VARCHI, Benedetto
Firenze, Torrentino, 1549
Rilegato con
L’Hercolano, dialogo nel qual si ragiona generalmente delle lingue e in particolare della Toscanae della Fiorentina
Venezia, Giunti, 1570
In -4to; pp. (16), 282, (34), a woodcut on title page and p.155; initals with woodcut ornaments. Ex LibrisMarelli, witharms and the motto “sola virtus vera nobilitas”.Full calf binding, with golden ornaments, tile and title onspine; sprayed edges.
Two works by Benedetto Varchi (1503-1565), historian andphilologist, Florentine, about the excellence of Tuscany andits artists.
1. Original edition, the dedication of Torrentino is to BartolomeoBettini “mercatante”; the author’s one to Don Luigidi Toledo, dated 1546.
The two lectures of Varchi, a scholar who under the point ofview of artistic storiography leads us till Vasari time, haveas their subject painting and sculpture, and they were givenat Accademia Fiorentina in 1546. Schlosser (p. 197 and following):“Important for Tuscany art theory, then at its beginning.Varchi’s in intense relationship with artists from histime… The second lecture deals with the so much quoted“paragone”. The starting point is given by the notable aristotelicdefinition of art, which is widely explaned. Varchiresorts to a purely literary mean…The inquiry. Answers arecoming from painters as Pontormo, Bronzino, Vasari, andsculptors as like Cellini, Tribolo, Sangallo, Tasso (the inlayer).This very comparison matter, surrounds the true valueand the psychological appeal of these ‘giudizi’”.
The closing letter of this work is signed by Michelangelo,who thanks Varchi for his despatch of the book, and leaveshis point of view (an artist, in his definition, “old, almostbetween deads”) on the “paragone”.
The first lecture deals with the notorious sonnet of Michelangelo“Non ha l’ottimo artista alcun concetto / c’unmarmo solo in sé non circoscriva…”: Varchi gives in its expositiona prompt and very erudite explication of the subjectand of utilized terms, referring to Dante, Petrarca anddeep philosophy conceptions.
2. An edition printed in the same year of the original one, bythe same publisher, with the Agostino Ferentilli revision.This Varchi work is considered a key contribution to the RenaissanceDante’s question.Varchi considers the Tuscany language higher than the classiclanguages, expecially as a literary expression mean, accordinglysupporting the superiority of Dante on Homer.According to Gamba the current copy should belong to theprint run with wrong date (Gamba 1000). Adams V 248
