The Book of the CourtierCastiglione, Baldassarre, conte
History
The Book of the Courtier
Castiglione, Baldassarre, conte
Courtesy -- Early works to 1800; Courts and courtiers -- Early works to 1800
lest they might mar the youth’s style. His numerous private and official
letters have preserved many valuable facts and furnish interesting
illustration of contemporary manners and character. Humboldt praises him
as the first Italian author to write attractive descriptions of natural
scenery, and cites especially his dialogue on Mt. Ætna.
[Illustration:
GIACOMO SADOLETO
1477-1547
]
Head enlarged from a photograph, specially made by Alinari, of a part of
the fresco, “Leo X's Entry into Florence,” in the Palazzo Vecchio at
Florence, by Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574). See Milanesi’s edition of
Vasari’s _Opere_, viii, 142. The chief facts of his life are given
in note 242, at page 369 of this volume.
Note 43 page 12. CESARE GONZAGA, (born about 1475; died 1512), was a
native of Mantua, being descended from a younger branch of the ruling
family of that city, and a cousin of Castiglione, with whom he
maintained a close friendship. His father’s name was Giampietro, and he
had a brother Luigi. Having received a courtly and martial education at
Milan, and after spending some time with his relatives at Mantua, he
entered the service of Duke Guidobaldo of Urbino. In 1504 he shared
Castiglione’s lodgings after their return from a campaign against Cesare
Borgia’s strongholds in Romagna, and in the carnival of 1506 they
together recited Castiglione’s eclogue _Tirsi_, in the authorship of
which he is by some credited with a part. A graceful canzonet, preserved
in Atanagi’s _Rime Scelte_, attests his skill in versification. On
Guidobaldo’s death in 1508, the two friends remained in the service of
the new duke, Francesco Maria. In 1511 Cesare fought bravely against the
French at Mirandola, and the next year took part in the reduction of
Bologna, where he soon died of an acute fever. Little more is known of
him, beyond the fact that he was a knight of St. John of Jerusalem, that
Leo X sent him on a mission to Charles V of Spain, and that he was among
the many friends of the famous Isabella d'Este (see note 397).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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