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BOIARDO, MATTEO MARIA, COUNT (1434-1494)
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See also:BOIARDO, MATTEO MARIA, See also:COUNT (1434-1494) , See also:Italian poet, who came of a See also:noble and illustrious See also:house established at See also:Ferrara, but originally from Reggio, was See also:born at Scandiano, one of the seignorial estates of his See also:family, near Reggio di See also:Modena, about the See also:year 1434, according to See also:Tiraboschi, or 1420 according to Mazzuchelli. At an See also:early See also:age he entered the university of Ferrara, where he acquired a See also:good knowledge of See also:Greek and Latin, and even of the See also:Oriental See also:languages, and was in due See also:time admitted See also:doctor in See also:philosophy and in See also:law. At the See also:court of Ferrara, where he enjoyed the favour of See also:Duke Borso d'See also:Este and his successor See also:Hercules, he was entrusted with several See also:honourable employments, and in particular was named See also:governor of Reggio, an See also:appointment which he held in the year 1478. Three years afterwards he was elected See also:captain of Modena, and reappointed governor of the See also:town and citadel of Reggio, where he died in the year 1494, though in what See also:month is uncertain. Almost all Boiardo's See also:works, and especially his See also:great poem of the Orlando Inamorato, were composed for the amusement of Duke Hercules and his court, though not written within its precincts. His practice, it is said, was to retire to Scandiano or some other of his estates, and there to devote himself to See also:composition; and Castelvetro, Vallisnieri, Mazzuchelli and Tira-boschi all unite in stating that he took care to insert in the descriptions of his poem those of the agreeable environs of his See also:chateau, and that the greater See also:part of the names of his heroes, as Mandricardo, Gradasse, Sacripant, Agramant and others, were merely the names of some of his peasants, which, from their uncouthness, appeared to him proper to be given to Saracen warriors. Be this as it may, the Orlando Inamorato deserves to be considered as one of the most important poems in Italian literature, since it forms the first example of the romantic epic worthy to serve as a See also:model, and, as such, undoubtedly produced See also:Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. See also:Gravina and Mazzuchell have said, and succeeding writers have repeated on their authority, that Boiardo proposed to himself as his model the Iliad of See also:Homer; that See also:Paris is besieged like the See also:city of See also:Troy; that See also:Angelica holds the See also:place of See also:Helen; and that, in See also:short, the one poem is a sort of reflex See also:image of the other. In point of fact, however, the subject-See also:matter of the poem is derived from the Fabulous See also:Chronicle of the pseudo-See also:Turpin; though, with the exception of the names of See also:Charlemagne, See also:Roland, See also:Oliver, and some other See also:principal warriors, who necessarily figure as important characters in the various scenes, there is little resemblance between the detailed See also:plot of the one and that of the other. The poem, which Boiardo did not live to finish, was printed at Scandiano the year after his See also:death, under the superintendence of his son Count Camillo. The See also:title of the 'See also:book is without date; but a Latin See also:letter from Antonia Caraffa di Reggio, prefixed to the poem, is dated the kalends of See also:June 1495. A second edition, also without date, but which must have been printed before the year 1500, appeared at See also:Venice; and the poem was twice reprinted there during the first twenty years of the 16th See also:century. These See also:editions are the more curious and valuable since they contain nothing but the See also:text of the author, which is comprised in three books, divided into cantos, the third book being incomplete. But Niccolo degli See also:Agostini, an indifferent poet, had the courage to continue the See also:work commenced by Boiardo, adding to it three books, which were printed at Venice in 1526-1531, in 4t0; and since that time no edition of the Orlando has been printed without the continuation of Agostini, wretched as it unquestionably is. Boiardo's poem suffers from the incurable defect of a laboured and heavy See also:style. His See also:story is skilfully constructed, the characters are well See also:drawn and sustained throughout; many of the incidents show a See also:power and fertility of See also:imagination not inferior to that of Ariosto, but the perfect workmanship indispensable for a great work of See also:art is wanting. The poem in its See also:original shape was not popular, and has been completely superseded by the Rifacimento of See also:Francesco See also:Berni (q.v.). The other works of Boiardo are—(1) Il Timone, a See also:comedy, Scandiano, 1500, 4to; (2) Sonnetti e Canzoni, Reggio, 1499, 4to; (3) Carmen Bucolicon, Reggio, 1500, 4to; (4) Cinque Capitoli in terza rima, Venice, 1523 or 1533; (5) Apulejo dell' Asino d'Oro, Venice, 1516, 1518; (6) Asino d'Oro de Luciano tradotto in volgare, Venice, 1523, 8vo; (7) Erodoto Alicarnasseo istorico, tradotto di See also:Greco in Lingua Italiana, Venice, 1533 and 1538, 8vo; (8) Rerum Italicarum Scriptores. See See also:Panizzi's Boiardo (9 vols., 1830—1831). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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