Details
TASSO, Bernardo (1493-1569). Autograph letter signed ('Il Tasso'), Venice, 24 July 1552, one page, folio (neat repairs, waterstained and reinforced at left margin).
Bernardo writes that the Pope has changed his mind so that he does not know where his future lies. He is grateful to 'l'Eletto d'Aquleia' [Daniele Barbaro, patriarch-elect of Aquileia], but he does not thank his correspondent because that would not accord with their friendship and 'la infinitas affettione ch'io vi porto'; he had hoped to communicate 'con la lingua et non con la penna' but he is obliged to write this in Venice.
The poet and author Bernardo Tasso, a native of Bergamo, had been in the service of the Prince of Salerno in Naples but was exiled with his lord's disgrace in 1552. This letter shows that his quest for employment had taken him back to his roots where he had little success. Soon afterwards he did travel to Rome where he lived in poverty, failing to attract much help from Pope Paul IV. His fortunes finally changed with his appointment at the court of Urbino in 1557; when he returned to Venice in 1559 it was with the happier task of supervising the printing of his major work, Amadigi, an epic poem based on Amadis de Gaule. The fusion of romance and humanist learning in his own work profoundly influenced his son, the more famous Torquato (see following lot).
Bernardo writes that the Pope has changed his mind so that he does not know where his future lies. He is grateful to 'l'Eletto d'Aquleia' [Daniele Barbaro, patriarch-elect of Aquileia], but he does not thank his correspondent because that would not accord with their friendship and 'la infinitas affettione ch'io vi porto'; he had hoped to communicate 'con la lingua et non con la penna' but he is obliged to write this in Venice.
The poet and author Bernardo Tasso, a native of Bergamo, had been in the service of the Prince of Salerno in Naples but was exiled with his lord's disgrace in 1552. This letter shows that his quest for employment had taken him back to his roots where he had little success. Soon afterwards he did travel to Rome where he lived in poverty, failing to attract much help from Pope Paul IV. His fortunes finally changed with his appointment at the court of Urbino in 1557; when he returned to Venice in 1559 it was with the happier task of supervising the printing of his major work, Amadigi, an epic poem based on Amadis de Gaule. The fusion of romance and humanist learning in his own work profoundly influenced his son, the more famous Torquato (see following lot).
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