Petronius

Johannes Hendrikus Moesman (Utrecht, 1908 – Tull and 't Waal, 1988) was one of the most idiosyncratic artists of the 20th century. He has always remained faithful to Surrealism, unlike his contemporaries. He has also always kept his job with the Dutch Railways ("a stupid job").

Moesman had a theory about letter design. According to him, a letter had to be "100% written," without the rigidity of the Roman alphabet, as if it were carved in stone. In 1969 he came up with the Petronius, a letter derived from his calligraphic designs.

Petronius regular

Autobahn has focused on digitizing the Roman of the Petronius into a font that can be used on any computer. This led to the problem that even the highest quality scan of the type specimen Op Engelvoeten, à pas de loup (from 1975) still left too much room for interpretation, because the proof did not appear on smooth paper.

Five copies of the type specimen have surfaced, the scans of which were superimposed to arrive at the most true-to-life interpretation of the letter. Digitization therefore largely amounts to restoration. The idea was ultimately to return the Petronius to the world. The @ sign should not be missing. Autobahn has thus drawn a completely new character from the thought and handwriting of Moesman.