FRANCESCO SEGALA ~ FIGURATIVE MAZES

The idea of using a maze to portray an image was first suggested in the sixteenth century by the Paduan architect Francesco Segala, who created woodcut images in maze form in his book Libro de Laberinti de Franc. Segalla Padoano Scultore et Architettore, a copy of which can be found in the Vatican Library. His maze images included a man, horseman, jester, dog, dolphin, snail, crab, and sailing ship; implied by its title, the book probably contains many more images. He used the internal lines of each maze to reinforce its image in an illustrative way. There is no record of any of these ever being created in the landscape; their intricate designs would have involved path lengths of over a mile, too large for formal gardens.