Course program
Nevia 3 Polysemantic Nevia and the myth of Brutus in Poliphilo's circle
The antiquarian content produced by Pomponio Leto's Roman Academy in the fifteenth century was reworked in the following century by the circle of humanists close to Poliphilo in a new political and cultural context. We will therefore analyze a Latin text, in elegiac couplets, by Evangelista Maddaleni Capodiferro, probably inspired by a woodcut from the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili and dedicated to the figure of Nevia, a character who can take on various symbolic meanings: political-romantic, if referring to the niece of Tiberius' astrologer Ennia Nevia Trasilla, who seduced Caligula, facilitating his rise to power; topographical-military, due to the possible identification of Nevia with one of the gates of Rome.
Among those to whom Capodiferro's Nevia is dedicated is Cardinal Niccolò Ridolfi, who hosted the anti-Medici Florentines in his Roman library, where he kept the bust of Brutus, sculpted by Michelangelo Buonarroti, taken as a symbol by the Republicans. Through a joint reading of art, politics, and literature, some well-known works of art by Piero di Cosimo and Filippino Lippi will be examined. The Nevia di Capodiferro completes our understanding of the Renovatio Urbis, reconnecting with the concept of “pax romana” conceived by Marc'Antonio Altieri.
Prerequisites
Knowledge of Renaissance Art History
Books
Testi d’esame:
- articolo di M. Calvesi, Identificato l'autore del Polifilo, 1983 (1965).
- G. Costa, Michelangelo alle corti di Niccolò Ridolfi e Cosimo I, Roma, Bulzoni, 2009 (da acquistare da Bulzoni editore).
- S. Colonna, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili e Roma. Metodologie euristiche per lo studio del Rinascimento, Roma, Gangemi, 2012;
- S. Colonna, DE NAEVIA ET AMORE. Nevia polisemantica e il mito di Bruto nella cerchia del Polifilo, Roma, Bulzoni, c. 2016, stampa 2017. Tutto tranne il testo latino in appendice. Va studiato tutto il testo del libro e si devono saper commentare le traduzioni italiane del testo latino di Evangelista Maddaleni Capodiferro presenti nel libro.
S. Colonna, Hypnerotomachia. Lettura obliqua di Letteratura artistica per la Storia dell’Arte, Roma, Campisano editore (Collana Letture oblique, 1), 2023.
- Icoxilòpoli 2. Iconografia delle xilografie del Polifilo, Roma, Bulzoni Editore, 2020 – 7 schede a scelta dello studente/ssa dal volume cartaceo
Oppure: 7 articoli (schede o saggi) a scelta tra quelli pubblicati nel BTA – Bollettino Telematico dell’Arte nella sezione Icoxilòpoli:
Frequency
Attendance is not mandatory and there are no additional texts to study for non-attending students.
Exam mode
Questions
