 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Italian. (January 2016) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Girolamo Benivieni | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Benivieni at the National Gallery in London, painted between 1510 and 1520, and attributed to Ridolfo Ghirlandaio | |
| Born | 6 February 1453 |
| Died | August 1542 |
| Occupation | Poet |
Girolamo Benivieni (Italian: [dʒiˈrɔːlamo beniˈvjɛːni]; 6 February 1453 – August 1542)[1] was a Florentine poet[2] and a musician.[1] His father was a notary in Florence.[3] He suffered poor health most of his life, which prevented him from taking a more stable job.[4] He was a leading member of the Medicean Academy, a society devoted to literary study.[2] He was a friend of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494), whom he met for the first time in 1479;[5] it was Pico della Mirandola who encouraged him to study Neoplatonism.[4] In the late 1480s, he and Pico della Mirandola became students of Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498).[6] In 1496, he translated the teachings of Savonarola from Italian to Latin.[6] After he began following Savonarola, he rejected his earlier poetry and attempted to write more spiritually.[6] He participated in Savonarola's Bonfire of the Vanities, and documented the destruction of art worth "several thousand ducats".[7]
He was supported in his writing by noblewoman Lucrezia de' Medici (1470–1553).[2] They were both interested in the works of poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321).[2] In 1506, Benivieni published an edition of the Divine Comedy with maps by Antonio Manetti (1423–1497) and commentary by Manetti and Benivieni.[8] In March 1515 Benivieni drafted a letter to be sent from Lucrezia to her brother, Pope Leo X (s. 1513–21), seeking his assistance in bringing the body of Dante back to Florence.[2] On 20 October 1519, Benivieni signed a Medicean Academy petition to Pope Leo, again requesting the return of Dante from Ravenna.[9] Benivieni also used his connection with Lucrezia to advance his ideas on church reform with her brother, and later with her cousin, Pope Clement VII (s. 1523–34).[2] In 1530, he wrote a letter to Pope Clement in defense of Savonarola, seeking to have his reputation restored within the church.[10] He is buried together with Giovanni Pico della Mirandola at San Marco, Florence, Italy.
- ^ a b Cummings 2004, p. 190.
- ^ a b c d e f Tomas 2003, p. 95.
- ^ Gardner 1914, p. xix.
- ^ a b Gardner 1914, p. xxiv.
- ^ Gardner 1914, pp. xvi–xvii.
- ^ a b c Baldassarri & Saiber 2000, p. 271.
- ^ Villari 1969, p. 138.
- ^ Heilbron 2010, p. 28.
- ^ Cummings 2004, pp. 79–80.
- ^ Gardner 1914, pp. xxiv–xxv.