This post is on another set of images from the Drolactic Dreams of Pantagruel, a manuscript from 1565. The book features the diagrams without titles or captions, so I will be referring to the images by their page number based on the internet archive. Now straight to the illustrations and analysis.
Page 38
This is a silly one to start with, a knight with a leather covering of some sort. It is so large that it covers both his head and torso, with his arms awkwardly coming from underneath to hold the sword. A large shield may be draped across his back, but it looks like a sandal to me. The detail that I want to focus on though is the hollow eye and the stitched mouth. The sutures are simple, but I really like them, and hopefully can employ this type of stitch in future designs.
Page 40
This is the image which I thought was closer to the cockroach end of The Metamorphosis. The subject looks to be in a leather shell, with a flowing fabric garment covering its lower body. The footwear is strange, like open toed shoes, connected to the flowing skirt, with long spurs. The top of the shell has a face structure, but the mouth opens to reveal a still human head. The subject also reads a book while wielding a harpoon, which actually has an additional detail which I think is worth pointing out. A symbol which looks like a resistor is hovering above the harpoon. This may be a hidden image or some sort of symbol as a piece of a code which may elevate these surreal images into some sort of pictorial cryptography, but that is purely speculative. A few other images have stray symbols, or somewhat hidden objects, but they may be incidental or unintentional. That is part of the beauty and frustration of such open ended art.
Page 53
This image reminds me of something, but I am not sure exactly what. It may be a product of malleable memory, how several image influences meld together to make the feeling that I have seen something like this before. Perhaps the various characters of Dr. Suess, Necron 99 from Wizards, or maybe the Nitro from Toriko, there is just a familiar mis-memory that is lying dormant somewhere in my mind. I find it somewhat comedic that this figure has two swords, but lacks arms, although they may just be beneath the bell like poncho. I really like the combination of the balaclava and the mask though, as I have been trying to work in visors or hazmat helmets as part of the Envitromite design.
Page 82
Here is another image that I suspect is part of a code, with a couple stray details like the rabbit’s paw in the corner and the double ended snakelike handle on top of the hat. Then of course there is the subject of the image which looks like an idiom or a metaphor, a strange humanoid creature discarding a book into a well, while wearing what I assume to be a pot lid or round shield as a hat. It seems so obvious that this means something, although I think the intended meaning is less clear. Visually I like the lumpy face and hollow features, which seems to be a consistent theme.
Page 115
The last image I want to show for this post is of a snail with the legs of a man, the hands of a demon, and a human face on top of its shell. This is not necessarily a mistake on the part of the artist, but to me the image breaks the rule of smooth continuity. On the left side of the image is what I think to be a sword pommel with a decorative eagle, and a curled crossguard, but then on the right side of the snail is the sword’s blade, which is also curved. The blade and the hilt do not really line up, but instead the blade lines up with the belt the snail is wearing, just above its shell. This leads me to believe that the decorative hilt is meant to be a hidden image as some part of a code. This is also one of the few images to have normal letters and or numbers featured, with the ‘F4’ at the bottom of the image. I am not sure if this is a later addition or a printing artifact, but it is a puzzling element in the design.
I think one of my favorite aspects of this image set is the wonder that they inspire. There is a book, The Codex Seraphinianus, which was created with fantastic imagery and nonsense language to give adults the experience of being a child and seeing extraordinary things on paper without being able to read the surrounding text. If you can find a copy, I would strongly recommend reading it, or at least looking at the strange pictures and imaginary language. The book is asemic, with no intended meaning, and it makes me wonder if the Drolatic Dreams of Pantagruel is in the same boat, absurd, but intentionally devoid of meaning. I am not sure to what degree authorial intent matters to the audience, which is a deeply philosophical question for another day. One thing is for sure though, that these images really get me in the creative mood, and hopefully you enjoyed them as well.