Cesare Rinaldi (12 December 1559 – 6 February 1636) was one of Bologna's most eminent poets. His verse was set to music as madrigals by

Salamone Rossi Salamone Rossi or Salomone Rossi ( he, סלומונה רוסי or שלמה מן האדומים) (Salamon, Schlomo; de' Rossi) (ca. 1570 – 1630) was an Italian Jewish violinist and composer. He was a transitional figure between the late Ita ...

and the circle of the Gonzaga Court at

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

. He also wrote verse praising composers, such as Alessandro Striggio. During his entire life Rinaldi intertwined his work as a poet with the frequentation of painters and intellectuals: he was friend of the Carraccis and Guido Reni and close to

Lavinia Fontana Lavinia Fontana (August 24, 1552 – August 11, 1614) was a Bologna, Bolognese Mannerism, Mannerist painter active in Bologna and Rome. She is best known for her successful portraiture, but also worked in the genres of mythology and religious pai ...

, Giovanni Valesio and other contemporary artists.

Biography

Ten years younger than Marino, Rinaldi was a forerunner of the new concettist and Marinist poets, and perhaps can be best described as a poet poised between a

Mannerist style Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...

and a new interest in the concetto and the image. His earliest volume of poems was published in 1588. His ''Lettere'', published in two different editions in 1617 and 1620, were widely read. Although he did not become a member of the new Accademia dei Gelati, founded in Bologna in 1588 by

Melchiorre Zoppio Melchiorre or Melchior Zoppio (c. 1544–1634) was an Italian doctor and scholar. Life Born in Bologna, a son of Girolamo Zoppio, Melchiorre Zoppio followed his father's dual career in medicine and education. He taught philosophy in Macerata t ...

, and did not participate in the polemics and controversies that broke out more than two decades later over Marino's poetry, he had ties of friendship with younger Bolognese poets like Girolamo Preti and

Claudio Achillini Claudio Achillini (''Latin'' Claudius Achillinus; 18 September 1574 – 1 October 1640) was an Italian philosopher, theologian, mathematician, poet, and jurist. He is a major figure in the history of Italian Baroque poetry. Biography Born in B ...

as well as with Marino. He took an interest in music ( Monteverdi, for example) and in art, and acquired works for his “museo”—a relatively modest collection that was more on the order of a “ Wunderkammer” than a collection primarily devoted to painting and sculpture. Rinaldi was friend both to Ludovico and to

Agostino Carracci Agostino Carracci (or Caracci) (16 August 1557 – 22 March 1602) was an Italian painter, printmaker, tapestry designer, and art teacher. He was, together with his brother, Annibale Carracci, and cousin, Ludovico Carracci, one of the founders of ...

and he often frequented the Accademia degli Incamminati. He wrote a

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...

for Agostino Carracci's funeral. As Carlo Cesare Malvasia relates, Rinaldi acquired the famous ''Bacchus and Ariadne'' from

Ludovico Carracci Ludovico (or Lodovico) Carracci (21 April 1555 – 13 November 1619) was an Italian, early-Baroque painter, etcher, and printmaker born in Bologna. His works are characterized by a strong mood invoked by broad gestures and flickering light th ...

, and his letters indicate that he acted as intermediary in acquiring pictures for various people, including Marino. In his later years, Rinaldi became a friend and patron of

Guido Reni Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious ...

, who gave him his famous ''Mary'' ''Magdalen'' (now lost), and he wrote several poems in praise of Guido's art.

Style and legacy

Rinaldi played an important role in developing the new poetry of the seventeenth century, notable for its linguistic

sophistication Sophistication has come to mean a few things, but its original uses were a pejorative, derived from sophist, and included the idea of admixture or adulteration. Today, as researched by Faye Hammill, it is common as a measure of refinement—disp ...

, extravagant conceits, and ingenious metaphors. He addressed a sonnet to

, for example, only half mockingly requesting a portrait of his lady painted as a mountain of shining ivory in an enameled

dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

, a forest of

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

in her lap. Such richly bejeweled metaphors are characteristic of the period. An example from religious lyric is an image of the penitent Magdalen tossing away her pearls only to see them transformed into the tears of repentance welling up in her eyes.Charles Dempsey, “Painting in Bologna from the Carracci to Crespi,” in ''Captured Emotions: Baroque Painting in Bologna, 1575–1725'', ed. Andreas Henning and Scott Schaefer (Los Angeles:

Getty Publications The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

, 2008), 8.

Works

* * *

Lyrics set as madrigals

* ''Donna se voi m'odiate'' - set by Alfonso Ferrabosco * ''Per non mi dir ch'io moia'' - set by Michelangelo Rossi

Bibliography

* «Cesare Rinaldi bolognese». In : ''Le glorie de gli Incogniti: o vero, Gli huomini illustri dell'Accademia de' signori Incogniti di Venetia'', In Venetia : appresso Francesco Valuasense stampator dell'Accademia, 1647, pp. 100–103
on-line
. *

References

External links

* 1559 births 1636 deaths Baroque writers 16th-century Italian poets 17th-century Italian poets {{Italy-poet-stub