Lost and Found

University of Oregon Special Collections and University Archives

https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:df736b81r

Panciroli, Guido, Guidonis Pancirolli Rerum memorabilium sive deperditarum, 1629, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon. T33.P2 1629  

In his Rerum memorabilium sive deperditarum, pars prior (et posterior), Guido Pancirolli catalogues the history of Tyrian purple, a prized color of antiquity sought in  alchemic experiments and ancient texts, but in Pancirolli's time only visible in the imagination. Certainly, Pancirolli finds this color fascinating and one of the crowning achievements of society, as he compares the importance of this almost ethereal hue with that of the entirety of the New World—something that attests to purple’s value in late Renaissance society. Modern scholars have claimed that Tyrian purple “could yield colors ranging from blue to a host of reds,” but that its most valued hue was that of “clotted blood.” Pancirolli would likely agree, as he explains that this purple is “from a kind of shell-fish, i.e. from a white vein it carries in its jaws; out of which, being cut there flows this juice or precious gore…. From thence arose that shining and middle colour between red and black, like that of a clove-gillyflower." The clove-gillyflower was one of the most prized ornamental flowers of the time, which today we would call a carnation, a flower whose very name likewise perhaps refers to carnis or flesh.   Featured here is the intricate title-page to Pancirolli's posthumously published text, showing depictions of classical antiquity turning away from the viewer, and “New World” images turning toward the viewer. This image depicts the structure of Pancirolli’s work, which balanced newly found inventions against lost things and asked such questions as whether any modern color could match the vibrancy and shimmery qualities of the ancient purple.

Lilly Bonasera