh600b, Houghton Library, Harvard University

Francesco Colonna (author), engraving attributed to J. Goujon or J. Cousin · Houghton Library · Public domain

Name
Francesco Colonna
Born
1433
Birthplace
Venice, Italy
Died
1527
Occupation
Priest and monk
Nationality
Republic of Venice
Fields
priesthood · monasticism
Known for
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
Languages
medieval Italian · renaissance Latin

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Francesco Colonna (1433/1434 – 1527) was an Italian Dominican priest and monk who was credited with the authorship of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili by an acrostic formed by initial letters of the text. He lived in Venice, and preached at St. Besides Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, he definitely wrote a Latin epic poem, Delfili Somnium (the "Dream of Delfilo"), which went unpublished in his lifetime and was not published until 1959.

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wikidata · Q765444

In this article

  1. 01Biography
  2. 02Archives and collections
  3. 03Notes, references and evidence

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