91/ On this present day, a beautiful poem of affection and springtime: ‘The Vigil of Venus’
6 min read
April is ‘mensis Veneris’ (month of Venus) in Latin and the competition of Venus on the primary days of April was widespread within the Roman Empire. ‘Pervigilium Veneris (Vigil of Venus)’ is a hymn of 93 verses celebrating Venus, Goddess of Love and Spring in these days.
F. L. Lucas translated the poem for a luxurious version of the well-known Golden Cockerel Press in 1939, fantastically illustrated by John BUCKLAND-WRIGHT (1897-1954) (1).
Its distinguished chorus “Cras amet qui numquam amavit, quique amavit cras amet” was interpreted
by Arthur Thomas Quiller-Sofa in 1912: “Now study ye to like who cherished by no means—now ye who’ve cherished, love anew!” (2).
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Determine 1 Composition with some engravings from the Golden Cockerel Press version (1).
Historical past
 The poem is of unsure date (2nd, 4th or 5th century AD) and several other authors have been prompt with out satisfactory proof, however it’s accepted that the setting appears to be Sicily. Extra necessary is the reference to the awakening of the pure world by Venus Genetrix as a ‘post-Lucretian’goddess (3).
It is documented that Desiderius Erasmus and his Venetian writer Aldo Manuzio have seen in 1508 a manuscript which contained the poem. The poem is first printed in three or 4 copies in 1578 by Pierre Pithou, who found a manuscript within the Bibliotheca Thuanea in Paris, nonetheless owned by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Within the subsequent centuries, many bigger editions appeared, just like the one in all 1712 in Fig.2 (4).
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yr
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title
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editor/translator
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writer
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illustrator
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kind
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1893
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Catullus, Pervigilium Veneris
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S.G. Owen
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Lawrence and Bullen, London
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John Reinhard WEGUELIN
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frontispiece and 6 plates
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1911
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Pervigilium Veneris, a poeta latino incognito
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E. du B. Peck
& Elizabeth
Hickman DuBois
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Elm Tree Press, Woodstock (Vermont)
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Dela P. Mussey
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coloration drawings
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1927
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The Vigil of Venus
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Thomas Parnell
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The Excessive Home Press, Shaftesbury
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Luke CLENNELL
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vignettes
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1939
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Pervigilium Veneris. The Vigil of Venus
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F.L. Lucas
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Golden Cockerel Press, London
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John BUCKLAND WRIGHT
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18 copper engravings
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1946
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Het Nachtfeest van Venus
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Nico van Suchtelen
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Wereldbibliotheek – Vereeniging, Amsterdam
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Pam G. RUETER
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wooden engravings
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1952
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The Vigil of Venus
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Lewis Gielgud
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Frederick Muller Ltd, London
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George BUDAY
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22 wooden engravings
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1954
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Pervigilium Veneris et De rosis nascentibus
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Alessandro Cutolo
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Officina Bodoni, Verona
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Mario VELLANI-MARCHI
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5 lithographics
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1972
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Pervigilium Veneris
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Caterina Vassallini
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Ed. Dominicae di Franco Riva, Verona
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Enrico DELLA TORRE
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2
lithographics
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John Reinhard WEGUELIN (1849-1927) was a famend English painter and illustrator impressed by mythology. His engraving in Owen’s version, the final one in all seven, illustrates verse 31: ‘Est in armis totus idem quando nudus est Amor’ (And when Love comes naked and bare, Love wears all his armour too.) (Fig.4) (7).
In regards to the illustrator Dela P. Mussey little is understood (Fig.5) (8).
The small vignettes in Parnell’s version are borrowed from the gifted wooden engraver Luke CLENNEL (1781-1840) after drawings by Thomas STOTHARD (1755-1834) of the previous century (Fig.6).
John BUCKLAND-WRIGHT
(see above Fig.1) thought of the engravings for this poem amongst his greatest.
Pam Georg RUETER (1906-1998) designed the title illustration for the Dutch version (Fig.7) .
Fig. 7 Pam Georg RUETER
The Hungarian-born artist György (George) BUDAY (1907-1990) is internationally often called a ebook illustrator (Fig 8).
Fig. 8 George BUDAY
The Italian artists Mario VELLANI MARCHI (1895 – 1979) and
Enrico DELLA TORRE (1931 – ) are each painters in addition to book-illustrators (Figs. 9 & 10)
Fig. 9 Mario VELLANI MARCHI
Fig. 10 Enrico DELLA TORRE
Sister Arts: Music
The Oxford Information to Classical Mythology within the Arts, 1300-Nineteen Nineties counts in part ‘Worship of Venus’ of entry APHRODITE (pp.155-156) eight music or dance compositions carried out in 1558, 1602, 1714, 1758, 1802, 1925, 1933, 1936. None, nonetheless, refer explicitly to ‘Pervigilium Veneris’.
‘The Vigil of Venus’of the English composer George Lloyd (1913-1998) is a choral piece of 78 minutes in 9 elements, written 1979-1980. The complete model is on YouTube, however curiously, illustrated with photos of Botticelli’s work (9).
There are additionally a number of audio-videos of the Latin textual content recited or chanted.
NOTES
(1) Pervigilium Veneris: The Vigil of Venus, translated by F.L.Lucas, 100 copies, double-page pictorial title in Latin and English (with 4 engravings) and 12 head-pieces & 2 tail-pieces by John Buckland Wright, all copper engravings with aquatint, textual content in Latin and English on going through pages, unique citron morocco, by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Golden Cockerel Press, 1939 London.
Frank Laurence Lucas edited the poem once more in 1948 as a part of his translations ‘Aphrodite – The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite and The Pervigilium Veneris’ College Press, Cambridge. ‘The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite’ was in the identical yr printed by the Golden Cockerel Press with beautiful illustrations by Mark SEVERIN (1906-1987): see put up of September 21, 2013 ‘The one-night stand of a Goddesswith consequences’
(2) The complete textual content in Latin with verses numbered and English translation after its strophe may be present in Project Gutenberg.
An attention-grabbing dialogue and a hyperlink to the total poem in Latin and its English translation is discovered within the article ‘Thomas Parnell’s translation ofThe Vigil of Venus is a sensuous celebration of the arrival of spring’ by Carol Rumens in The Guardian Mon 21 Mar 2011.
(3) The poem ‘De Rerum Natura’ opens with an invocation to Venus, whom Lucretius addresses as an allegorical illustration of the reproductive energy in an Epicurian spirit. See put up of October 24, 2011 ‘Ofthe Nature of Things’ illustrated
(4) Cecil Clementi ‘Bibliographical and different research on the Pervigilium Veneris compiled from analysis within the library of the British Museum’ Blackwell, Oxford 1913.
(5) The engraving is recorded within the British Museum underneath quantity 1938,0502.22.78. It’s lettered on plate with title ‘Pervigilium Veneris’ however irrespective of a publication.
(6) A member of FICINO@LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA kindly responded to my enquiry and wrote: “…their shortage or potential nonexistence can maybe be defined by the date of the earliest one you cite. I believe that its new reputation at the moment could also be as a result of 1884 publication of Walter Pater’s novel Marius the Epicurean, the place it’s memorably quoted.”. (Pater makes Flavian, a hedonistic pal of Marius, the creator of the Pervigilium Veneris).
It’s certainly additionally outstanding that the record counts principally English publications.
(7) The seven plates of WEGUELIN in Owen’s publication with associated verses may be seen in The American Classicist
(8) In ‘United States Congressional Serial Set, Quantity 3096, U.S. Authorities Printing Workplace, 1893, p.935 Public Colleges of the District of Columbia 12 months 1891-’92’ is written: “Miss Dela P. Mussey was apponted trainer of drawing…(…) … of the Japanese Excessive College”
(9) Critiques may be learn on the George Lloyd Composer web site. The full version and Part VI of 5.08 min are on YouTube.
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