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Sara Mamone, Caterina Pagnini

Florentine Festival for the Entry of Archduke Leopold V of Austria in 1618

Data di pubblicazione su web 09/10/2013
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Il saggio che segue è tratto dal volume Writing Royal Entries in Early Modern Europe, a cura di Marie-Claude Canova-Green, Jean Andrews e Marie-France Wagner, Turnhout, Brepols, 2013.

 

Each arrival of a famous personage with entourage in Florence in order to pay a visit to the grand- ducal family for family to whom they were related or to enter into political negotiations (marriages, military alliances, commercial agreements, etc..), was considered to present a unique and decisive opportunity for the implementation of the Medicean strategic policy, to offer the focal point of that practice of self-celebration inherent to the tradition of the family since the time of Cosimo I. This staging of political life that was, at the same time, both representation and history, and self-celebration and historicization of memory, was a culmination, each time, of the process focused on the cult of Medici tradition and the awareness of their place in the world, which is at the heart of the Medici dynasty[1].


The Medici political strategy: entertainments for the visit of Archduke Leopold of Habsburg[2]

If the visit of eminent personages is considered to be one of the greatest opportunities for exhibitions of the policy of the host state to the contemporary political universe, it may be interesting to reflect on one of these particular events which took place in Florence, as an example to offer proof of the established practice and to demonstrate how, even in case of less official visits, the ruling family worked hard to accommodate the important guest in order not to deny that tradition of hospitality and display that had been at the heart of the Medici policy for centuries. The visit of Archduke Leopold V of Austria,[3] in 1618, being rather different from the official entries of royal figures, may be used to fully demonstrate how deeply rooted the Medici tradition of celebrating diplomatic visits was, representing, as it did, the main instrument at the service of the precise ideology of spectacle which was always at the heart of the Medici political strategy. 

The first crucial point is that this visit passed unofficial because of its close connection to delicate diplomatic issues. This was perfectly concordant with Leopold’s role, the emperor’s brother (first of Mattias, then of Ferdinand of Habsburg) and the most important player in Habsburg political designs. Despite this, Leopold’s visit in Florence - correctly avoiding the typical entry style  because of his peculiar diplomatic role - was celebrated with important festivals and the main celebration of the series turned out to be one of the most magnificent spectacles of the time of Cosimo II, as we shall see.

Leopold’s Florentine visit had a double aim: the main one, to confirm the alliance between the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Holy Roman Empire at that delicate point which was saw the beginning of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648); the second, not less important, was the more recent desire  to strengthen this alliance through a marriage between the two dynasties, between Ferdinand II of Habsburg and Princess Claudia de’ Medici, who would, in fact, go on to marry Federico Ubaldo della Rovere, son of the duke of Urbino[4]. History tells us that Ferdinand will, in fact,  marry Princess Eleonora Gonzaga, who turned out to be the winning party in a parallel negotiation that was probably started precisely during this descent through Italy, since Leopold passed through Mantua on his way home to the Tyrol[5]. However, the political plan to unite the Medici with the Habsburgs will only be delayed by this initial failure, since the widowed Claudia will go on to marry Archduke Leopold himself in 1626. Therefor, this first unofficial Florentine tour in 1618 and the acquaintance established with the whole Medici family was probably at the basis of such unexpected outcome eight years later [6].

Leopold V arrived in Pisa on 27 February 1618, where Cosimo II and his family had gone because of a new relapse of the Grand Duke’s illness[7]. The Archduke’s arrival of on Shrove Tuesday fell just within the culmination of the pre-Lenten carnival festivals[8].

The Grand Duke, being too infirm to welcome his illustrious relative in person, sent one of his chamberlains to greet Leopold outside the city walls, «con caroza a sei cavalli» (with a six horses coach)[9], which took him at the royal palace on the Lungarno[10]. Here the Archduke was finally received by the bedridden Grand Duke, to whom he brought the official homage of his brother, the emperor Mattias[11]. After completing his official duties, Leopold was able to retire to his private apartments. He then had dinner with his sister Maria Magdalena and Cosimo’s two younger brothers, cardinal Carlo and the nineteen years old don Lorenzo[12]. The day after, having already seen to the most urgent diplomatic matters in Pisa, he was accompanied by Lorenzo on a visit to the near city of Livorno, where he had to settle some commercial affairs. While he was there, Lorenzo took him to visit the city, especially the harbour. Then they returned back to Pisa[13].

Since his health was slowly improving the Grand Duke, who had already organized appropriate celebrations for his brother-in-law once they reached Florence, decided to enliven his guest’s temporary stay in Pisa by organizing a mock battle near the main bridge on the river Arno, Ponte di Mezzo[14], a repeat of an event organized for carnival. The Grand Duke did not join his guest but viewed the spectacle from rooms in his palace, while his wife and the Archduke moved to another private palace nearer to the bridge of the battle was take place. Leopold was greatly pleased with the spectacle offered, as we know from the contemporary testimony: «Et a dì ditto [4 marzo] volendo Sua Altezza dare un po’ di ghusto al detto arciduca, commando che si facesse la batallia del gioco del ponte e messosi a’ l’ordine la batallia generale, con le medesime scuadre et le medesime livree del Carnovale pasato, et detto arciduca andò a vedere con la serenissima arciduchessa a casa del comesario al luogho solito. Et cominciato la batallia fu un pezzo forte e ben combattuta, ma finalmente, dopo un gran contrasto, fu forza a quelli di verso il palazzo di Sua Altezza a perdere la batalia et di slogiare del ponte in tutto e per tutto, con poca lor reputazione. Et finito l’ora dela batallia, sonato le campane, ogniuomo fu licenziato con molto gusto del detto arciduca»[15] (And on the said day His Highness, wishing to give some pleasure to the said duke ordered that the bridge battle game be played and the general battle order was issued with the same forces and the same livery as in the recent Carnival, and the said Archduke went with the Serene Archduchess to the commissioner’s house, the usual place, to watch. Once the battle was commenced, it was a strong performance and well fought, but finally, after a great contest, it was necessary for those on the side of His Highness’s palace to lose the battle and to dislodge themselves from the bridge once and for all, with their reputation greatly diminished. The battle hour over, the bells having rung, all were released with great pleasure by the said duke).

The same evening, to complete the festive day, Leopold was invited to attend the representation of a comedy in the royal palace, probably performed by a company of young boys of the city[16].

The following day the Grand Duke, enjoying better health, dedicated his time to his guest and to the delicate diplomatic matters they had to deal with[17]. Leopold finally left Pisa with don Lorenzo and the Grand Duchess on route to Florence, while Cosimo remained in the coastal city to benefit from the restorative climate. During the long journey to the capital of the Grand Duchy, the royal company stayed the night at the Medici Villa Ambrogiana[18], leaving again the day after on route to the Pitti Palace[19]. Leopold’s official stay in Florence began with his visit of the Pitti Palace, where he was given his rooms. He spent much of his first day admiring the renowned gallery, the gardens and the grand ducal stables, «a veder cavalcare il signor Principe Don Lorenzo» (watching Prince Lorenzo riding)[20]; then he visited the city, attended a service to the church St Annunziata and a concert in the Cathedral[21]. On 9 March the Archduke moved to the Villa Baroncelli at Poggio Imperiale, the residence of the Archduchess and her children. Here Leopold met young Ferdinando (the future Ferdinand II), Giovan Carlo, Mattias, and the princesses Maria Cristina and Margherita, who honoured their royal uncle by performing a comedy by Andrea Salvadori, the court poet, titled Rappresentazione fatta dal Serenissimo Principe di Toscana al Serenissimo Leopoldo Arciduca d’Austria (Representation performed by his highness the prince of Tuscany for his highness Leopold, Archduke of Austria)[22]. The playing of Salvadori’s comedy before a royal audience is evidence of the Medici practice of the so called commedia dei principini (young  princes’ comedies), that is to say the drama practice to which the young princes and princesses had to apply themselves for educational purposes. The plot of Salvadori’s play was focused on educational and metaphorical issues. We find a summary of the plot at the beginning of the unpublished libretto, in manuscript form, specifically composed for the occasion and inspired by the greatness and the noble political principles of the Habsburg imperial family: «Invitano l’Ozio e il Piacere il Serenissimo Principe di Toscana [Ferdinando] a lasciare l’aspro sentiero della Virtù ed a seguire il lor viaggio tutto facile e piano. Egli magnanimamente li ribatte, e promette al Serenissimo Arciduca di voler imitare le gloriose azioni degli Eroi di casa d’Austria e di quelle de’ Medici. Il suo Arcangelo custode, per secondare così nobil proponimento, gli conduce la Prudenza e la Giustizia, dalle quali nella sua infanzia nutrito apprenda l’arti che rendono i Principi gloriosi. Viene nellultimo l’Amor Divino, accioché con la Giustizia e la Prudenza impari a riverire la Religione e la Pietà cristiana»[23].

The comedy, which lasted around an hour, was performed by Prince Ferdinando as himself, with Giovan Carlo as Guardian Angel, Prince Mattias as Divine Love, the Princesses Maria Cristina and Margherita as Prudence and Justice, and three valets of the prince as Virtue, Pleasure and Sloth. The performance Prològue, which was entirely sung, was given by an unknown professional singer, in the role of Happiness[24]. As far as the scenery is concerned, the play was staged on the first floor of the residence. The backdrop was «a uso di loggia con colonnati dipinta, con lumi et a finestre serrate» (in the manner of a loggia painted with columns, with lights and closed windows)[25]. The costumes and the stage curtains and draperies were provided by the royal warehouse: «Sette paia di guanti di capretto lavati e lavorati con seta [...] e monopole di ermisino mandate a Baroncelli per servizo per i signori principini e principessine»[26] («Seven pairs of washed kid gloves worked with silk [...] and ermine mittens sent to Baroncelli residence for the use of the princes and princesses»). Leopold, who would leave Florence before the end of the month was very satisfied with this performance. The Grand Duke never came to meet him in Florence, but the Archduke was able to enjoy the company of his sister and his nephews and nieces who were pleased by his presence and tried to make him feel at his ease in every way, especially don Lorenzo.

The main event planned to celebrate Leopold’s arrival in Florence was scheduled for the following evening, on 10 March in the Gherardesca Palace, a private  palace and the residence of a nobleman, Ugo Rinaldi[27].


Festivals  for Archduke Leopold V: “Andromeda” by Jacopo Cicognini (10 March 1618)[28]

The central moment of the celebrations to honour the visit to Florence of the Archduke Leopold of Austria was the staging of the maritime fable Andromeda by Jacopo Cicognini, six intermedi inserted into a pastoral, probably the Bonarella by Giovan Battista Guarini[29]. The comedy was played by the Storditi academicians, a recently-established ensemble to which Ugo Rinaldi and Alessandro del Nero belonged[30]. The place in which the play was staged was not a Medici residence but the great hall of the Gherardesca Palace, Ugo Rinaldi’s house, «dietro SS. Annunziata (behind the chuch of St. Annunziata)[31] (in Borgo Pinti, the present Via Giusti, now the home of the Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze), which previously, during the carnival of 1616, had hosted the important staging of Aminta by Torquato Tasso together with Orfeo dolente, the five musical intermedi composed by Domenico Belli, who would be the composer of the score for Cicognini’s Andromeda, just two years after. The author of Orfeo libretto, though not mentioned, is almost certainly Gabriello Chiabrera[32]. For the occasion, Belli had dedicated his interludes to Ugo Rinaldi, who had staged Tasso’s pastoral in his residence, joining the experience also as an actor, perhaps in the first nucleus of the Storditi.

The importance of the Gherardesca Palace as the “luogo teatrale” (theatrical place) for high quality stagings, a place which was more privileged than the official Medici residences in this period, is the clear mirror of the Florentine spectacular reality, and the political situation as well, under the government of Grand Duke Cosimo II. After Ferdinando I’s death in February 1609, Florentine spectacular modes radically changed: direct central control over festival events progressively faded, so that even the activities of the Uffizi theatre, the official theatre, and the number of its technological stagings are drastically reduced. Under Cosimo II we witness a radical change to the management of large-scale productions, at least as far as large stage machinery is concerned. If we exclude the great dynastic episode, the festivals for the marriage between Cosimo II and Maria Maddalena of Austria, in 1608, which saw Giulio Parigi’s[33] great debut with Il giudizio di Paride (The judgement of Paris), Florentine official spectacle is characterized by a detached sense of economy, especially as far as machinery is concerned. We can clearly see this in the staging of Solimano, an opera which, at the time, was produced thanks to thirty-years-old scenes recycled by Orazio Scarabelli, and it seems that the witness of this episode was just Jacques Callot with his drawings[34]. Since the central importance of spectacular life will fade, both due to important political questions (the instability of the international political situation, especially between France and Spain; as far as the Italian states are concerned war in Mantua; and the Thirty Years’ War in Europe) and to the increasing illness of the Grand Duke, Florentine spectacle became gradually removed from official culture to find its place in the establishments of lesser societal entities further away from the seat of central power, such as academies, confraternities and the private palaces of the noble families. So here we have this new kind of “teatralità diffusa” (diffuse theatricalism) among the social fabric that, replacing the official theatricalism, becomes the central point of Florentine theatrical life and a locus for staging innovation[35].

This essential relationship between professionalism and dilettantism, linked through a mutual dialectical osmosis, is to the basis of the 1618 staging: first of all the choice of the place, that is a private palace but perfectly set up to give important performances with complex sets and stage machinery such as the opera genre might demand; then the organizer himself, the noble Ugo Rinaldi, a dilettante, musician, and actor and someone not new, as we have seen, to such enterprises, experienced in the production events of great resonance.

To comprehend the project for the 1618 staging inside the Gherardesca Palace, such as the arrangement of the great hall in which, just a few years previously, in 1616, Aminta was accommodated, we may refer to Andrea Salvadori’s description of the staging of the court spectacle Le fonti d’Ardenna[36], a «Festa d’arme et di ballo» (Feast of arms and dances) produced at Rinaldi’s in 1623 by the Rugginosi academicians (the name later adopted by the Storditi) under the Principate of Alessandro del Nero. The layout of the hall which is described for this event might easily correspond to that for Andromeda in 1618: «Era fabbricata la scena nella bellissima sala de Signori Conti della Gherardesca, abitazione per l’ordinario de Signori Rinaldi, né si alzava da terra più d’un braccio alla fiorentina, con tre comodi gradi per agiatamente discendere nell’orchestra, o vogliam dir piazza avanti il proscenio, ove si doveva battagliare e ballare» («The stage was erected in the most beautiful hall of their lordships the Counts della Gherardesca, the usual dwelling place of the lords Rinaldi, nor did it rise higher from the ground that one Florentine arm, with three comfortable steps to descend to the orchestra stalls, or we should say the place before the proscenium, on which there will be fighting and dancing»)[37].

The perspective was open at the back of the stage to allow the sight of the garden: «Sfondo reale fino al finto della prospettiva che rendeva maraviglia non piccola a’ riguardanti» («a real scene at the back of the painted scenery, which caused no small astonishment in the audience»)[38]. Settimanni’s Diary shows evidence of a similar staging for Aminta in 1616: «Si fece di nuovo la festa d’arme in casa de’ Rinaldi la quale fu bellissima cosa poichè era sontuosa d’apparati di scena bassa a due scalini di abiti di armi e di musica» («The festivals of arms was staged once more at Rinaldi’s house, which was a beautiful thing sumptuously made of machines for a two-steps deep stage, and costumes, arms and music»)[39]. Having thoroughly  investigated all material we have at our disposal about the arrangement in Rinaldi’s great hall for 1618 staging, omitting all reference to the insignificant comedy within whose acts Cicognini’s maritime fable was staged, every testimony to be referred to the intermedi dealing with the story of Andromeda.

Two excellent epistolary sources inform us about the complex staging organized by the Storditi academy, which give us an important and complete vision of the professional and semi-professional world, made up of the artists and artisans who were at the heart of this staging. The first is the testimony given by the coordinator of the enterprise, Fra’ Ainolfo of the Earls of Vernio, to the grand-ducal secretary Andrea Cioli[40]. This refers to the difficulties and the speed of the work. The second is Giulio Caccini’s letter to Cioli himself, which describes the outcome of the spectacle[41]. These two different points of view may be considered to be accurate chronicles to that material exercise of the theatrical art which represents the most fertile contribution by the lower levels of Florentine culture to the history of the modern spectacle.

This is a considerable event which sees as the primary historical referent no less a figure than the emperor Ferdinand II of Habsburg, brother both to the Archduke Leopold and the Archduchess Maria Magdalena, Cosimo II’s wife. The occasion was of crucial importance, so much so that the Grand Duke himself demanded that the representation should display the height of Florentine theatrical achievement, to the stupefaction of his audience. This is attested to by the same Cicognini in his annotations for the scene corresponding to the third intermedio: Maraviglia hanno ordinato (They ordered a marvel)[42].

Cicognini’s manuscript of Andromeda[43], filled with corrections and stage directions (so that we must consider it a scene manuscript not a printing one) refers to a querelle when it weighs up the possibility of cutting the entire last intermedio if the production should turn out to be too long: «In evento che dopo l’atto quinto o al principio questi stessi recitanti non volessero intermedio questo intermedio si potrebbe levare et così dove gli Intermedi sono sei si ridurrebbero al numero di cinque et il musico avrebbe minor briga: essi leverebbono i tritoni et altri del coro di Anfitrite perciò faccino quello che li torna più comodo»[44] («In the event that after the fifth act or at the beginning these actors did not want an intermedio, this intermedio could be taken out and thus where the intermedi are six their number can be reduced to five, and the composer would have less bother; this would take out Tritons and others from Anfitrite’s chorus, this way allowing them to do what is most convenient»). Among the various problems that staging met with, there is worthy to be told, regarding the scene costumes. The noble gentlemen who played in the comedy and the main singers for the intermedi had provided their own, at their own expense, and the results were obviously magnificent. The problem concerned the other performers, who were not so rich but had to take the main parts in the intermedi; they were always on stage but they could not provide to their own costumes. The organizers therefore asked the Guardaroba Medicea to obtain costumes from the grand-ducal warehouses. But the warehouse officials sent old and worn costumes, so that Jacopo Cicognini strongly complained to the warehouse supervisor, accurately describing the poor attire of his performers, «parono cani pezzati» (they look like brindled dogs)[45]. To arrive at a final resolution of the problem, he decided to address to the Grand Duke directly, who immediately ordered the warehouse supervisor Giugni to supply more appropriate costumes to the prestigious occasion, to contribute appropriately to the global decorum of the staging.

As regards the other aspects of the staging, no particular problems occurred and the works proceeded without relevant complications. Cosimo Lotti’s scenery turned out to be «bella e ricca assai» (extremely beautiful and rich)[46], receiving master Parigi’s full appreciation. The final result would constitute the pinnacle of the two architects’ reputations, being more than appropriate to the political meaning of the occasion: «L’architetto della prospettiva e delle macchine fu Cosimo Lotti, il quale, con l’esempio delle cose passate, si è portato in maniera che, dato la parità del sito non è stata punto inferiore alle passate, né di vaghezza, né di ricchezza, né d’invenzione»[47] (The architect for the backdrop and the machines was Cosimo Lotti who, referring to the example of previous realizations, worked in such a way that, given the parity of the site, it did not turn out to be in any way inferior to those of the past, not in beauty, not in richness, not in invention).

In the end, Cicognini’s artistic satisfaction was complete, and his maritime fable Andromeda obtained the enthusiastic praise of Archduke Leopold and the grand ducal family: «Appresso la pastorale fu recitata da una quantità di giovani abili, nuovi accademici, detti li Storditi, i quali perché tutti hanno fatto a concorrenza nel vestirsi di lor propria borsa, come altresì gli altri nobili che hanno cantato, di lor borsa, assicuro Vostra Signoria Illustrissima che mai si è veduto nei tempi addietro in simil affari, né più vaghi, né più ricchi vestimenti di questi per comune parere di tutto il teatro. […] La musica poi fu tale che conforme alle passate, le quali hanno fatto sempre parere tediosa qualsivoglia favola, quantunque ben recitata, che meglio di questa non si potea né può desiderare: questa ha auto tanto di varietà per l’invenzione e la dolcezza dell’armonia sempre accompagnata da varietà di strumenti che realmente Messer Domenico Belli autor di essa può gloriarsi di aver mostrato quanto possa l’arte della musica accompagnata col giudizio: essendo per maggior perfezione di essa a cantare molti gentiluomini et in particolare il signor Francesco Bonsi, la più bella e più sonora voce che mai sia stata, almeno ai miei tempi, tra gentiluomini in questa città, con una grazia in maneggiarla indicibile, oltre a un altro giovane de’ Biffoli che vien su ora, Pompeo Conti e quattro fanciulletti nobili, due de’ Lenzoni e due de’ Rovai, e due altri allievi del suddetto autore il Belli, tutti squisiti»[48] (The pastoral was performed by a group of experienced young actors, new academicians, called the Storditi who in mutual agreement had provided their costumes from their own purses, as the other nobles who sang had used their purses, I assure your Illustrious Lordship that there never was seen in times before this a similar affairs, neither more beautiful, nor richer costumes than those in which all those on stage appeared […]. The music, furthermore, compared to that of past spectacles, which have always seemed tedious whatever the fable, however well sung the music, better than this could not be made nor desired: this showed so much variety of invention and sweetness of harmony always accompanied by a variety of instruments that really Messer Domenico Belli the author of this may congratulate himself on having shown how much the art of music accompanied judiciously can achieve: the greatest perfection of this way the singing and in particular Signor Francesco Bonsi, the most beautiful and sonorous there ever was, at least in my time, of all the gentlemen in this city, with an unspeakable grace in his phrasing, also another young man, of the  Biffoli whose hour has come, Pompeo Conti, and four noble boys, two of the Lenzoni and two of the Rovai, and two other pupils of the said composer, Belli, all exquisite).

Once again we must refer to Cicognini’s directions for the setting of the opera, these are included in the manuscript and refer to the staging of every intermedio, in order to understand what kind of spectacle appeared on the stage in front of the prestigious audience. In this precious source, Cicognini also gives us a precise and exhaustive definition of the spectacular genre named intermedio: «Chiamasi anco intermedio quell’apparenza che vien a principio avanti la commedia perché è azzione fatta nel mezzo, cioè tra il silenzio dello spettatore e il principio dell’opera che si rappresenta»[49] (That action is called intermedio which appeared at the beginning before a play because it is an action staged in that space, that is between the silence of the spectator and the beginning of the opera which is being put on).

Then we find the complete description of Andromeda, with the staging instructions for every part of it. For the first intermedio: «Calata la tela, il mare apparirà nel Foro, e le due prime case coperte appariranno scogli. Venere sovra il suo carro trainato da Cigni, o vero uscirà di sotto, et sederà sovra una Conchiglia»[50] (The curtain having fallen, the sea will appear upstage, the first two houses will appear covered in rocks. Venus in her chariot drawn by swans, or in fact she will get out of it, and sit on seashell).

For the second intermedio: «Dopo l’atto primo. Si aprirà il foro dove si vedrà prospettiva di mare con l’onde e scogli […]. Barchette alla Corsara e tra un atto e l’altro si possono fingere barchette che abbino moto […]. Il mare è scosso. Si deve placar Nettuno e l’Orca»[51] (After the first act. The curtain will rise to show a view of the with waves and rocks [...]. Little sailboats in pirate style, and between one act and another they can be made to seem to move [...] The sea  is calm. Neptune and the sea-monster must be placated).

For the third intermedio: «Un cavallo alato frenato da Perseo esce fuori e attraversa la scena. Sarà il cavallo di legno disornato e dipinto et che, armato di ferro et di dentro, avrà luogo agiato perché Perseo vi si posi. Avrà Perseo l’asta in mano, l’ale si moveranno, e qualche zampa che lo si possa fare le tira Perseo movendo i fili degli Ingegni. Perseo, solo, canta, si move intanto con moto lento»[52] (A winged horse ridden by Perseus enters and crosses the entire stage. It will be the wooden horse adorned and painted and which, internally constructed of iron, will then be operated so that Perseus can mount it. Perseus will have his lance in his hand, the wings will move and whatever strides the horse makes Perseus can operate by pulling the strings of the mechanism. Perseus, solo, sings, and moves slowly as he sings).

For the fourth intermedio: «Dopo il Terzo atto si faccia apertura del palco vicino al foro, comparirà un coro di Tritoni e finghino conche marine, ma sotto si faccia una sinfonia di cornetti e traversi et i Tritoni finghino di sonare con quelle chiocciole grandi dette conche marine»[53] (After the third act, the platform near the backdrop will open, a chorus of Tritons will appear, with pretend seashells, but undernearth a simphony of cornets and transverse flutes will be played and the Tritons will  pretend to blow on those big snail spirals called seashells).

For the fifth intermedio: «Coro di Pescatori e Pescatrici […]. Passa il mostro marino […] et apre la bocca attraversando la scena fingendosi che vadia a divorare Andromeda. Partito il mostro ritorna il coro dei Pescatori al suo luogo»[54] (A choir of fishermen and fisherwomen [...] The sea-monster appears [...] and crosses the stage with his mouth open as if he were going to devour Andromeda.  When the monster exits the chorus of fishermen and women return to their places).

The sixth intermedio is entirely dedicated to the triumph of Perseus, which resolves the fable:  «Dopo il quinto e ultimo atto dell’opera che si reciterà si farà il Sesto Intermedio […].Vien Perseo, ha per mano Andromeda con il corteggio di molti»[55] (After the fifth and last act of the opera, which is sung the sixth intermedio will take place [...] Perseus enters, he holds Andromeda by the hand with an entourage of many).

The great success of the Andromeda production represents the highest point of a long difficult path on which Cicognini had begun in the summer of 1611, more than six years before this staging of 1618.

Cicognini was in Florence at that time, and he wrote a letter to Ferdinando Gonzaga in order to propose the staging in Mantua of his Andromeda, but through the correspondence we find that his project was rejected by the Duke. A few years after, in 1613 when he was living in Rome in the service of Cardinal Sauli, he submitted the same work to Enzo Bentivoglio in Ferrara. It seems that the lord of Ferrara accepted the proposal, since a few days after Cicognini intended to send him the manuscript copy both of Adone – written in a view of the two projected but then revoked marriages of the princesses of Tuscany (Caterina, daughter of Ferdinando I, to prince Henry Stuart and Eleonora, daughter of Ferdinando, to Philip III of Spain) – and Andromeda. The negotiation went on, at least in Cicognini’s mind, to extent that, completely moved by his emotions, he wrote  that he had already found a printer in Rome for his two works, convinced that he would be refunded by Bentivoglio for the expense of printing Andromeda, thirty Florentine scudi. But Cicognini’s excitement at the imminent fulfilment of his project was abruptly stopped by Ferrara, where his patron was evidently reconsidering the entire question; in a letter dated 22 August Cicognini complains about the prolonged silence of his lord, especially considering he has already paid an engraver to make the copper plates for his Andromeda, an extremely interesting matter we will examine later: «Mi duole del debito inutilmente fatto per l’inscrittione in rame e di aver dato materia ad alcuno di ammirare e ad altri di rallegrare; il che passa con mio infinito disgusto e poca reputazione»[56] ( The debt uselessy incurred for the inscription on –copper- plates and giving to some cause for admiration and to others cause for joy grieves me, this has resulted in my infinite disgust and poor reputation). Regardless of the various disappointments, Cicognini always tried in the following years to remain in touch with Bentivoglio, hoping to see his Andromeda staged in such a prestigious court. Writing in December 1616 from Bologna, he describes an intermedio marittimo (marine intermedio), almost certainly Andromeda again, to be inserted within the acts of  Battista Guarini’s pastoral Bonarella[57], which project had not received any response from the patron yet. We have no further information on this planned Ferrarese staging, since Cicognini’s correspondence with Bentivoglio is interrupts here, leaving us with the assumption that Andromeda has not staged in Ferrara. But Cicognini’s obstinacy would eventually bring a reward: seven years after its first commission, Andromeda was given in Florence to honour the visit of a Habsburg, perhaps within that same Bonarella mentioned above, the pastorale in cinque atti (pastoral in five acts) performed in 1618 by the Storditi academicians in the great hall of Gherardesca Palace.

The analysis of the complex tale of Andromeda, from 1611 to 1618, gave us occasion to approach Callot’s activity as engraver in relation to his Florentine employment at the Medici court as cronista per immagini (chronicler in images) from 1612 to 1622, and to his specific contribution to the iconographic representations for Cicognini’s maritime fable: the four preparatory drawings held by the Drawings and Prints Cabinet of the Uffizi Gallery[58]. The drawings, which describe the climax of the staging with Pegasus and Perseus on stage, demonstrate the clear inspiration behind the choice of the subject, since Callot, in his Florentine years, deeply acquainted with the artistic and theatrical world. His friendship with Giulio Parigi, whose workshop he was attending, and with Cosimo Lotti, Parigi’s most excellent pupil, is certainly at the base of his artistic practice.

With regard to the genesis of Andromeda and to all Cicognini’s efforts to see it represented at court, a path we have reconstructed above in details until its final staging at Florence in 1618, we must return to the letter dated 22 august 1613, in which Cicognini regrets the silence of his patron Bentivoglio, concerning the possible printing of Andromeda in view of its court representation in Ferrara. The point we are going to underline is Cicognini’s complaint about the money «inutilmente fatto per l’inscrittione in rame» (uselessly spent on engraving on copperplate)[59]. That being so, we might suppose that Callot’s preparatory drawings could refer to this specific previous occasion, instead of the final staging in Florence, and this constitutes an extremely interesting deduction. But since Cicognini was in Rome at the time of this letter while Callot lived there only from 1608 to 1611, and in this date (1613) he was already in Florence, where he would remain until 1622, it’s quite impossible for us to speculate on a long distance commission by Cicognini from Rome, considering the absolute uncertainty of the negotiation with Bentivoglio. It is quite unconceivable that the commission for such rich and complex series of engravings, such as the quality of Callot’s preparatory drawings undoubtedly suggests, could be arranged under these circumstances. Ternois himself attributes the making of the preparatory drawings to an early phase in the career of Callot, taking into account the cold use of red pencil, the nervous line, the predominance of the curves, the exceedingly slender, over-rapidly sketched nude, all elements that confirm a dating rather too early, soon after 1617, to be related to the 1618 Florentine staging of Andromeda[60]

Nonetheless, though Cicognini’s letter rises an extremely suggesting case, the staging portrayed in the sketches is almost certainly Cosimo Lotti, the architect for the 1618 event, a painter and rising star of the Florentine stagecraft, although still needed the supervision of his master, Parigi, at this time. Cicognini’s stage directions for the third and fifth intermedio can easily fit as a subtitles to Callot’s sketches: «Un cavallo alato frenato da Perseo esce fuori e attraversa la scena […]. Passa il mostro marino […] et apre la bocca attraversando la scena fingendosi che vadia a divorare Andromeda» (A winged horse ridden by Perseus enters and crosses the stage […]. The sea-monster appears [...] and crosses the stage with his  mouth open as if he were going to devour Andromeda)[61].

The production of Andromeda at Rinaldi’s in 1618 pictured in Callot’s drawings may be considered to be evidence of the frequent cross-contaminations between Italy, particularly Florence, and Spain, because it is closely related to the play Perseo y Andromeda based on the fable by Calderón de la Barca performed in 1653 at the Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid under the staging supervision of Baccio del Bianco, Cosimo Lotti’s apprentice. Lotti, who staged for Cicognini’s Andromeda, worked for a long time at the Spanish court of Philip IV[62]. Thus, Andromeda can be seen as one of the key elements in the network of international cultural exchange between Italy and Spain. This is not so much to suppose a primary Italian derivation of Calderón’s comedy, since the Perseus legend had a long tradition in Spain, rather an intermediary role of Lotti’s staging with regard to the Spanish branch of the Habsburg.



[1]For a wide and deep reconstruction of the Medici spectacular tradition and related policy see, among the others, the following key works: L. Zorzi, Il teatro e la città. Saggi sulla scena italiana, Torino, Einaudi, 1977; S. Mamone, Il teatro nella Firenze medicea, Milano, Mursia, 1981; Ead., Firenze e Parigi: due capitali dello spettacolo per una regina: Maria de' Medici, Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana, 1988; Ead., Dèi, semidei, uomini. Lo spettacolo a Firenze tra neoplatonismo e realtà borghese (XV-XVII secolo), Roma, Bulzoni, 2003; Ead., Serenissimi fratelli principi impresari. Notizie di spettacolo nei carteggi medicei. Carteggi di Giovan Carlo de’ Medici e di Desiderio Montemagni suo segretario (1628-1664), Firenze, Le Lettere, 2003.

[2] Archival and other research for this part of this chapter was carried out by Caterina Pagnini.

[3] Leopold (Graz, 9 October 1586 - Schwaz, 13 September 1632) was the twelfth son of Archduke Charles II of Austria and Maria von Wittelsbach of Bavaria; from his early years, he was destined by his family for a career in the church, a role that allowed him to develop great qualities of diplomatic skill, thanks to which he was widely used by his brother, the Emperor Ferdinand, as one of the most important political negotiators in the affairs of the Empire. Not yet twenty-year-old, in 1598, he was created bishop of Strasbourg. He always retained his links to the Jesuit order, one of the reasons for his meteoric rise. At first he was employed in the direct government of some regions of Germany, as an intransigent defender of the Catholic faith against the Protestants. Then, for a brief period, he was in Innsbruck, at the court of Maximilian II, archduke of Austria. In 1611, thanks to the intercession if the Jesuits, he obtained the title of bishop of Passau. From that year, he became resident and active at the imperial court in Prague, where he played a leading  role in the political events which led to the deposition of his uncle, Rudolph II, in favour of Mattias and then Ferdinand of Habsburg. Mattias became regent the emperor on the death of the latter in 1619.  Frederick V of the Palatinate (husband to Princess Elizabeth of England, daughter of James I) first succeeded to the throne, followed by his brother Ferdinand who, as Ferdinand II, was emperor from 1619 to 1637. For the political history of the Habsburg family see S. Bardazzi, Sguardi fiorentini sull'impero. Notizie dei residenti fiorentini presso la corte cesarea a Praga e a Vienna da Massimiliano II a Ferdinando II (unpublished degree thesis, University of Florence, 2003-2004; abstract in «Medioevo e Rinascimento», XIX / n.s. XVI (2005), pp. 131-158); Id., Istoria del viaggio di Alemagna del serenissimo granduca di Toscana Ferdinando Secondo in I Gonzaga e l’Impero. Itinerari dello spettacolo a cura di U. Artioli e C. Grazioli, Firenze, Le Lettere, 2005, pp. 175-193; Id., Simili virtuosi, in così longo viaggio. Attori, scenografi, cantanti e viaggiatori italiani ad Innsbruck fra il Cinquecento e il Seicento (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Florence, 2008).

[4] The emperor Ferdinando II, who first married Marianne of Bavaria, who gave him seven sons (among whom was the succeeding emperor Ferdinand III), was widowed in 1616. Thus he was interested in negotiating a marriage negotiation with the Medici family, since Princess Claudia, Grand Duke Ferdinand I’s younger daughter, was not yet married or engaged. In fact she married Federico Ubaldo della Rovere, duke of Urbino, in 1621. The couple had a daughter, Vittoria della Rovere, who in 1634 married her cousin, Ferdinando II, grand duke of Tuscany. See S. Bardazzi, Le nozze di Leopoldo d'Asburgo e Claudia de' Medici. Una principessa medicea alla corte tirolese, in Medioevo e Rinascimento, XIX / n.s. XVI (2005), pp. 131-158.

[5] This is confirmed by a letter of Grand Duchess Maria Maria Maddalena to Caterina de’ Medici, duchess of Mantua, in which she confirms the arrival of her brother Leopold from Florence toward Mantua: «Ricevo la sua del dieci, con la quale ella si congratula meco della venuta di mio fratello [...]» (I receive your letter dated 10th in which your grace congratulates me for my brother’s arrival’) (Firenze, ASF, Mediceo del Principato, f. 6108, c. 3, letter from Maria Maddalena of Austria to Caterina de’ Medici, 20 March 1618). The Gonzaga negotiations were successful in the end:  Ferdinand II married Eleonora Gonzaga on 4 February 1622.

[6] Claudia, as previously stated, married Federico Ubaldo della Rovere in 1621, but she was soon widowed, a few years later in 1623. She returned to Florence and married the archduke Leopold V of Austria in 1626, with whom she had five children, among them Maria Leopoldina of Habsburg, soon to become Emperor Ferdinando III’s wife. Leopold, too, left her widowed early. He died of an attack of apoplexy in 1623. Leopold designated Claudia regent of Tyròl until their son Ferdinand Charles of Austria came of age in 1646. See S. Bardazzi, Le nozze di Leopoldo d'Asburgo e Claudia de' Medici, cit.

[7] Cosimo II was elected grand duke of Tuscany on his father Ferdinando I’s death, in 1609. The young Cosimo was only nineteen, but his health was already weakened by tuberculosis. He would die  at the age of thirty, in 1621, leaving eight children born of his marriage to Maria Maddalena of Austria, celebrated in 1608: Maria Cristina, Ferdinando, Giovan Carlo, Margherita, Mattias, Francesco, Anna and Leopoldo.

[8] The day after Leopold’s arrival in Florence it was the first day of Lent, so Leopold took immediately heard Mass with the whole gran ducal family: «Et a dì detto, primo giorno di Quaresima, stando Sua Altezza bene, si levò del letto et andò alla messa in cappellina della Serenissima Arciducessa» (That morning, being the first day of Lent, His Highness, finding hisself well, rose from his bed and went to Mass in private little chapel of the Grand Duchess). Firenze, BNCF, Ms. Capponi 261.I, Diario fiorentino di Cesare Tinghi, vol. I (1600-1615), c. 132r, transcribed in full in F. Fantappiè, Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea: diario primo del granduca di toscana, di Cesare Tinghi aiutante di camera, unpublished Degree Thesis, University of Florence, 1999, vol. II,  p. 232).

[9] Ibidem.

[10] The Medici Palace, formerly Appiano Palace, in Lungarno Mediceo in Pisa, was built in the thirteen century on the site of an existing medieval building. It was the residence of the Appiano family, Lords of Pisa from 1392 to 1398; then it was bought by the Medici in 1446, in the times of Pietro il Gottoso. Lorenzo de’ Medici often stayed, to recover his illness on the Tuscan coasts, accompanied by his circle of humanists, especially by his close friend Angelo Poliziano. 

[11] «Et condotto al palazo, venuto a fare reverenza a Sua Altezza che era in letto […]. Li si dette la ghuardia alemanna a servilo et da una notte in là licenziò per essere incognito» (Then he was led to Palace to offer his obeisance to His  Highness who was bedridden […]. He was given the German guard to serve him, and after one night he was given leave, to being incognito'). Firenze, BNCF, Ms. Capponi 261.I, Diario fiorentino, c. 131v, transcribed in F. Fantappiè, Il alla corte medicea, cit., vol. II, p. 232.

[12] «Magniò con l’arciducessa […], andò a visitare il cardinale de’ Medici; […] magniò con al Serenissima Arciduchessa sempre ritirato, servito dalle dame; vi magniò con seco il cardinale et il principe don Lorenzo, la Serenissima da man ritta sotto Sua Altezza Serenissima, l’arciduca dirimpetto alla serenissima» (He dined with the archduchess, […] then he went to visit Cardinal de’ Medici; he dined in private with the archduchess, served by her ladies, and the cardinal, and prince don Lorenzo dined with them, Her Serene Highness on the right hand below His Serene Highness, the arckduke on her left). Ibidem.

[13] «Et il dì detto [2marzo], il detto arciduca Leopoldo partì di Pisa, con il principe don Lorenzo et il signore Francesco dal Monte et andò in carrozza a 6 cavalli a Livorno et non si fece incontro alcuno […]. Fu alloggiato a casa il comesario delle galere Rucellai; magniò secho il principe do Lorenzo et il signore Francesco dal Monte, servito da’ Gabril Tassi e da’ paggi; vedde tutto Livorno et il molo, et il sabato sera ritornò a Pisa incognito» (That said day, [2 March] the said Archduke Leopold left Pisa with prince don Lorenzo and lord Francesco del Monte and went in the direction of Livorno in a carriage of six horses, without meeting anyone on the way. He was lodged in the house of the prison governor Rucellai; He dined with Prince don Lorenzo and Francesco del Monte, served by Gabriel Tassis and his pages; he saw the whole of Livorno and the dock, and on Saturday evening he returned to Pisa in incognito). Ibidem.

[14] The Middle Bridge, also called Conte Ugolino Bridge, links the centre of the city from one bank of the river Arno to the other. It linked the two sides of Pisa near the present Santa Cristina Church. In 1046 the bridge was moved eastwards from its original position and rebuilt in stone. In  1381 it was rebuilt by Pietro Gambacorti, an architect belonging to one of the most important families in Pisa and owner of the palace of the same on the Lungarno. See F. Guerrieri; L. Bracci; G. Pedreschi, I ponti sull'Arno dal Falterona al mare, Firenze, Polistampa, 1998.

[15] Firenze, BNCF, Ms. Capponi 261.I, Diario fiorentino, c. 131v,  transcribed in F. Fantappiè, Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea, cit., vol. II, p. 233.

[16] Ibidem.

[17] «Et a dì detto Sua Altezza stando bene, si levò et negotiò con detto arciduca et si licentiò et stettero tutto il giorno alegramente» (And on the said day His Highness, being well, rose from his bed and negotiated with the said archduke, and he enjoyed himself and they gladly passed the whole day happily together). Ibidem.

[18] «Et andorno la sera allogiare alla Ambrogiana, servito dalla casa et da’ servi et paggi di Sua Altezza» (In the evening they went to stay at the Villa Ambrogiana, attended by His Highness’s household, servants and pages). Ibidem. The Medici Villa Ambrogiana, which takes its name from the family who previously owned it and sold the building to the Medici in 1574, was one of the most magnificent residence of the grand-ducal family. It was extensively restored after its purchase by Bartolommeo Ammannati and his chief assistant, Giovanni Antonio Dosio, according to the instructions of  Francesco I. The building was placed in a particular strategic area: besides being near the river Arno, it was just in the centre of an extensive hunting ground which, with seigneurial mansions at its outer extremities (Artimino, Poggio alla Malva e Montevettolini), embraced almost the whole Montalbano area. The villa was therefore used for the pleasure of the family, for the hunting and also as a place to stay over on the long journey from Florence to Pisa. It was Cosimo III’s favourite residence, so much so that he ordered Ferdinando Tacca to refurbish and remodel it in its entirety.  

[19] «Et a dì 6 di marzo, partì da Pisa il detto arciduca Leopoldo et andò a Firenze acompagniato dal principe don Lorenzo con il signor Francescho del Monte […]. Inoltre andò accompagniallo la Serenissima Arciducessa per fino a Firenze, fu allogiato a Pitti» (On the sixth of March, the said archduke left Pisa and went to Florence, accompanied by Prince don Lorenzo, with the Lord Francesco del Monte [...]. More over te Most Serene Archduchess accompanied him as far as Florence; he was lodged in the Pitti Palace). Firenze, BNCF, Ms. Capponi 261.I, Diario fiorentino, c. 132v, transcribed in F. Fantappiè, Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea, cit., vol. II, p. 232.

[20] Ivi, c. 133r, transcribed in F. Fantappiè, Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea, cit., vol. II, p. 232.

[21] «Magniò sempre con l’arciducessa, vedde la galleria, le stalle di Sua Altezza, vedde scoprire la Santissima Annunziata» (He dined with the archduchess; he went to the gallery and to His Highness’s stables; and he went to unveiling of the Virgin of the Annunciation). Ibidem.

[22] «Visitò e’ fillioli di  Sua Altezza; udì una commedia recitata da’ fillioli di sua altezza» (He visited His Highness’s childrens; he attended a play performed by them). A. Solerti, Musica, ballo e drammatica alla Corte Medicea dal 1600 al 1637, Bologna, Forni, 1905, p. 126. This play, which is available only in manuscript, is kept in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena. Bibl. Estense, Ms. Campori Y S. 3. 24. The whole play, as yet unpublished, has been analysed and trascribed by D. Sarà, I principini sulle scene della corte medicea del primo Seicento, in «Annali del Dipartimento di Storia delle Arti e dello Spettacolo», Nuova Serie, a. IX, 2008, pp. 213-238.

[23] Ivi, pp. 218-220.

[24] See D. Sarà, I principini sulle scene della corte medicea del primo Seicento, cit., pp. 217-219.

[25] Firenze, BNCF, Ms. Capponi 261. I, Diario fiorentino, c. 141v, transcribed in F. Fantappiè, Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea, cit., vol. II, p. 232. The play staged for the archduke’s visit to Florence was staged again on 22 May, and Tinghi’s description refers just to this second staging, but Sarà rightly argues that this date may be wrong, it should instead be 12 May, Cosimo II’s birthday. See D. Sarà, I principini sulle scene della corte medicea del primo Seicento, cit., p. 220-221.

[26] Firenze, ASF, Guardaroba 340, c. 107. This request was made for the second staging of the play, but it may easily serve for the first, perhaps even more so, since it was an official occasion aimed to honouring such an important personage, not a second staging for the family. For a comprehensive account of the Pitti Palace and its technical equipment see F. Fantappiè, Sale per lo spettacolo a Pitti (1600-1650), in Vivere a Pitti: una reggia dai Medici ai Savoia, edited by S. Bertelli and R. Pasta, Firenze, Olschki, 2003, pp. 327-348.

[27] Regarding the end of Leopold's visit to Florence, the archduke, the day after the performance, left Pratolino to greet the whole Medici family, especially the little princes and princesses, then he left Florence for Mantua, via Bologna. See Firenze, BNCF, Ms. Capponi 261.I, Diario fiorentino, c. 132v, transcribed in F. Fantappiè, Il cerimoniale alla corte medicea, cit., vol. II, p. 232.

[28] Archival and other research on this second part of the chapter was carried out by Sara Mamone.

[29] For a comprehensive account of the life and works of Jacopo and Giacinto Andrea Cicognini see S. Castelli, La drammaturgia di Jacopo Cicognini, Degree Thesis in History of the Theatre and Stectacle, University of Florence, rel. S. Ferrone, 1988-1989; Ead., Influenze spagnole nella Firenze del XVII secolo: la vita d'accademia e l'opera di Jacopo e Giacinto Andrea Cicognini, doctoral thesis in History of the Spectacle, University of Florence, 1997. See also S. Mamone, Parigi, Lotti, Callot, Cicognini e Adimari: Androméde dans le spectacle florentin au temp de Cosme II, in  Androméde ou le heros à l'epreuve de la beauté, edited by F. Siguret, Paris, Klincksieck, 1996, pp. 511-557.

[30] The Storditi (then probably named Rugginosi) officially came into being in 1621, shortly after the death of Cosimo II, under the protection of Carlo e  Lorenzo de’ Medici. On 26 February 1615 in the drama hall of Palazzo Pitti Il ballo di donne turche (The Turkish Ladies’Ball) was staged, with music by Marco da Gagliano based on a libretto by Alessandro Ginori. It was played by sixteen noble Florentines, all experienced in singing and dancing, among whom were Alessandro del Nero, Ugo Rinaldi and Lorenzo Strozzi. Alessandro del Nero would become the chief promoter of the academy, so that he became its “Prince”. He was also a favourite of Cristina of Lorena. See D. Sarà, Andrea Salvadori e lo spettacolo fiorentino all'epoca della Reggenza (1621-1628), Degree Thesis in History of Theatre and Spectacle, University of Florence, rel. S. Mamone, 1999-2000, pp. 167-168.

[31] The Gherardesca Palace was built by Bartolomeo Scala, chancellor  under the government of Lorenzo il Magnifico around 1480, under the supervision of Giuliano da Sangallo, who personally found the building of the wonderful courtyard. With the extinction of the Scala family, the palace was bought  by cardinal Alessandro de’ Medici. He belonged to a minor branch of the family known as “Ser Bernardetto Medici”. Alessandro’s mother was in fact Francesca Salviati, sister to Maria Salviati, Cosimo I’s mother. After he was elected pope, as Leone XI, Alessandro gave the palace to his sister, Gostanza, the widow of Ugo della Gherardesca. From this point, the palace remained property of the della Gherardesca family for approximately three centuries. See. L. Ginori Lisci, I Palazzi di Firenze nella storia e nell’arte, Firenze, Cassa di Risparmio, 1972, vol. I, pp. 529-536 e L. Pellecchia, The Patron's Role in the Production of Architecture: Bartolomeo Scala and the Scala Palace, in «Renaissance Quarterly», vol. 42, n. 2 (1989), pp. 258-291. At the time of the two performances mentioned here, Aminta with Orfeo dolente in 1616 and Cicognini’s Andromeda in 1618, the owner of the building was Simone Maria della Gherardesca (1588-1646), grand chancellor of Knights of St. Stephen, gentleman of the house of Grand Duke Cosimo II. See G.M. Mecatti, Storia genealogica della nobiltà e cittadinanza di Firenze, Bologna, Forni, 1971 [17741].

[32] See A. Tirabassi; C. Hindman, The Oldest Opera: Belli's “Orfeo Dolente”, in «The Musical Quarterly», vol. 25, n. 1, (1939), pp. 26-33 and A. Solerti, Musica, ballo e drammatica alla Corte Medicea dal 1600 al 1637, cit., p. XVII.

[33] Giulio Parigi (1571-1635), an Italian architect, impresario and stage-designer working for the Medici court in Florence as his father, Alfonso Parigi, had frequently been employed before him, by the same court. Giulio Parigi was trained by his father and Bernardo Buontalenti, whom he replaced on his death as the Court Architect in Florence. See Il luogo teatrale a Firenze: Brunelleschi, Vasari, Buontalenti, Parigi, catalogue of the exposition (Florence, 1975), edited by M. Fabbri, E. Garbero Zorzi, A. M. Petrioli Tofani, Milano, Electa, 1975;  A. Blumenthal, Theater Art of the Medici, Hanover, Darmouth College Museum, 1980; Id., Giulio Parigi's Stage Designs: Florence and the Early Baroque Spectacle, New York, Garland, 1986; A. Negro Spina, Giulio Parigi e gli incisori della sua cerchia, Napoli, Società Editrice Napoletana, 1983; A. Buccheri, Il ruolo della scenografia da Bernardo Buontalenti a Giulio Parigi, in Storia delle arti in Toscana. Il Seicento, edited by Mina Gregori, Firenze, EDIFIR, 2001, pp. 21-28; S. Mamone, Vita d’accademia tra tela e scena, in Dèi, Semidei, Uomini, cit., pp. 219-227.

[34] See S. Mamone, Le miroir des spectacles: Jacques Callot à Florence (1612-22), in Jacques Callot (1592-1635), Actes du colloque organisé par le Service culturel du Musée du Louvre et la ville de Nancy, à Paris et à Nancy les 25, 26 et 27 juin 1992, edited by D. Ternois and P. Choné, (Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1992), pp. 183-187; Ead., Il risparmio e lo spreco sotto lo sguardo di Callot, in Dèi, Semidei, Uomini, cit., pp. 149-168.

[35] See S. Mamone, Dèi, Semidei, Uomini, cit., passim.

[36] A. Salvadori, Le fonti di Ardenna, Festa dArme, e di ballo: Fatta in Firenze da dodici Signori Accademici Rugginosi il Carnevale dellanno 1623 Nel Principato del Sig. Alessandro del Nero. Invenzione del Signor Andrea Salvadori, Descritta dal Rugginoso Percosso [Simon Carlo Rondinelli], Dedicata Al Serenissimo Guidobaldo Principe dUrbino, Firenze, Cecconcelli, 1623.

[37] Firenze, Bibl. Riccardiana, Ms. Miscell. 172, cited in Il luogo teatrale a Firenze, cit., pp. 90-91.

[38] Ibidem.

[39] Firenze, ASF, Manoscritti 132 (Diario del Settimanni), c. 157v, transcribed in D. Sarà, Andrea Salvadori e lo spettacolo fiorentino all’epoca della reggenza, cit., vol. II, p. 122.

[40] Transcribed in A. M. Crinò, Documenti inediti sulla vita e l’opera di Jacopo e di Giacinto Cicognini, in «Studi Secenteschi», II (1961), pp. 263-264.

[41]  Firenze, ASF, Mediceo del Principato, f. 1370r, c. 57, letter by Giulio Caccini to Andrea Cioli, 10 March 1617 [but 1618], transcribed in A. Solerti, Musica, ballo e drammatica alla Corte Medicea dal 1600 al 1637, cit., pp. 127-128.

[42] Firenze, Biblioteca Riccardiana, Ms. 2792, c. 145v, partially transcribed and edited in S. Castelli, Manoscritti teatrali della Biblioteca Riccardiana di Firenze, Firenze, Polistampa, 1998.

[43] Firenze, Biblioteca Riccardiana, Ms.  2792, cc. 130-167.

[44] Firenze, Biblioteca Riccardiana, Ms.  2792, c. 164r.

[45] Letter by fra’ Ainolfo dei conti di Vernio to Andrea Cioli, 2 March 1618, transcribed in A. M. Crinò, Documenti inediti sulla vita e l’opera di Jacopo e di Giacinto Cicognini, cit., pp. 263-264.

[46] Ivi, p. 264.                        

[47] Firenze, ASF, Mediceo del principato, f. 1370, c. 57, letter by Giulio Caccini to Andrea Cioli, 10th March 1617 [but 1618], transcribed in A. Solerti, Musica, ballo e drammatica alla Corte Medicea dal 1600 al 1637, cit., pp. 127-128.

[48] Ibidem.

[49] Firenze, Biblioteca Riccardiana, Ms.  2792, c. 133v.

[50] Ivi, c. 132r.

[51] Ivi, c. 134r.

[52] Ivi, c. 139r. The image of Perseus crossing the sky singing on his flying horse is one of the most spectacular moment of the staging. Caccini’s description seems to confirm the link with Callot’s four engravings, based on the scene of Andromeda’s  rescue, but with some different decisions, even rethinks, about the question of dedicating the entire sky space to Perseo and Pegasus. The matter changes if we consider that Callot “proofs” would have wanted to recreate with this restaging, in the final version for the engraving, the airborne movement of Perseus using the machinery, which would further confirm the direct link between the staging and the effective “visual record” at the hand of the artist. See S. Mamone, Vita d’accademia tra tela e scena, in Dèi, semidei, uomini, cit., pp. 219-221.

[53] Firenze, Biblioteca Riccardiana, Ms.  2792, c. 147r.

[54] Ivi, c. 150v.

[55] Ivi, c. 159r.

[56] D. Fabris, Mecenati e musici. Documenti sul patronato artistico dei Bentivoglio di Ferrara nell’epoca di Monteverdi (1585-1645), Lucca, LIM, p. 266. See S. Mamone, Andromeda e Perseo: Cicognini, Adimari & Co. Sulle scene di accademie a Firenze al tempo di Cosimo II, in Teatri barocchi: Tragedie, commedie, pastorali nella drammaturgia europea fra '500 e '600, edited by S. Carandini, Roma, Bulzoni, 2000, pp. 407-438.; Ead., Les machines et l’indifférence du mythe, in Les Noces de Pélée et de Thétis (Venise 1639-Paris 1654), Actes du colloque International de Chambéry et de Turin, 3-7 novembre 1999, edited by M. T. Bouquet-Boyer, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Oxford, Wien, Lang, 2001, pp. 219-235.

[57] Guarini’s Bonarella should have been represented in Ferrara during the Carnival of 1612 as an Intermedio among the acts of  Guidobaldo Bonarelli’s play Filli di Sciro. The staging never took place so we have no information on it. See T. Carter, Intriguing Laments: Sigismondo D’India, Claudio Monteverdi, and Dido “alla parmigiana” (1628), in «Journal of American Musicological Society», IL, (1996), pp. 32-69: 35-37. See also the documentary sources transcribed and edited by D. Fabris, Mecenati e musici. Documenti sul patronato artistico dei Bentivoglio di Ferrara nell’epoca di Monteverdi (1585-1645), cit., pp. 195 (doc. 104), 242 (doc. 287), 325 (doc. 530), 403-4 (doc. 826).

[58] These two drawings, kept in the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe of the Uffizi Gallery of Florence (GDSU), are listed as Disegni preparatori riferibili all’“Andomeda” di Jacopo Cicognini, Firenze 1618 (Firenze,Uffizi, GDSU, nn. 2660-2661). The two drawings have been published and analyzed in S. Castelli, Note di protoregia in un autore del Seicento. “L’amor filiale” di Jacopo Cicognini, in «Medioevo e Rinascimento», VI / n.s. III (1992), pp. 159-174.

[59] D. Fabris, Mecenati e musici. Documenti sul patronato artistico dei Bentivoglio di Ferrara nell’epoca di Monteverdi (1585-1645), cit., p. 266.

[60] See D. Ternois, L’art de Jacques Callot, Paris, De Nobèle, 1962; Id., Callot et son temps. Dix ans de recherches (1962-1972), in Le Pays Lorraine, 4 (1973), pp. 211-248; Id., I due linguaggi di Jacques Callot, in Le incisioni di Jacques Callot nelle collezioni italiane, catalogue of the exhibition (Napoli-Roma-Pisa 1992), Milano, Mazzotta, 1992.

[61] Firenze, Biblioteca Riccardiana, Ms.  2792, cc. 139r and 150v.

[62] See L. Gentili, Mito e spettacolo nel teatro cortigiano di Calderón de la Barca, Roma, Bulzoni, 1991, pp. 92-101.



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