In Giovanni Aurelio Augurello (1441-1524) and Renaissance Alchemy, Matteo Soranzo offers the firs... more In Giovanni Aurelio Augurello (1441-1524) and Renaissance Alchemy, Matteo Soranzo offers the first in-depth study of the life and works of Augurello, Italian alchemist, poet and art connoisseur from the time of Giorgione. The complete work is available at https://brill.com/view/title/36127
Poetry and Identity in Quattrocento Naples approaches poems as acts of cultural identity and inve... more Poetry and Identity in Quattrocento Naples approaches poems as acts of cultural identity and investigates how a group of authors used poetry to develop a poetic style, while also displaying their position toward the culture of others. Starting from an analysis of Giovanni Pontano’s Parthenopeus and De amore coniugali, followed by a discussion of Jacopo Sannazaro’s Arcadia, Matteo Soranzo links the genesis and themes of these texts to the social, political and intellectual vicissitudes of Naples under the domination of Kings Alfonso and Ferrante. Delving further into Pontano’s literary and astrological production, Soranzo illustrates the consolidation and eventual dispersion of this author’s legacy by looking at the symbolic value attached to his masterpiece Urania, and at the genesis of Sannazaro’s De partu Virginis. Poetic works written in neo-Latin and the vernacular during the Aragonese domination, in this way, are examined not only as literary texts, but also as the building blocks of their authors’ careers.
Scholarship on Quattrocento Italy published in 2022 displays a remarkable variety of themes and m... more Scholarship on Quattrocento Italy published in 2022 displays a remarkable variety of themes and methods. The survey that follows ascribes a few hundred books, book chapters, and journal articles to three main sections based on geographical, biographical, and thematic criteria. The first section revolves around Italy and its city-states
In his Neo-Latin poem Chrysopoeia (1515), the Italian humanist Giovanni Aurelio Augurello often d... more In his Neo-Latin poem Chrysopoeia (1515), the Italian humanist Giovanni Aurelio Augurello often declares to be outdoing the ancients in writing the first alchemical poem in Latin. Is this simply an instance of what E. R. Curtius called outdoing a topos? Or is Augurello’s poem actually venturing onto a metaphorically untrodden path? Based on an analysis of Chrysopoeia, its genesis, and its sources, this article aims to assess the extent of this poem’s novelty. In particular, my interpretation focuses on this text’s poetic transpositions of non-literary sources, and more specifically Geber’s Summa perfectionis and other medieval alchemical texts.
Historians of Renaissance art have long been familiar with Giovanni Aurelio Augurello's i... more Historians of Renaissance art have long been familiar with Giovanni Aurelio Augurello's interest in painting and sculpture, while historians of alchemy are aware of his lifelong dedication to the gold-making art immortalized in his masterpiece, Chrysopoeia (1515). Yet the problem of how these interests intersect in the poet's work has either been disregarded or framed within outdated categories such as occultism and hermeticism. In a dialogue with recent theoretical work on intermediality, and based on the identification of several key artistic allusions in Augurello's Chrysopoeia, this article proposes to interpret them beyond the conventions of ekphrasis. A remarkable focus on artistic techniques, processes, and materials, we argue, defines the self-referential blend of poetry and alchemy inscribed in Chrysopoeia. Rather than being the expression of an occult or hermetic mentality, this poem's fascination with the materiality and poetics of artworks, we propose, is attuned with the Northern Italian aesthetics nurtured by Andrea Mantegna, Giulio Campagnola, and other artists of the time.
In his Neo-Latin poem Chrysopoeia (1515), the Italian humanist Giovanni Aurelio Augurello often d... more In his Neo-Latin poem Chrysopoeia (1515), the Italian humanist Giovanni Aurelio Augurello often declares to be outdoing the ancients in writing the first alchemical poem in Latin. Is this simply an instance of what E. R. Curtius called outdoing a topos? Or is Augurello's poem actually venturing onto a metaphorically untrodden path? Based on an analysis of Chrysopoeia, its genesis, and its sources, this article aims to assess the extent of this poem's novelty. In particular, my interpretation focuses on this text's poetic transpositions of non-literary sources, and more specifically Geber's Summa perfectionis and other medieval alchemical texts. Dans son poème néo-latin Chrysopoeia (1515), l'humaniste italien Giovanni Aurelio Augurello déclare à plusieurs reprises qu'il surpasse les Anciens en écrivant le premier poème alchimique latin. Est-ce simplement un exemple de ce que E. R. Curtius appelait « surpasser un topos » ? Ou le poème d'Augurello s'aventure-t-il réellement sur un territoire métaphoriquement inexploré ? En se fondant sur l'analyse de Chrysopoeia, sa genèse et ses sources, cet article cherche à évaluer l'étendue de la nouveauté de ce poème. Notre interprétation se concentre en particulier sur les transpositions poétiques de sources non littéraires dans ce poème, et plus spécifiquement sur la Summa perfectionis de Geber et d'autres textes alchimiques médiévaux.
Historians of Renaissance art have long been familiar with Giovanni Aurelio Augurello's interest ... more Historians of Renaissance art have long been familiar with Giovanni Aurelio Augurello's interest in painting and sculpture, while historians of alchemy are aware of his lifelong dedication to the gold-making art immortalized in his masterpiece, Chrysopoeia (1515). Yet the problem of how these interests intersect in the poet's work has either been disregarded or framed within outdated categories such as occultism and hermeticism. In a dialogue with recent theoretical work on intermediality, and based on the identification of several key artistic allusions in Augurello's Chrysopoeia, this article proposes to interpret them beyond the conventions of ekphrasis. A remarkable focus on artistic techniques, processes, and materials, we argue, defines the self-referential blend of poetry and alchemy inscribed in Chrysopoeia. Rather than being the expression of an occult or hermetic mentality, this poem's fascination with the materiality and poetics of artworks, we propose, is attuned with the Northern Italian aesthetics nurtured by Andrea Mantegna, Giulio Campagnola, and other artists of the time.
Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages
En septembre 1462, lorsque Cosme de Médicis fit don à Marsile Ficin (1433–1499) d'un exem... more En septembre 1462, lorsque Cosme de Médicis fit don à Marsile Ficin (1433–1499) d'un exem-plaire manuscrit des dialogues de Platon et lui demanda d'en faire une traduction latine, ce riche patron florentin inaugura un nouveau chapitre dans l'histoire de la philosophie occiden-tale. Sans doute les dialogues platoniciens avaient-ils été connus, en partie du moins, au cours du Moyen Âge; et des thèmes authentiquement platoniciens, souvent transmis par l'intermé-diaire de commentateurs arabes d'Aristote, avaient déjà franchi les seuils des universités euro-péennes et des studia monastiques. De plus, une auréole de sainteté, en grande partie inspirée par saint Augustin et par Boèce, couronnait depuis longtemps Platon et ses doctrines, dont la compatibilité avec la vie spirituelle du chrétien faisait l'objet de fréquentes louanges non seu-lement parmi les savants moines de l'École de Chartres, mais aussi parmi des poètes tels que Dante et Pétrarque. N'ayant guère accès aux sources originelles, privés du genre de commen-taires qui accompagnaient habituellement les oeuvres d'Aristote, et formés par des programmes scolaires foncièrement scolastiques, ces lecteurs occidentaux ne pouvaient guère accéder à la lecture des dialogues de Platon. L'arrivée au pouvoir d'une famille de banquiers relativement nouvelle, ainsi que l'échec, en 1439, de l'unification des églises d'Orient et d'Occident, la chute de Constantinople en 1453, et la migration subséquente de nombre de savants et livres byzantins vers la péninsule italienne, tels sont quelques-uns des facteurs qui préparèrent la voie à l'entre-prise intellectuelle de Ficin et à ses multiples ramifications intellectuelles. Aux yeux de lecteurs habitués à concevoir la philosophie comme poursuite théorique, abs-traite, cérébrale de vérités universelles, le chapitre nouveau inauguré par Ficin et ses sectateurs dut paraître fort étrange. Se définissant lui-même comme « médecin de l'âme », enclin aux états extatiques, et animé par un zèle quasi prophétique pour la transformation spirituelle des érudits et des responsables politiques de son temps, Ficin adhérait à une notion hellénistique de la philosophie comme mode de vie plutôt que comme activité purement théorique; idée que Ficin et d'autres penseurs de son temps adoptaient en opposition, et souvent à titre de réponse, aux institutions éducatives de leur temps. Ficin se plongea dans la lecture de philosophes de l'Antiquité tardive tels que Plotin, Proclus, Jamblique et, tout comme ces prédécesseurs avant lui, de révélations pré-chrétiennes telles que le Corpus Hermeticum, les Orphica et les Oracula Chaldaica. À la suite de ses prédécesseurs antiques, Ficin et ses disciples tiraient des dialogues de Platon les coordonnées d'un cheminement spirituel visant à la transformation du moi et à l'union mystique avec l'Un, cheminement divergent de l'idée de la philosophie encore do-minante alors comme ancilla theologiae, utile en vue de la poursuite de la foi chrétienne mais subordonnée à celle-ci. Ce qui toutefois rend Ficin quelque peu excentrique en tant que philo-sophe est à l'origine même de son influence sur la spiritualité, la magie, la littérature et les arts visuels; et est au coeur de l'intérêt que lui consacre l'érudition actuelle. Un des aspects importants, mais jusqu'ici négligés, de l'héritage ficinien, est l'impact qu'il eut sur les pratiques religieuses de son temps et plus spécifiquement sur la prière. C'est
Mediterranea. International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge, 2020
Beginning with the work of Marsilio Ficino through the poems of Michele Marullo, Gianfrancesco Pi... more Beginning with the work of Marsilio Ficino through the poems of Michele Marullo, Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola, Pierre Ronsard, Edmund Spenser and others, this essay discusses the revival and fortune of philosophical hymns in Quattrocento Italy and the diffusion of this genre in Early Modern Europe. In doing so, we will attempt at framing this phenomenon in the context of Early Modern religious pluralism and interpret it as an instance of experiential knowledge.
The article examines the theme of spiritual transformation in three poets (Lazzarelli, Augurelli,... more The article examines the theme of spiritual transformation in three poets (Lazzarelli, Augurelli, Mantuanus) writing in the context of hermeticism, alchemy and monastic spirituality. Building on current scholarship on Western Esotericism and religious pluralism, the article argues that: 1) whether it occurs in hermetic, alchemical, or hagiographical contexts, spiritual transformation is characterized by recurring linguistic features and motifs consistent with Antoine Faivre’s definition of esotericism; 2) the presence of spiritual transformation and its corresponding language outside of proper esoteric contexts, suggests approaching this theme as a discursive strategy, whose features correspond to von Stuckrad’s definition of ‘language of experiential knowledge’. In a dialogue with Michel Foucault and Pierre Hadot, the article suggests taking this phenomenon as part of the Renaissance rediscovery of philosophy as a way of life, and an instance of a broader notion of spirituality.
The essay examines three cases of poets (Baptista Mantuanus, Giles of Viterbo, Jacopo Sannazaro) ... more The essay examines three cases of poets (Baptista Mantuanus, Giles of Viterbo, Jacopo Sannazaro) who wrote texts about conversion in early modern Italy. Its goal is to illustrate the evolution of conversion before the Reformation and to explore the role of poetic writing in the construction of religious identities. More precisely, the essay investigates how members of mendicant orders used a so-called ‘language of experiential knowledge’ to define their religious identity and defend the knowledge claims of their order against competing options. In doing so, the essay brings forth an original hypothesis concerning the target and motives of the condemnation of poetry at the Fifth Lateran Council, while further contributing to the current debate on religious pluralism and European identity.
Skepsi is a research online journal based in the School of European Culture and Languages at the ... more Skepsi is a research online journal based in the School of European Culture and Languages at the University of Kent, and is entirely run by research students. Skepsi originally means 'thought' in Greek, and symbolizes our will to explore new areas and new methods in the traditional fields of academic research in the Humanities and Social Sciences Skepsi editorial board's aim is to honour the spirit of the School of European Culture and Languages, working hard to take advantage of its unique position as a crossroads in academic studies in Europe. Our hope is to develop collective thinking processes in the context of academic research, and to become a forum for European postgraduate researchers and postdoctoral scholars.
In Giovanni Aurelio Augurello (1441-1524) and Renaissance Alchemy, Matteo Soranzo offers the firs... more In Giovanni Aurelio Augurello (1441-1524) and Renaissance Alchemy, Matteo Soranzo offers the first in-depth study of the life and works of Augurello, Italian alchemist, poet and art connoisseur from the time of Giorgione. The complete work is available at https://brill.com/view/title/36127
Poetry and Identity in Quattrocento Naples approaches poems as acts of cultural identity and inve... more Poetry and Identity in Quattrocento Naples approaches poems as acts of cultural identity and investigates how a group of authors used poetry to develop a poetic style, while also displaying their position toward the culture of others. Starting from an analysis of Giovanni Pontano’s Parthenopeus and De amore coniugali, followed by a discussion of Jacopo Sannazaro’s Arcadia, Matteo Soranzo links the genesis and themes of these texts to the social, political and intellectual vicissitudes of Naples under the domination of Kings Alfonso and Ferrante. Delving further into Pontano’s literary and astrological production, Soranzo illustrates the consolidation and eventual dispersion of this author’s legacy by looking at the symbolic value attached to his masterpiece Urania, and at the genesis of Sannazaro’s De partu Virginis. Poetic works written in neo-Latin and the vernacular during the Aragonese domination, in this way, are examined not only as literary texts, but also as the building blocks of their authors’ careers.
Scholarship on Quattrocento Italy published in 2022 displays a remarkable variety of themes and m... more Scholarship on Quattrocento Italy published in 2022 displays a remarkable variety of themes and methods. The survey that follows ascribes a few hundred books, book chapters, and journal articles to three main sections based on geographical, biographical, and thematic criteria. The first section revolves around Italy and its city-states
In his Neo-Latin poem Chrysopoeia (1515), the Italian humanist Giovanni Aurelio Augurello often d... more In his Neo-Latin poem Chrysopoeia (1515), the Italian humanist Giovanni Aurelio Augurello often declares to be outdoing the ancients in writing the first alchemical poem in Latin. Is this simply an instance of what E. R. Curtius called outdoing a topos? Or is Augurello’s poem actually venturing onto a metaphorically untrodden path? Based on an analysis of Chrysopoeia, its genesis, and its sources, this article aims to assess the extent of this poem’s novelty. In particular, my interpretation focuses on this text’s poetic transpositions of non-literary sources, and more specifically Geber’s Summa perfectionis and other medieval alchemical texts.
Historians of Renaissance art have long been familiar with Giovanni Aurelio Augurello's i... more Historians of Renaissance art have long been familiar with Giovanni Aurelio Augurello's interest in painting and sculpture, while historians of alchemy are aware of his lifelong dedication to the gold-making art immortalized in his masterpiece, Chrysopoeia (1515). Yet the problem of how these interests intersect in the poet's work has either been disregarded or framed within outdated categories such as occultism and hermeticism. In a dialogue with recent theoretical work on intermediality, and based on the identification of several key artistic allusions in Augurello's Chrysopoeia, this article proposes to interpret them beyond the conventions of ekphrasis. A remarkable focus on artistic techniques, processes, and materials, we argue, defines the self-referential blend of poetry and alchemy inscribed in Chrysopoeia. Rather than being the expression of an occult or hermetic mentality, this poem's fascination with the materiality and poetics of artworks, we propose, is attuned with the Northern Italian aesthetics nurtured by Andrea Mantegna, Giulio Campagnola, and other artists of the time.
In his Neo-Latin poem Chrysopoeia (1515), the Italian humanist Giovanni Aurelio Augurello often d... more In his Neo-Latin poem Chrysopoeia (1515), the Italian humanist Giovanni Aurelio Augurello often declares to be outdoing the ancients in writing the first alchemical poem in Latin. Is this simply an instance of what E. R. Curtius called outdoing a topos? Or is Augurello's poem actually venturing onto a metaphorically untrodden path? Based on an analysis of Chrysopoeia, its genesis, and its sources, this article aims to assess the extent of this poem's novelty. In particular, my interpretation focuses on this text's poetic transpositions of non-literary sources, and more specifically Geber's Summa perfectionis and other medieval alchemical texts. Dans son poème néo-latin Chrysopoeia (1515), l'humaniste italien Giovanni Aurelio Augurello déclare à plusieurs reprises qu'il surpasse les Anciens en écrivant le premier poème alchimique latin. Est-ce simplement un exemple de ce que E. R. Curtius appelait « surpasser un topos » ? Ou le poème d'Augurello s'aventure-t-il réellement sur un territoire métaphoriquement inexploré ? En se fondant sur l'analyse de Chrysopoeia, sa genèse et ses sources, cet article cherche à évaluer l'étendue de la nouveauté de ce poème. Notre interprétation se concentre en particulier sur les transpositions poétiques de sources non littéraires dans ce poème, et plus spécifiquement sur la Summa perfectionis de Geber et d'autres textes alchimiques médiévaux.
Historians of Renaissance art have long been familiar with Giovanni Aurelio Augurello's interest ... more Historians of Renaissance art have long been familiar with Giovanni Aurelio Augurello's interest in painting and sculpture, while historians of alchemy are aware of his lifelong dedication to the gold-making art immortalized in his masterpiece, Chrysopoeia (1515). Yet the problem of how these interests intersect in the poet's work has either been disregarded or framed within outdated categories such as occultism and hermeticism. In a dialogue with recent theoretical work on intermediality, and based on the identification of several key artistic allusions in Augurello's Chrysopoeia, this article proposes to interpret them beyond the conventions of ekphrasis. A remarkable focus on artistic techniques, processes, and materials, we argue, defines the self-referential blend of poetry and alchemy inscribed in Chrysopoeia. Rather than being the expression of an occult or hermetic mentality, this poem's fascination with the materiality and poetics of artworks, we propose, is attuned with the Northern Italian aesthetics nurtured by Andrea Mantegna, Giulio Campagnola, and other artists of the time.
Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages
En septembre 1462, lorsque Cosme de Médicis fit don à Marsile Ficin (1433–1499) d'un exem... more En septembre 1462, lorsque Cosme de Médicis fit don à Marsile Ficin (1433–1499) d'un exem-plaire manuscrit des dialogues de Platon et lui demanda d'en faire une traduction latine, ce riche patron florentin inaugura un nouveau chapitre dans l'histoire de la philosophie occiden-tale. Sans doute les dialogues platoniciens avaient-ils été connus, en partie du moins, au cours du Moyen Âge; et des thèmes authentiquement platoniciens, souvent transmis par l'intermé-diaire de commentateurs arabes d'Aristote, avaient déjà franchi les seuils des universités euro-péennes et des studia monastiques. De plus, une auréole de sainteté, en grande partie inspirée par saint Augustin et par Boèce, couronnait depuis longtemps Platon et ses doctrines, dont la compatibilité avec la vie spirituelle du chrétien faisait l'objet de fréquentes louanges non seu-lement parmi les savants moines de l'École de Chartres, mais aussi parmi des poètes tels que Dante et Pétrarque. N'ayant guère accès aux sources originelles, privés du genre de commen-taires qui accompagnaient habituellement les oeuvres d'Aristote, et formés par des programmes scolaires foncièrement scolastiques, ces lecteurs occidentaux ne pouvaient guère accéder à la lecture des dialogues de Platon. L'arrivée au pouvoir d'une famille de banquiers relativement nouvelle, ainsi que l'échec, en 1439, de l'unification des églises d'Orient et d'Occident, la chute de Constantinople en 1453, et la migration subséquente de nombre de savants et livres byzantins vers la péninsule italienne, tels sont quelques-uns des facteurs qui préparèrent la voie à l'entre-prise intellectuelle de Ficin et à ses multiples ramifications intellectuelles. Aux yeux de lecteurs habitués à concevoir la philosophie comme poursuite théorique, abs-traite, cérébrale de vérités universelles, le chapitre nouveau inauguré par Ficin et ses sectateurs dut paraître fort étrange. Se définissant lui-même comme « médecin de l'âme », enclin aux états extatiques, et animé par un zèle quasi prophétique pour la transformation spirituelle des érudits et des responsables politiques de son temps, Ficin adhérait à une notion hellénistique de la philosophie comme mode de vie plutôt que comme activité purement théorique; idée que Ficin et d'autres penseurs de son temps adoptaient en opposition, et souvent à titre de réponse, aux institutions éducatives de leur temps. Ficin se plongea dans la lecture de philosophes de l'Antiquité tardive tels que Plotin, Proclus, Jamblique et, tout comme ces prédécesseurs avant lui, de révélations pré-chrétiennes telles que le Corpus Hermeticum, les Orphica et les Oracula Chaldaica. À la suite de ses prédécesseurs antiques, Ficin et ses disciples tiraient des dialogues de Platon les coordonnées d'un cheminement spirituel visant à la transformation du moi et à l'union mystique avec l'Un, cheminement divergent de l'idée de la philosophie encore do-minante alors comme ancilla theologiae, utile en vue de la poursuite de la foi chrétienne mais subordonnée à celle-ci. Ce qui toutefois rend Ficin quelque peu excentrique en tant que philo-sophe est à l'origine même de son influence sur la spiritualité, la magie, la littérature et les arts visuels; et est au coeur de l'intérêt que lui consacre l'érudition actuelle. Un des aspects importants, mais jusqu'ici négligés, de l'héritage ficinien, est l'impact qu'il eut sur les pratiques religieuses de son temps et plus spécifiquement sur la prière. C'est
Mediterranea. International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge, 2020
Beginning with the work of Marsilio Ficino through the poems of Michele Marullo, Gianfrancesco Pi... more Beginning with the work of Marsilio Ficino through the poems of Michele Marullo, Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola, Pierre Ronsard, Edmund Spenser and others, this essay discusses the revival and fortune of philosophical hymns in Quattrocento Italy and the diffusion of this genre in Early Modern Europe. In doing so, we will attempt at framing this phenomenon in the context of Early Modern religious pluralism and interpret it as an instance of experiential knowledge.
The article examines the theme of spiritual transformation in three poets (Lazzarelli, Augurelli,... more The article examines the theme of spiritual transformation in three poets (Lazzarelli, Augurelli, Mantuanus) writing in the context of hermeticism, alchemy and monastic spirituality. Building on current scholarship on Western Esotericism and religious pluralism, the article argues that: 1) whether it occurs in hermetic, alchemical, or hagiographical contexts, spiritual transformation is characterized by recurring linguistic features and motifs consistent with Antoine Faivre’s definition of esotericism; 2) the presence of spiritual transformation and its corresponding language outside of proper esoteric contexts, suggests approaching this theme as a discursive strategy, whose features correspond to von Stuckrad’s definition of ‘language of experiential knowledge’. In a dialogue with Michel Foucault and Pierre Hadot, the article suggests taking this phenomenon as part of the Renaissance rediscovery of philosophy as a way of life, and an instance of a broader notion of spirituality.
The essay examines three cases of poets (Baptista Mantuanus, Giles of Viterbo, Jacopo Sannazaro) ... more The essay examines three cases of poets (Baptista Mantuanus, Giles of Viterbo, Jacopo Sannazaro) who wrote texts about conversion in early modern Italy. Its goal is to illustrate the evolution of conversion before the Reformation and to explore the role of poetic writing in the construction of religious identities. More precisely, the essay investigates how members of mendicant orders used a so-called ‘language of experiential knowledge’ to define their religious identity and defend the knowledge claims of their order against competing options. In doing so, the essay brings forth an original hypothesis concerning the target and motives of the condemnation of poetry at the Fifth Lateran Council, while further contributing to the current debate on religious pluralism and European identity.
Skepsi is a research online journal based in the School of European Culture and Languages at the ... more Skepsi is a research online journal based in the School of European Culture and Languages at the University of Kent, and is entirely run by research students. Skepsi originally means 'thought' in Greek, and symbolizes our will to explore new areas and new methods in the traditional fields of academic research in the Humanities and Social Sciences Skepsi editorial board's aim is to honour the spirit of the School of European Culture and Languages, working hard to take advantage of its unique position as a crossroads in academic studies in Europe. Our hope is to develop collective thinking processes in the context of academic research, and to become a forum for European postgraduate researchers and postdoctoral scholars.
This essay focuses on the reception of Marsilio Ficino’s works and ideas in Naples at the time of... more This essay focuses on the reception of Marsilio Ficino’s works and ideas in Naples at the time of the Aragonese domination, and it offers a preliminary discussion of this neglected area of Renaissance Neoplatonism. Based on a contextualization of Ficino’s letters to Giovanni d’Aragona, four manuscripts produced at the Aragonese library and other pieces of evidence such as Pierantonio Caracciolo’s Farsa de l’Imagico and Giovanni Pontano’s dialogue Actius, it argues that the works and ideas of Marsilio Ficino did circulate at king Ferrante’s court, but were criticized by Giovanni Pontano and his elite of followers. In particular, the essay provides new evidence about the existence of a Ficinian workshop based at the King’s library, and about some of its protagonists such as the scribe and scholar Ippolito Lunense.
Book review of Zangari's book on female sanctity and mental disorders in the Middle Ages and the ... more Book review of Zangari's book on female sanctity and mental disorders in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period.
Review of Michael Fried. Painting with Demons. The Art of Gerolamo Savoldo.Waterside: Reaktion Bo... more Review of Michael Fried. Painting with Demons. The Art of Gerolamo Savoldo.Waterside: Reaktion Books, 2021. Pp. 196.
Review of Ross, Sarah Gwyneth. Everyday Renaissances: The Quest for Cultural Legitimacy in Venice... more Review of Ross, Sarah Gwyneth. Everyday Renaissances: The Quest for Cultural Legitimacy in Venice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016. Pp. 235. ISBN 978-0-674- 65983-4 (hardcover) US$49.96.
Review of Pico della Mirandola, Gianfrancesco. Dialogus de adoratione. Ed. and intro. Alessia Co... more Review of Pico della Mirandola, Gianfrancesco. Dialogus de adoratione. Ed. and intro. Alessia Contarino
Review of Albert R. Ascoli. A Local Habitation and a Name: Imagining Histories in the Itali... more Review of Albert R. Ascoli. A Local Habitation and a Name: Imagining Histories in the Italian Renaissance . New York: Fordham University Press, 2011. Pp. 387.
Review of Tommaso Astarita, ed. A Companion to Early Modern Naples
A Companion to Early Modern N... more Review of Tommaso Astarita, ed. A Companion to Early Modern Naples
A Companion to Early Modern Naples
Review of Giordano Bruno. On the Heroic Frenzies. A Translation of De gli eroici furori
by In-g... more Review of Giordano Bruno. On the Heroic Frenzies. A Translation of De gli eroici furori
by In-grid D. Rowland. Text edited by Eugenio Canone. Toronto, Buffalo, London: Uni-versity of Toronto Press, 2013
Review of Susan Haskins, ed. and trans. Who is Mary? Three Early Modern Women on the Idea of the ... more Review of Susan Haskins, ed. and trans. Who is Mary? Three Early Modern Women on the Idea of the Virgin Mary: Vittoria Colonna, Chiara Matraini, and Lucrezia Marinella. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2008. Pp. 280.
Review of Roberta Antognini. Il Progetto Autobiografico delle Familiares di Petrarca. Milano: LED... more Review of Roberta Antognini. Il Progetto Autobiografico delle Familiares di Petrarca. Milano: LED, 2008. Pp. 468.
Review of Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil, eds. Teaching Other Voices. Women and Religion in Ea... more Review of Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil, eds. Teaching Other Voices. Women and Religion in Early Modern Europe. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2007. Pp. 244.
Review of Diana Robin. Publishing Women: Salons, the Presses, and the Counter-Reformation in Sixt... more Review of Diana Robin. Publishing Women: Salons, the Presses, and the Counter-Reformation in Sixteenth-Century Italy. Women in Culture and Society Series. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2007. Pp. 416.
Dante's Inferno in Wisconsin was the second in a series of year-long collaborations sponsored by ... more Dante's Inferno in Wisconsin was the second in a series of year-long collaborations sponsored by the Center for the Humanities, bringing classic world literature into the reach of teachers and students around the state. With its focus on bridging classrooms across the divide between secondary and higher education, the program has succeeded by bringing materials, expertise, curricula, and training to teachers from a wide range of disciplines, to encourage the discussion of great books.
This is the text of my TURBA presentation at the SHAC. You can see the recording online at
https... more This is the text of my TURBA presentation at the SHAC. You can see the recording online at https://youtu.be/O-5wnvFSnnE?si=q0BLwJmzon1G8Q6s
Francesco Scaramuzza is usually remembered for his work as a painter and illustrator of Dante's D... more Francesco Scaramuzza is usually remembered for his work as a painter and illustrator of Dante's Divine Comedy. Less known is Scaramuzza's interest in the work of Allan Kardec and spiritism, which inspires his "Due Canti sulle corporali esistenze dello spirito che fu nell’ultima Dante Alighieri" (1875). This paper examines how this poem reworks Dante's Divine Comedy in light of Kardec's views on reincarnation, social justice, and spiritual improvement.
In the time Venice was ruling on land and sea, Marin Sanudo the Younger proved to be a tireless n... more In the time Venice was ruling on land and sea, Marin Sanudo the Younger proved to be a tireless news gatherer, both dealing with state affairs and everyday life, becoming the main chronicler of his time, albeit, to his regret, never being officially invested as such. Besides his major commitment, Sanudo went on collecting an ever growing number of books, that were to expand the family library into one of the most important of his time. In this panel these two paths in Sanudo's work are examined through a common thread: the endless love towards his city.
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Books by Matteo Soranzo
Papers by Matteo Soranzo
A Companion to Early Modern Naples
by In-grid D. Rowland. Text edited by Eugenio Canone. Toronto, Buffalo, London: Uni-versity of Toronto Press, 2013
https://youtu.be/O-5wnvFSnnE?si=q0BLwJmzon1G8Q6s
In this panel these two paths in Sanudo's work are examined through a common thread: the endless love towards his city.