Page 215 - The Grotesque Children's Book

Translator’s Note. A hint. You see it would be at this point that the
puzzle-loving Italians who were reading the original would have dashed out to the
Uffizi and started looking for blue, red, and green banners in the ceilings, hoping
to stay one step ahead of Aurelio’s patient explanations to Tozzo. Hint, hint....

Translator’s Note. The frescoes on the ceiling and how to view them.
When The Grotesque Children’s Book was first written, in Italian, in Florence,
somewhere in the early-to-mid seventeenth century, readers could visit the
ceilings in person, and play along with the author, looking at clues and symbols,
leaping to conclusions, then confirming or denying them by looking back at the
ceilings. And so the original novel was probably printed with only a few spot
illustrations, in the tales themselves, and perhaps a chapter heads. The likelihood
is that now, you, the reader of the translated version so so many years later, are
not at the moment in Florence, and cannot view the ceilings. This is a great
shame. You must go, of course, especially if you’ve never been, and view the
ceilings in person, whether or not you have a taste for this novel. They’re
extraordinary. Thousands and thousands of figures, of outstanding variety and
theatricality.

One of my greatest challenges as a translator was to figure out a way to
approximate even a small portion of the artwork which is so central to the story,
theme and characters of the work. I’ve spoken with many different publishers,
trying to figure out whether they could include reproductions of the ceilings, but
they’re some forty feet long -- each! So life-sized versions are impossible, ad
miniaturized versions are so small you can’t see the figures. So -- as you’ve
already seen, because you’ve flipped to the illustrations section more than once
already -- I’ve hit on the compromise of including sections of some of the ceilings.
I’ve included selections from the ceilings which were worked on most by the three
apprentice painters who form such prominent roles in this book: Tozzo
Scatenarsi, Aurelio DeSolo and most of all Santi del Meglio. You’ll see I’ve
divided each ceiling into portions and had the publisher print the book as large as
is economically possible. I believe I have included sufficient enough portions so
that you can approximate the treasure-hunting aspect of the book which would
have appealed to the original readers, gazing up at the actual ceilings,
deciphering for themselves.

But! I’ve gone on step further on your behalf. (You’re welcome. Had I
known how much effort it was going to be, I think I would not have expended so
much energy and time as I did for. You’re twice welcome.) I took photographs

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