Overview
Venice
Italy
RVF 4, 9, 62, 154 302, 304
Accademia Colle Bellunese
Italy
Description
4°; †4, a4, b6, c-g4, A-Tttt4; [34] + 352 fols.
paper; Petrarch’s poems in roman type and lecture in italic type; Petrarch’s poems set on left with lecture distributed across the page above and beneath them; a few words summarizing the topics referred to in some paragraphs of the lectures are printed in the margins; printed numbering.
ACCADEMIA | Colle Bellunese | DE RAGIONAMENTI | Accademici, Poetici, Morali, Astrologici, | Naturali, & Varij diletteuoli, & eruditi: | Del M. Illustre, & Eccellente | SIG. GIO. COLLE BELLVNESE | De Nobili di S. Bartholomeo de Colle | Hora Protomedico del Sereniss. Sig. Duca d’Vrbino. | PARTE PRIMA| DEDICATA | ALLA SERENISS. PRINCIPESSA | D’VRBINO SVA SIGNORA. | Con tre Indici vno de Ragionamenti, l’altro de gli Autori, | terzo delle cose più notabili. | [printer’s mark] |. IN VENETIA, M. D C. X X I. | Appresso Euangelista Deuchino. | Con licentia de’ Superiori, & Priuilegio.
†1r: title page;
†1v: blank;
†2r-†2v: Colle’s dedicatory letter to Claudia de’ Medici (‘Alla serenissima principessa d’Vrbino’);
†3r-†4r: Deuchino’s address to readers (‘A benigni lettori lo stampatore’);
†4v: table of contents (‘Ragionamenti Poetici, Morali, Naturali, Vari’);
a1r-a1v: three sonnets in praise of Colle (Lucrezia Marinella’s ‘Rendi o Colle famoso alter, e illustri’ [‘Della molto illustre signora Lvcretia Marinelli all’avtore’] and ‘Da doglie, da tormenti, e da l’horrore’ [‘Dell’istessa al medesimo’], and an anonymous sonnet ‘Colle sublime: oue felice alberga’ [‘Dell’Incognito Filarmindo Bellunese’]);
a2r-a3r: Lorenzo Ragozzi’s canzone celebrating the wedding of Federico Ubaldo della Rovere and Claudia de’ Medici (‘Già incominciaua la vermiglia Aurora’ [‘Nelle Nozze del Sereniss. Prencipe d’Vrbino, con la Sereniss. Claudia Medici, Canzone Dell’Eccellente Sig. Lorenzo Ragozzi Bellunese, Nepote dell’Autore’]);
a3v: two sonnets by Ragozzi in praise of Claudia de’ Medici (‘Naue immobile del Tebro in mezzo l’onde’ [‘Dell’eccellente S. Lorenzo Ragozzi Bellunese’], and ‘Se ben fortuna instabil, cieca, alata’ [‘Del medesimo’]);
a4r: two anonymous sonnets celebrating the wedding of Federico Ubaldo della Rovere and Claudia de’ Medici (‘Gioisca Italia in più fiorita parte’ [‘Sonetto primo nelle nozze del Serenissimo Prencipe d’Vrbino, con la Serenissima D. Claudia de Medici, Figluola dell’Altezza Reale di Ferdinando gran Duca di Toscana’] and ‘ Lieto e sereno il Ciel arde e sfauilla [‘Sonetto secondo nel medesimo soggetto’]);
a4v-b1v: two Latin poems by Giovanni Stefano da Belluno celebrating the wedding of Federico Ubaldo della Rovere and Claudia de’ Medici (‘Quis non Delphicolae panchei thuris honore’ [‘Iohannis Stephani Bellonensis [sic] Medici, ac Philosophi elegantissimi, Ad Friderici Metauriensium generosissimi Principis, ac Claudiae Medicaeae Magni Hetruriae Ducis Filiae Nuptias Hymenaeus’] and ‘Adeste o Heliconides sorores’ [‘Eiusdem’]);
b2r-b6r: Donato Bernardo da Belluno’s Latin poem celebrating the wedding of Federico Ubaldo della Rovere and Claudia de’ Medici (‘Subde bis geminas iugo’ [‘In Nuptiis Friderici Urbini principis & Claudiae Mediceae Cosmi Magni ducis Etrurie sororis Carmen Donati Bernardij Bellunensis’]);
b6v: Paolino Paolini’s two Latin poems in praise of Federico Ubaldo della Rovere and Claudia de’ Medici (‘Saturno dominante prius videt aurea proles’ [‘Excellentiss. Paulini Paulini Iurisconsulti’] and ‘Tellurem manibus quercumque, globumque tenentem’ [‘Eiusdem’]);
c1r-c3r: table of contents (‘Indice de tutti li ragionamenti academici, contenuti nella prima parte della Academia Colle Bellunese, Poetici, Morali, Naturali, & Varij’);
c3v: index of the names of the authors quoted in the work (‘Nomi delli autori citati nell’opera’);
c4r-g3v: alphabetical index of notable matters and names mentioned in the work (‘Indice delle cose notabili che si trovano in detti Ragionamenti Academici’);
g4r-g4v: list of errata;
A1r-L4v: seven lectures on Aristotle’s Poetics (‘Academia Colle Bellunese. De Ragionamenti poetici & risposte sopra la Poetica d’Aristotele’);
M1r-O2r: lecture on RVF 9 (‘Ragionamento astrologico, poetico, morale, naturale della Sfera, dell’hore della generatione de misti: della dottrina Platonica, Aristotelica. Sopra il sonetto Quando il Pianetta [sic], che distingue l’hore’);
O2v-Q2v: lecture on RVF 302 (‘Ragionamento poetico e misto astrologico Sopra il sonetto del Petrarca Leuommi il mio pensier in parte ou’era & c.’);
Q3r-S3r: first lecture on RVF 304 (‘Ragionamento morale, et poetico Sopra il sonetto, Mentre, che’l cor da gl’amorosi vermi. De gl’effetti amorosi in vita, & morte della cosa amata’);
S3v-T1r: second lecture on RVF 304 (‘Ragionamento academico. Parte seconda del Sonetto. De gl’effetti, che produce amor dopo la morte della cosa amata’);
T1v-Z4v: three lectures on happiness, nobility, and women’s behaviours;
Aa1r-Cc2r: lecture on RVF 62 (‘Ragionamento poetico, e morale. Delle virtù, & amore, & sue attioni. Sopra il Sonetto, Padre del Ciel dopo i perduti giorni &c.’);
Cc2r-Kkk2r: twenty lectures on various topics (including: abduction of the beloved, unfaithfulness, reason of state, colours, glory, and visual perspective).
Kkk2v-Nnn3v: lecture on RVF 154 (‘Ragionamento poetico, morale, & naturale. Sopra il viuo lume, & perfetione de gli occhi, & il Sonetto. Le Stelle, il Ciel, e gli elementi a proua’);
Nnn4r-Aaaa2r: five lectures on sight, sterility, intelligence, and women’s perfection;
Aaaa2r-Cccc1r: lecture on RVF 4 (‘Ragionamento morale, et naturale, poetico, Astrologico. Sopra il Sonetto, Quel ch’infinita prouidenza, & arte Mostrò nel suo mirabil magistero’);
Cccc1r-Tttt4v: eight lectures on various topics (including: physiognomy, skin moles, nails, mechanical devices, and winches);
Tttt4v: colophon: Fine.
Copy Seen
British Library
London
United Kingdom
In his lecture on RVF 9, Colle first briefly paraphrases the content of the sonnet and then explains the meaning of each line in accordance with Aristotelian and Platonic astronomical and natural-historical theories. After having provided a Ptolemaic description of the starts and the universe, the author focuses on the sun, its nature and virtues, its trajectory and the ways it influences life on earth; then he describes natural generation; and finally concludes his lecture by explaining why and how Laura can be compared to the sun, and what influence she has on the poet.
Reference is made (among others) to some RVF poems (including RVF 31, 50, 154, 325), the Triumphi (Amoris and Eternitatis), Aristotle, and Dante’s Par. X.
Colle’s lecture on RVF 302 focuses on the content of the sonnet and explains its various parts with reference to astronomical descriptions of the heavens and the religious theory of the unification of the souls and bodies after the Last Judgment. In his lecture, Colle first describes the heaven of Venus – the third heaven according to Ptolemaic astronomy – where Laura’s soul is and focuses on the poet’s choice of placing the word ‘terzo’ (‘cielo) [‘third sky’] in a specific place of the line so that it is the third word from the end of the verse (and the fifth from the beginning, as Venus’ sky is the fifth sky if proceeding from God towards earth). He then describes the characteristics of the souls in Venus and how Laura now appears to Petrarch (‘più bella e meno altera’ [‘more beautiful and less contemptuous’]. The author finally explains why Laura’s soul refers to her body, left on earth, and why the souls will rejoice more when, after the Last Judgment, they will be reunited to their bodies.
Reference is made (among others) to some RVF poems (including RVF 264, 291, 297, 334, 339, 340, 347, 359, 360), Cicero, and Plato.
In his two lectures on RVF 304, Colle describes the effects that Laura had on Petrarch while she was alive (in the first lecture), and after her death (in the second). In the first lecture, Colle focuses on the two quatrains; in the second, on the two tercets. He first states that the sonnet belongs to the middle style and explains why. He then elucidates the first eight lines of the poem, by focusing on love theories underpinning Petrarch’s poetical choices. While explaining the first line, Colle specifically explains that passion and beauty are the forces that give birth to the metaphorical worms that Petrarch says were devouring his heart; whereas, while paraphrasing the whole first quatrain, the author states that love, being an ‘accidente’ of the soul, is generated in the heart and consumes it. Colle finally explains that, as a chaste lover, Petrarch was inspired by his beloved to pursue many aims: initially, while she was alive, to see her in order to enjoy her beauties, to please her, and to hope that his love might be reciprocated; and then to look for solitude, to regret and complain about his misfortune, and to describe his love affair in his rhymes.
Reference is made (among others) to many RVF poems (including RVF 2, 3, 6, 20, 23, 35, 40, 181, 182, 247, 270, 309, 360) the Triumphus Eternitatis, Ariosto, Aristotle, Boccaccio, Cavalcanti, Dante’s Par. X, Della Casa, and Plato.
In his lecture on RVF 62, Colle provides a paraphrase of the poem. He divides it into three parts: 1) the prayers addressed by the poet to God; 2) the description of the time he lost pursuing an earthly pleasure; and 3) the poet’s pleas for pardon and mercy. For each of these parts, the author gives a line by line reading with reference to the theory of earthly and celestial pleasures and to that of grace.
Reference is made (among others) to many RVF poems (including RVF 1, 4, 6, 20, 22, 37, 58, 74, 191, 215, 264), Ariosto, Aristotle, the Bible, and Vergil.
In his lecture on RVF 154, Colle states that Petrarch’s goal is to praise Laura’s eyes according to the Aristotelian scheme of praising a thing, by moving from its cause to its effect. The author then expatiates on the creation of the eyes, describes their physiology and structure, the functions of the sight, the virtues of the stars and their influence on sublunar generations. Colle finally describes the attributes of perfection: ‘alterezza’, ‘novità all’essere’, and ‘leggiadria al ben essere’. Once combined in one single object (Laura’s eyes in this case), these elements invite human beings to reach spiritual beauty and honesty.
Reference is made (among others) to many RVF poems (including RVF 48, 154, 184, 199, 213, 215, 220, 325), Aristotle, Lucan, and Plato.
In his lecture on RVF 4, Colle provides a close reading of the sonnet, after having declared its main theme (i.e., to show in this poem that Laura appears more virtuous because of her birth in a humble place, as Christ did). Colle then paraphrases the sonnet’s lines with a focus on theological, geographical, and astronomical matters. After having illustrated the substance of God and divine providence, the author gives explanations about the hemispheres (l. 3), the planets Jupiter and Mars (l. 4), their nature and influences on earth, and the region of Judea (l. 10).
Reference is made (among others) to a few RVF poems (including RVF 183 and 325) the Triumphus Fame, and Plato.