;[6] Francesco Maria della Rovere (nephew and adopted heir of Duke and Duchess of Urbino); and Cesare Gonzaga, a cousin of both Castiglione and the Duke. The painting was made in celebration of Baldassare's appointment as Ambassador to Pope Leo X by Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. . Castiglione's letters not only reveal the man and his personality but also delineate those of famous people he had met and his diplomatic activities: they constitute a valuable resource for political, literary, and historical studies. Castiglione, Baldassare Born Dec. 6, 1478, in Casatico, near Mantua; died Feb. 2, 1529, in Toledo, Spain. Pallavicino, piqued, hints that Giuliano is wrong, but in the end concedes that he himself has been wrong to disparage women. Sadly, Ippolita died a mere four years after their marriage, while Castiglione was away in Rome as ambassador for the Duke of Mantua. The genre is also the same in The Courtier and De Oratore: a comfortable, informal, open-ended discussion, in Ciceronian rhetoric called sermo (conversation),[16] in which the speakers set out the various sides of an argument in a friendly (rather than adversarial) way, inviting readers, as silent participators, to decide the truth for themselves. Urbino est alors la cour la plus brillante et la plus raffinée d'Italie, un carrefour culturel dirigé par la duchesse Elisabetta Gonzague (it) et sa belle-sœur Maria Emilia Pia avec parmi les invités permanents Pietro Bembo ou Michel-Ange, ainsi que de nombreux hommes de lettres. [30] He talks about the divine nature and origin of love, the "father of true pleasures, of all blessings, of peace, of gentleness, and of good will: the enemy of rough savagery and vileness", which ultimately lifts the lover to the contemplation of the spiritual realm, leading to God. Ses œuvres mineures sont moins connues mais intéressantes. En 1506, Castiglione écrit et interprète avec Cosimo Gonzague, son églogue Tirsi dans lequel de façon voilée, il dépeint la vie de la cour d'Urbino. [26] There is some doubt as to whether Pallavicino or Giuliano, or both, express Castiglione's real views on the subject of women. The book is based upon Castiglione's times at the court of Duke Guidobaldo Montefeltroof Urbino. Baldassare Castiglione Quotes. Castiglione also produced a number of Latin poems, together with an elegy for the death of Raphael entitled De morte Raphaellis pictoris and another elegy, after the manner of Petrarca, in which he imagines his dead wife, Ippolita Torelli, as writing to him. He rises to the occasion, affirming their equality to the male sex in every respect, and he points out how throughout history some women have excelled in philosophy and others have waged war and governed cities, listing the heroines of classical times by name. The composition is pyramidal. Il lui avait écrit deux lettres passionnées, lui exprimant ses sentiments profonds, mais celle-ci devait mourir quatre ans plus tard, alors que son époux se trouvait à Rome, en qualité d'ambassadeur du duc de Mantoue. He had six children with Antonia da Baggio, including Baldassare. Italian writer. While in his letter to the pope (dated December 10, 1527), he had the audacity to criticize Vatican policies, asserting that its own inconsistencies and vacillations had undermined its stated aim of pursuing a fair agreement with the emperor and had provoked Charles V to attack. To this, another interlocutor, a very youthful Gaspare Pallavicino, objects that many outstanding and virtuous men have been of humble origins. [2], Castiglione wrote Il Cortegiano or The Book of the Courtier, a courtesy book dealing with questions of the etiquette and morality of the courtier. This, at least, is the theory; but in practice, they concede, it is easier to become a perfect courtier if one is born into a distinguished family. [5] In 1499, Castiglione's father died unexpectedly and Castiglione returned to Casatico to take his place as the male head of the family. After his death in 1529 a monument was erected to him in the sanctuary of Sta Maria delle Grazie, outside of his birthplace of Mantua. Baldassare Castiglione the perfect courtier, his life and letters, 1478-1529 (1908) (7 F) P Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione by Raphael - Louvre (INV 611) (1 C, 15 F) Media in category "Baldassarre Castiglione" The following 19 files are in this category, out of 19 total. Ideally, the courtier should be young, about twenty-seven, at least mentally, though he should give the appearance of being graver and more thoughtful than his years. I have composed a little work De principatibus . The men defer to her, especially in their conduct with women—"with whom we had the freest and commerce, but such was the respect we bore to the will of the Duchess that freedom was the greatest restraint." sous la direction de Patrice Franchet-d'Espèrey et de Monique Chatenet, en collaboration avec Ernest Chenière, Réseau des bibliothèques de Suisse occidentale, https://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baldassare_Castiglione&oldid=176515631, Article contenant un appel à traduction en italien, Article de Wikipédia avec notice d'autorité, Portail:Littérature italienne/Articles liés, Portail:Biographie/Articles liés/Politique, Portail:Biographie/Articles liés/Culture et arts, licence Creative Commons attribution, partage dans les mêmes conditions, comment citer les auteurs et mentionner la licence. Richards, "Assumed Simplicity and the Critique of Nobility: Or, How Castiglione Read Cicero", 2001. En 1495, son père meurt et Baldassare lui succède dans ses fonctions de chef de famille, il accompagne ainsi le marquis lors de l'arrivée de Louis XII à Milan. [12], The conversation takes place over a span of four days in the year 1507, while Castiglione was supposedly absent on an embassy to England. There is a long discussion, too, about what are appropriate topics for joking (pleasantries), an essential component of pleasing conversation: one should not mock people's physical attributes, for example. [21] Sprezzatura, or the art that conceals art (in the words of another ancient rhetorician, Quintilian), is not simply a kind of superficial dissimulation, for grace may also be the result of such assiduous practice that what one does becomes second nature and seems inborn. It was very influential in 16th-century European court circles. Castiglione answered both the pope and Valdés in two famous letters from Burgos. This work, which portrays the ideal courtier, was a chief vehicle in spreading Italian humanism into England and France. The courtier should be deeply versed in Greek and Latin and should know enough to be able to discriminate between good and bad writing (as well as the other arts) for himself, without relying slavishly on the word of others.