Baldassare Conte Castiglione

Baldassare Castiglione, Conte , 1478-1529, Italian soldier, author, and statesman attached to the court of the duke of Milan and later in the service of the duke of Urbino. His famous Libro del cortegiano (1528, tr. The Courtier, 1561), a treatise on etiquette, social problems, and intellectual accomplishments, is one of the great books of its time. Written at a time when the author served as envoy to Pope Leo X, it gives a vivid and elegant picture of 15th- and 16th-century court life. His book had enormous influence on behavior at courts as far away as England, where it contributed to an ideal of aristocracy embodied in the person and accomplishments of Sir Philip Sidney. Castiglione's portrait was painted by Raphael (c.1515), his tomb designed by Giulio Romano, and his epitaph composed by Bembo.

Bibliography: See studies by W. A. Rebhorn (1978) and R. W. Hanning and D. Rosand (1983).

Castiglione, Baldassare (1478–1529), Italian humanist, chiefly known for his prose dialogues Il libro del cortegiano (1528), translated into English as The Courtyer (1561) by Hoby. In these dialogues, which take place at the court of Urbino and are presided over by the duchess, nineteen men and four women (all historical characters) discuss the qualifications for the ideal courtier, who should unite ethical and intellectual virtues, military and sporting prowess, and yet display his talents with an easy grace and nonchalance. The book ends with a discussion of love by Bembo, describing the ‘ladder’ whereby the lover ascends from love of one person to love of the abstract good. The work had much influence on the literature of England, e.g. on Surrey, Wyatt, Sydney, Spenser, and Shakespeare.