- Bernardo Bellincioni
Bernardo Bellincioni (1452 — 1492) was an
Italian poet , who began his career in the court ofLorenzo the Magnificent inFlorence . In 1483 he was at the Gonzaga court and in 1485 he moved toMilan , where he was the court poet ofLodovico Sforza , the patron ofLeonardo da Vinci . He wrote eulogisticsonnet s addressed to his patrons and engaged in the usual literary squabbles with other poets, some in the burlesque manner established byDomenico Burchiello , that are a characteristic of theItalian Renaissance .Bellincioni's occasional verse provided the literary clues to elaborate allegorical
masque s and state entries that were highlights of Early Modern court life. On the occasion of the marriage of the heir of MilanGian Galeazzo Sforza [Lodovico acted as regent and assumed all real power.] to his cousin Isabella of Aragon, daughter of the King of Naples,Apollo presented the poems that had accompanied the tableaux in a little book ("libretto ") of finecalligraphy to the nineteen-year-old Isabella. [Nick Webb, Peter Elmer, Roberta Wood, "The Renaissance in Europe: An Anthology" (Yale University Press) 2000:224]He composed an effusive ode to
Cecilia Gallerani , the "Lady with an Ermine " in her portrait by Leonardo, "the envy of Nature", [Quoted and translated by Frank Zöllner, "Leonardo da Vinci's Portraits: Ginevra de' Benci, Cecilia Gallerani, La Belle Ferronière, and Mona Lisa", in "Rafael i jego spadkobiercy. Portret klasyczny w sztuce nowozytnej Europy ; materialy ses-ji naukowej," 24 - 25 October 2002. (Toruń: Nicholas Copernicus University) 2003 (Sztuka i kultura) 4 pp 157-183; ( [http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/artdok/volltexte/2006/169/pdf/Zoellner_Raffael_03.pdf. on-line text] )] which has permitted the identification of the sitter: "She seems to listen and not talk."Notes
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