Mario Equicola
Encyclopedia
Mario Equicola was an Italian
Renaissance humanist: a neolatin author, a bibliophile, and a courtier
of Isabella d'Este
and Federico II Gonzaga. The National Gallery of Art
describes him as "one of the Renaissance's most admired classical scholars".
Born at Alvito in or around 1470, Equicola was moved to Naples
while still a boy. There he entered the Accademia Pontaniana as a young man. He later moved on to Florence
, where he studied under Marsilio Ficino
and adopted his teacher's neoplatonism
, and then to Mantua
, to the court of Isabella and Federico. In 1511 Equicola wrote Isabella that he was continuing a stay in Ferrara
at the court of Duke Alfonso
her brother in order to prepare in writing six fabule (fables) or istorie (histories) to be painted for the decoration of one of the duke's rooms, the camerino d'alabastro (alabaster chamber). These paintings, among them The Feast of the Gods and Bacchus and Ariadne
, were executed by Giovanni Bellini
and Titian
. Equicola's sources were extensive, both classical and contemporary; he may have been commissioned to allegorise the marriage of Alfonso and Lucrezia Borgia
in 1501.
Equicola expressed an interest in contemporary vernacular poetry. He was one of the first scholars to bring attention to the innovations of the troubadour
s and traced the origins of vernacular poetry to them. He also was one of the first scholars to praise women as exceeding men in their excellence in his little treatise De mulieribus (About Women). In 1517 he accompanied his patroness on a pilgrimage to Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume
, which took them through Provence
, where he availed himself of the archives of Aix
. Equicola's account of the trip survives. According to Equicola, what differentiated the troubadours from the Latin poets of antiquity was their respect for women: il modo de descrivere loro amore fu novo diverso de quel de antichi Latini, questi senza respecto, senza reverentia, senza timore de infamare sua donna apertamente scrivevano, "the mode of describing their [the troubadours'] love was new and different from that of the ancient Latins, who openly wrote without respect, without reverence, without fear of defaming their lady".
In his most famous work, written in Latin between 1494 and 1496, but not published until 1525 at Venice
and then in Italian, the Libro de natura de amore, Equicola studied the metaphysics of love
and the nature of poetic courtly love
. The poets which Equicola studied for this work, and the different names by which he knew them depending on their language, are indicated by the section he entitled "Como Latini et Greci Poeti, Ioculari Provenzali, Rimanti Francesi, Dicitori Thoscani, & trovatori Spagnoli habiano loro Amante lodato & le passioni di loro stessi descritto". This Aristotelian
work received severe criticism for its unscholarly approach and lack of structure, coherence, and purpose, but it was still widely disseminated and widely used, though rarely acknowledged. His views on love were credited as an influence by such figures as Agostino Nifo
(De pulchro et amore), Giuseppe Betussi (Dialogo amoroso), and Lope de Vega
(El maestro de danzar), however. According to Nesca A. Robb in Neoplatonism of the Italian Renaissance (London: Allen and Unwin, 1956), "it was poor Equicola's fate to be shamelessly pillaged by his fellow authors, and in the century after his death to be hounded from Parnassus by the irrepressible Boccalini
."
Equicola indicated that Occitan and French
poetry were rare in Italy but Spanish
poetry widely read, being accessible through several circulating Neapolitan
chansonnier
s. He was less than enthusiastic about this. He criticised the Spanish poet Juan de Mena
and followed Juan del Encina
in arguing that rhyme entered Spain from Italy.
Around 1505 Equicola penned Nec spe nec metu ("Neither in hope nor in fear"), a book analysing Isabella's favourite saying. He was an ally of Isabella's during the conflict with her son, Federigo, that erupted in her later years. He died at Mantua before its resolution.
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
Renaissance humanist: a neolatin author, a bibliophile, and a courtier
Courtier
A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
of Isabella d'Este
Isabella d'Este
Isabella d'Este was Marchesa of Mantua and one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance as a major cultural and political figure. She was a patron of the arts as well as a leader of fashion, whose innovative style of dressing was copied by women throughout Italy and at the French court...
and Federico II Gonzaga. The National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
describes him as "one of the Renaissance's most admired classical scholars".
Born at Alvito in or around 1470, Equicola was moved to Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
while still a boy. There he entered the Accademia Pontaniana as a young man. He later moved on to Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, where he studied under Marsilio Ficino
Marsilio Ficino
Marsilio Ficino was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance, an astrologer, a reviver of Neoplatonism who was in touch with every major academic thinker and writer of his day, and the first translator of Plato's complete extant works into Latin...
and adopted his teacher's neoplatonism
Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism , is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists, with its earliest contributor believed to be Plotinus, and his teacher Ammonius Saccas...
, and then to Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
, to the court of Isabella and Federico. In 1511 Equicola wrote Isabella that he was continuing a stay in Ferrara
Ferrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
at the court of Duke Alfonso
Alfonso I d'Este
Alfonso d'Este was Duke of Ferrara during the time of the War of the League of Cambrai.-Biography:He was the son of Ercole I d'Este and Leonora of Naples....
her brother in order to prepare in writing six fabule (fables) or istorie (histories) to be painted for the decoration of one of the duke's rooms, the camerino d'alabastro (alabaster chamber). These paintings, among them The Feast of the Gods and Bacchus and Ariadne
Bacchus and Ariadne
Bacchus and Ariadne is an oil painting by Titian. It is one of a cycle of paintings on mythological subjects produced for Alfonso d'Este, the Duke of Ferrara, for the Camerino d'Alabastro – a private room in his palazzo in Ferrara decorated with paintings based on classical texts...
, were executed by Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini, and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it...
and Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
. Equicola's sources were extensive, both classical and contemporary; he may have been commissioned to allegorise the marriage of Alfonso and Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia [luˈkrɛtsia ˈbɔrʤa] was the illegitimate daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, the powerful Renaissance Valencian who later became Pope Alexander VI, and Vannozza dei Cattanei. Her brothers included Cesare Borgia, Giovanni Borgia, and Gioffre Borgia...
in 1501.
Equicola expressed an interest in contemporary vernacular poetry. He was one of the first scholars to bring attention to the innovations of the troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
s and traced the origins of vernacular poetry to them. He also was one of the first scholars to praise women as exceeding men in their excellence in his little treatise De mulieribus (About Women). In 1517 he accompanied his patroness on a pilgrimage to Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume
Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume
Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.It lies east of Aix-en-Provence, in the westernmost point of Var département. It is located at the foot of the Sainte-Baume mountains: baume or bama is the Provençal...
, which took them through Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
, where he availed himself of the archives of Aix
Aix-en-Provence
Aix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...
. Equicola's account of the trip survives. According to Equicola, what differentiated the troubadours from the Latin poets of antiquity was their respect for women: il modo de descrivere loro amore fu novo diverso de quel de antichi Latini, questi senza respecto, senza reverentia, senza timore de infamare sua donna apertamente scrivevano, "the mode of describing their [the troubadours'] love was new and different from that of the ancient Latins, who openly wrote without respect, without reverence, without fear of defaming their lady".
In his most famous work, written in Latin between 1494 and 1496, but not published until 1525 at Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and then in Italian, the Libro de natura de amore, Equicola studied the metaphysics of love
Love
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
and the nature of poetic courtly love
Courtly love
Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration. Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility. It was also generally not practiced between husband and wife....
. The poets which Equicola studied for this work, and the different names by which he knew them depending on their language, are indicated by the section he entitled "Como Latini et Greci Poeti, Ioculari Provenzali, Rimanti Francesi, Dicitori Thoscani, & trovatori Spagnoli habiano loro Amante lodato & le passioni di loro stessi descritto". This Aristotelian
Aristotelianism
Aristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. The works of Aristotle were initially defended by the members of the Peripatetic school, and, later on, by the Neoplatonists, who produced many commentaries on Aristotle's writings...
work received severe criticism for its unscholarly approach and lack of structure, coherence, and purpose, but it was still widely disseminated and widely used, though rarely acknowledged. His views on love were credited as an influence by such figures as Agostino Nifo
Agostino Nifo
Agostino Nifo or Augustini Niphi or Niphas, Latinized as Agustinus Niphus or Augustinus Niphus, was an Italian philosopher and commentator.-Life:...
(De pulchro et amore), Giuseppe Betussi (Dialogo amoroso), and Lope de Vega
Lope de Vega
Félix Arturo Lope de Vega y Carpio was a Spanish playwright and poet. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Century Baroque literature...
(El maestro de danzar), however. According to Nesca A. Robb in Neoplatonism of the Italian Renaissance (London: Allen and Unwin, 1956), "it was poor Equicola's fate to be shamelessly pillaged by his fellow authors, and in the century after his death to be hounded from Parnassus by the irrepressible Boccalini
Trajano Boccalini
Trajano Boccalini was an Italian satirist.The son of an architect, he himself adopted that profession, and it appears that he commenced late in life to apply to literary pursuits...
."
Equicola indicated that Occitan and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
poetry were rare in Italy but Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
poetry widely read, being accessible through several circulating Neapolitan
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
chansonnier
Chansonnier
A chansonnier is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings of songs, hence literally "song-books," although some manuscripts are so called even though they preserve the text but not the music A chansonnier is a manuscript or...
s. He was less than enthusiastic about this. He criticised the Spanish poet Juan de Mena
Juan de Mena
Juan de Mena was one of the most significant Spanish poets of the fifteenth century. He was highly regarded at the court of Juan II de Castilla, who appointed him veinticuatro of Córdoba, secretario de cartas latinas and cronista real...
and followed Juan del Encina
Juan del Encina
Juan del Enzina – the spelling he used – or Juan del Encina – modern Spanish spelling – was a composer, poet and playwright, often called the founder of Spanish drama...
in arguing that rhyme entered Spain from Italy.
Around 1505 Equicola penned Nec spe nec metu ("Neither in hope nor in fear"), a book analysing Isabella's favourite saying. He was an ally of Isabella's during the conflict with her son, Federigo, that erupted in her later years. He died at Mantua before its resolution.
Works
- Marii Equicoli Olivet ani de mulieribus ad D. Margaritam Cantelmam. (circa 1501)
- Nec spe nec metu. Dialogus ad Iulianum Medicem (Mantua: Francesco Bruschi, 1513)
- Ad inuictissimum principem d. Maximilianum Sforciam ducem Mediolani (Rome: Marcello Silber, 1513)
- In conseruatione diuae Osanne Andreasiae Mantuanae oratio ad d. Isabella estensem Mantuae principem (Mantua: Francesco Bruschi, 1515)
- De bello Turcis inferendo (1519)
- Chronica di Mantua (Manuta, 1521)
- Libro de natura de amore di Mario Equicola secretario del illustrissimo S. Federico 2. Gonzaga marchese di Mantua (Venice: Lorenzo Lorio da Portes, 1525)
- Institutioni di Mario Equicola al comporre in ogni sorte'di Rima della lingua volgare, con vno eruditissimo Discorso della Pittura, & con molte segrete allegorie circa le Muse & la Poesia (Milano: Francesco Minizio Calvo, 1541)
- Dell'Istoria di Mantoua libri cinque. Scritta in commentari da Mario Equicola D'Alueto. Nella quale cominciandosi dall’edificatione di essa citta, brevemente si raccontano le cose piu notabili succedute di tempo in tempo cosi in pace, come in guerra, (Mantua: Benedetto Osanna, 1607)
Further reading
- Cherchi, P. "Ritocchi al canone di Mario Equicola." Studi di Filologia italiana, XLIV (1986), pp. 209–222.
- Fahy, C. "Three early renaissance treatises about women" in: Italian Studies, Volume 11, 1956, pp. 30–55.
- Kolsky, S. Mario Equicola: The Real Courtier. Geneva: Droz, 1991.
- Leone, A. Mario Equicola: aspetti della sua produzione storiografica Paliano: Albatros, 1995.
- Merlino, Camilla P. The French Studies of Mario Equicola, University of California Publications in Modern Philology (UCPMP), Vol. 14, No. 1. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1929.
- Rhodes, D. E. "Notes on the Chronica di Mantua of Mario Equicola." Gutenberg-JahrbuchGutenberg-JahrbuchThe Gutenberg-Jahrbuch is an annual periodical publication covering the history of printing and the book. Its focus is on incunables, early printing, and the life and work of Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the modern printed book...
(1957), pp. 137–141. - Santoro, Domenico. Della vita e delle opere di Mario Equicola. Chieti: Jecco, 1906.
- Santoro, Domenico. Il viaggio d’Isabella Gonzaga in Provenza. Dall'Iter in Narbonensem Galliam e da lettere inedite di Mario Equicola. Naples: Tip. Melfi & Joele, 1913.